Sfoglini Pasta Shop was born from the vision of Chef
Transcripción
Sfoglini Pasta Shop was born from the vision of Chef
Sfoglini Pasta Shop was born from the vision of Chef Steve Gonzalez who has been a part of some of the most formidable pasta programs in New York City: Insieme, Hearth, Roberta’s, and Frankies Sputino, and former creative director Scott Ketchum who both talked for years about bringing a superior, locally produced pasta to NYC. Their vision became a reality in July 2012 when they opened their doors in the old Pfizer building in Williamsburg, now home to several small food manufacturers. Sfoglini specializes in making freshly extruded pastas using traditional bronze dies that create a textured, porous surface that makes it easier for sauce to cling to rather than slip to the bottom of the bowl. The pasta is then air dried at low temperatures to preserve nutrition and lock in more flavor. Sfoglini’s traditional offerings include fifteen organic semolina and organic whole-wheat pastas. In addition to their signature pastas, Sfoglini also produces a line of seasonal pastas made with fresh, local ingredients from NYC green markets and urban farms (Brooklyn Grange, Riverpark, Eagle Street Farms, New Amsterdam Market). Sfoglini also experiments with other unique ingredients and partners to make innovative, original pastas including a tomato leaf pasta collaboration with Riverpark and a beer pasta using milled grain from the Bronx Brewery. CONTACTS: RELATED LINKS: SCOTT KETCHUM SFOGLINI 917.450.9314 [email protected] sfoglini.com STEVE GONZALEZ 646.872.1035 [email protected] SFOGLINI 917.338.5955 630 Flushing Ave., 8th Floor Brooklyn, NY 11206 WHAT SETS SFOGLINI PASTAS APART IS THE QUALITY OF INGREDIENTS WE USE COMBINED WITH THE TRADITION AND INGENUITY WE DEVOTE TO MAKING OUR PASTA. Sfoglini pastas are available fresh or dried and are being served at revered New York restaurants such as Tom Colicchio’s Riverpark, Danny Meyer’s North End Grill and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Sfoglini’s partners can be found selling at the Down to Earth Market in Park Slope, Brooklyn and their pasta is also sold at retail outlets in Brooklyn, Manhattan and throughout the U.S.. Individual pastas and Pasta of the Month Club subscriptions featuring seasonal pastas and recipes can be ordered online at sfoglini.com. PFIZER BUILDING ediblebrooklyn.com/department/edibleinfrastructure/entrepreneurial-incubators DOWN TO EARTH MARKETS downtoearthmarkets.com NEW AMSTERDAM MARKET newamsterdammarket.com BRONX BREWERY thebronxbrewery.com BROOKLYN GRANGE brooklyngrangefarm.com EAGLE STREET FARMS rooftopfarms.org SFOGLINI’S FOUNDERS STEVE GONZALEZ Steve Gonzalez earned a Degree in Culinary Arts from the Art Institute of Colorado and has been a chef for 14 years. He began his career working at Vetri in Philadelphia, his first introduction to the art of hand made pasta, and at the Locust Tree in Westchester, where under the guidance and direction of Chef Alberto Vanoli, he began to hone his craft. In order to further refine his skills, Steve traveled to Europe and first worked at El Raco de Can Fabes, a Three Star Michelin Restaurant in Sant Celoni, Spain where his experience was evident and he was quickly put in charge of the pasta making operations. Steve gained deeper experience in Italy working at Frosio in Villa d’ Alme, Sapposenta in Cagliari, Sardegna and Trattoria Majda in Friuli. Since his return to America, Steve opened his own restaurant, Zavino, in Philadelphia, and has worked at some of New York’s most revered restaurants including Insieme, Company, Hearth, Roberta’s and Frankies Spuntino. At Insieme, acclaimed chef Marco Canora recognized Steve’s expertise and had him develop the pasta tasting menus. At Roberta’s in Bushwick, Steve supervised the pizza kitchen and ran the mobile pizza oven operations for large-scale events. Most recently, Steve managed the pasta operations for the Frankies Spuntino franchise in Brooklyn and Manhattan. With his vast experience abroad, in New York and in opening his own restaurant, Steve decided to branch out with his own company and started Sfoglini with Scott. Steve currently oversees Sfoglini’s pasta making operations. SCOTT KETCHUM Scott Ketchum has served as a Creative Director/Graphic Designer for 18 years in both San Francisco and New York specializing in brand development, web design and sustainable packaging and design. A decade of living in NYC opened Scott’s eyes to the creative parallels between design and the culinary arts and prompted him to study brewing and management at the Siebel Institute in Chicago as well as travel to Italy, Paris and Belgium to further explore their food and beverage culture. With the movement for locally made products exploding in New York City and the absence of an artisanal pasta maker servicing area restaurants, Scott decided to marry his profession and his passion and start Sfoglini with his friend Steve, Sfoglini’s chef and co-owner. Scott currently oversees the company’s brand development, marketing and operations. SIGNATURE ORGANIC PASTAS RADIATORE (4 OR 6 PRONG) REGINETTI ZUCCA MACARONI (FRESH ONLY) Traditionally called Radiatore, the ruffled edges capture every bit of your sauce and offer a superb bite every time. Great for thicker tomato sauces, ragus and mac ’n cheese. This ribbon shaped pasta is commonly served with more delicate sauces, but we love it with everything from a spiced meat ragu to baked casseroles. Shaped like the end of a zucchini or an open pumpkin, zucca pairs perfectly with any red or creamy sauce that will fill up the pasta pocket to deliver the perfect bite. Our macaroni are slightly larger than average, providing an ideal alternative to penne or ziti. This versatile pasta works in any dish, but is perfect in a casserole and of course in mac ’n cheese. SPACCATELLI SMALL SHELLS FUSILLI TRUMPETS This two inch strand of pasta resembles a rolled up scroll. A great substitute for ziti or macaroni and superb with a chunky meat sauce that will get wrapped in the folds. Small Conchiglie are ideal in mac ‘n cheese, Italian wedding soups, or as an alternative pasta in a baked dish. This corkscrew shaped pasta is one of our most versatile and popular shapes. Pair with anything from a vodka sauce to a ragu, or make it the base of your next pasta salad. Campanelle, little bell in Italian, is shaped like a flower or horn and is delicious when served with a thick sauce or casserole and are a lovely option for pasta salad. BIGOLI (FRESH ONLY) LARGE SHELLS (FRESH ONLY) DITALINI SPAGHETTI (FRESH ONLY) Thicker than our spaghetti, Bigoli is traditionally made with buckwheat or whole wheat flour and works well with a ragu or wild game. Traditionally called Conchiglie, each shell is about three inches in length and is ideal for ricotta, charred spinach, meat or other delectable fillings. Known in Italian as ‘little thimbles’ this pasta is a shorter version of bucatini, approximately 1/4” in length and is the perfect base for minestrone soups or pasta fagioli. These long hearty strands are the perfect base for the quintessential red sauce and meatball dish. CAVATELLI BUCATINI (FRESH ONLY) CHITARRA (FRESH ONLY) Commonly made in Sicily and southern Italy, Cavatelli’s curved shape and long rolled edge helps hold thicker sauces. Pair with a simple tomato sauce and ricotta, or sautéed garlic and broccoli. Similar to spaghetti but with a hole running through the center, Bucatini is best prepared with a thinner sauce that can stream through the middle and topped off with pork and pecorino. Chitarra means guitar in Italian, but it is also the name for the pasta-making equipment that creates the squarish strands of this spaghetti like pasta. SEASONAL & SPECIALTY PASTAS MALLOREDDUS RAMPS BEET MINT This Sardinian pasta is very similar to cavatelli, but enhanced with saffron, adding a splash of yellow-orange color. A common Sardinian recipe for this pasta is to serve it with tomato sauce, fresh mint and pecorino. Market fresh ramps are blended with our organic semolina lending a hint of sweet, garlic notes to our pasta. Delicious when paired with a primavera sauce. We blend fresh beets from NYC green markets with our organic semolina, which adds tons of earthy, beet flavor to the pasta. Perfect with roasted beets, olive oil and ricotta solatta. Fresh mint from the Brooklyn Grange is puréed and blended with our organic semolina offering a cooling rush of mint flavor best highlighted with a simple sauce. WHOLE GRAIN BLEND WHOLE WHEAT BLEND NETTLES EVERYTHING BAGEL Sfoglini’s unique whole grain blend features an organic, stone milled hard red flour from the Wild Hive Farm in Clinton Corners, NY. This rich, robust pasta offers a nutritional boost and is availible in all our pasta shapes. All of our pasta shapes can be made with a 50/50 blend of whole wheat and semolina flour. We use only the highest quality organic flours from the Wild Hive Farm in Clinton Corners, NY to provide you with the most delectable whole wheat pasta available. Nettles are edible flowering plants with tiny needles—we give them a quick blanch to neutralize their sting and puree them. They have a robust flavor similar to spinach, but richer and more savory. Mix with ricotta & olive oil for a quick but delicious dinner. The traditional ingredients from the quintessential NY Everything bagel (Poppy Seed, Sesame Seed, Garlic, Onion, Salt) lend a refined garlic flavor and hearty consistency that pairs perfectly with butter and sea salt. BRONX BREWERY PALE ALE CHILI PEPPER SAUVIGNON BLANC BASIL Our collaboration pasta with the Bronx Brewery features spent grain from their flagship Pale Ale, which is comprised of five different barley malts, resulting in a roasted, almost chocolate like richness, heavenly with a hearty meat ragu. A custom blend of Cacho de Cabra, Cayenne, Ancho, Serrano and Bird’s Eye Chili peppers enhances the flavor with a subtle spiciness that really comes through when paired with a vodka or tomato sauce. Our collaboration with the Red Hook Winery blends their freshly harvested Sauvignon Blanc grape skins with our organic semolina, creating a faint plum flavor and figlike texture. A unique pasta to pair with anchovies, garlic and parsley. Fresh basil from the Brooklyn Grange and Eagle Street Farms is added to our classic semolina for a supremely flavorful pasta that’s easily paired with olive oil, sea salt and pecorino. CUTTLEFISH INK SQUASH PORCINI MUSHROOM GARLIC SCAPES Cuttlefish ink brings a beautiful slate coloring and sharp briny flavor that pairs well with seafood. A blend of fresh squash from NYC green markets that pairs well with brown butter and sage. All natural porcini mushrooms are puréed and added to our signature organic semolina for a subtle earthy flavor that makes a unique pairing to any dish. Fresh garlic scapes, the curling flower stalks grown from hard-neck garlic plants, provide a mild garlic flavor and a slight sweetness to our flowering trumpets. RECENT PRESS VILLAGE VOICE A SMALL-SCALE FOOD REVOLUTION AT BROOKLYN’S PFIZER PLANT JUNE 11, 2013 “Should I turn the music down?” People’s Pops founder Joel Horowitz asks as we embark on a tour of his ice pop manufacturing kitchen in Brooklyn. As explanation, he adds, “You don’t make a tasty ice pop without loud music.” People’s Pops headquarters is located at 630 Flushing Avenue on a nondescript stretch of road sandwiched between the Marcy projects (Jay-Z’s provenance), Woodhull Hospital, and the sleepy, southernmost extension of Hasidic Williamsburg. Originally the Pfizer world headquarters, the building spans a city block, and it employed over 2,000 people in its heyday. In a corner lab several stories up, a doorman, somewhat wide-eyed and jabbing his index finger at the ceiling for emphasis, tells me, “They invented Viagra right up there!” People’s Pops is on the fourth floor near a big conveyor belt once used to bottle pills. It’s one of many artisanal food startups that have opened in the building since Acumen Capital bought it in 2010. Horowitz walks up to a table where Sharlena Powell is cutting fruit: “So much awesome fresh rhubarb,” he says, glancing at a bucket of stems waiting for the axe. “This rhubarb was picked like, three days ago.” It comes from Finger Lakes Farms and is about as fresh as any New Yorker can reasonably hope for--probably unnecessarily fresh, considering it will be cooked, frozen, packaged and shipped in an operation that’s every bit as industrial as it is mom-and-pop. We approach the stick-stamping station. “All of our sticks are handstamped,” he says, noting the need for eagle-eye quality control, as misstamps happen. “Sometimes they say People’s Poo,” an employee chimes in, laughing above the music. “GONZALEZ HAS THE CADENCE AND DEMEANOR OF A SEASONED COOK; HIS PASSION LIES SQUARELY IN THE FOOD.” Across the room, Scott Morgenthaler pulls newly frozen pops from their molds. Later, they’ll be packaged by a highly efficient but finicky machine from China that everyone affectionately calls “Xiè Xiè.” (“That’s ‘thank you,’ in Mandarin,” Horowitz’s partner David Carrell explains. “We do everything we can to keep her happy.” Packaging the pops by hand is a nightmare.) Carrell also noted that the spaces are immaculate and fully washable. Every room has floor drains from when they were laboratories, and many were kept sterile for pharmaceutical production, which means the building is uniquely clean, great for working with food, unlike so many of Brooklyn’s industrial backwaters. When the tour is over, the partners feed me an ice pop--strawberry with Angostura bitters. The Angostura aromatics shine through at the back of the palate and add a nice complexity to a pop that’s not actually bitter, which is delightful and kind of fun. Perhaps because of this, food startups make up a large portion of the new tenants, and there are benefits to that, too. When the guys at Kelvin test new flavors in their kitchen, their neighbors at People’s Pops are ideal tasters. “Whenever we have something new in the [slush] machine, I’ll run over and grab them, because I trust their palates,” Silverman says. Next door at Kelvin Slush, Zack Silverman churns out all-natural, artisanal slushies that are served from a roving truck around the city; they’re mixed with booze at Madison Square Garden and other locations that allow it. Silverman’s syrup, which he and partner Alex Rein spent years developing in Rein’s kitchen, is made off-site and shipped to Brooklyn. At Pfizer, they add water and put it in machines to cool it to the right consistency. On summer weekends, Kelvin sends slush to Smorgasburg, where People’s Pops also sells their treats. “All our employees know each other,” Silverman says. Saturday mornings for both companies are early affairs that involve packing, moving, and loading frozen goods into freight elevators and then into trucks bound for the Williamsburg waterfront. Those freight elevators and loading docks are key to the building’s appeal, says Carrell. “It allows us the infrastructure of a multinational corporation. With four freight elevators and six loading docks. Compared to our last location, where we had one loading dock-- when it breaks down, it brings the gauntlet down on everything you do that week.” Horowitz says they often piggyback orders with other companies: “It’s awesome to have friends in the building. We order sugar with Steve’s Ice Cream [another tenant]. We buy a few pallets at a time, and it’s a lot cheaper to buy it in bulk.” Heartbeet founders Danniel Swatosh and Maria Margolies. Upstairs on the eighth floor, Heartbeet Juicery founders Maria Margolies and Danniel Swatosh agree. “Every question we have we discuss with everyone [in the building], and we help each other out. Everything from ‘I need extra fridge space, can I use your fridge?’ to, ‘Are you guys getting a delivery of produce?’ It’s great to have that instead of being somewhere all alone by ourselves.” Heartbeet makes cold-pressed juices and smoothies. The day I visit, they’ve just finished a fresh batch of new summer varieties. “Do you like spice?!” Swatosh asks, after deciding that I must take juice home with me. I do like spice. “This one is a new flavor, pineapple jalapeño. It has kale VILLAGE VOICE A SMALL-SCALE FOOD REVOLUTION AT BROOKLYN’S PFIZER PLANT JUNE 11, 2013 CONTINUED... and cucumber, too. We don’t have a label for it yet,” she says. Margolies adds, “We just hand-wrote it.” The juice is light green in color with a fruity start and spicy finish that lingers in more of a vegetable way than a peppery one. It has balanced flavors of cucumber and kale and is refreshingly bright for something that packs several servings of roughage into a single 16-ounce bottle. Drinking the juice feels like doing yourself a favor, and looking at the juice ladies, who have a radiant, healthy energy about them, I wonder if juice may be the key to everlasting youth. Heartbeet shares a wing with Sfoglini Pasta, Milk Truck grilled cheeses, Delaney Barbecue, McClure’s Pickles, and a handful of bakeries. At Sfoglini, Steve Gonzalez is prepping a pasta salad for a collaboration with the New York Historical Society and the New York Times, but he’s more interested in discussing the pasta itself. He picks up a piece of radiatore, drying on sheet pans against the wall. It’s from Sfoglini’s BxB line, which they make using spent grain from Bronx Brewery. “Beer people really love it,” Gonzalez says. “It has a malty, chocolaty flavor, a little deeper than whole wheat.” Sfoglini also sources Hard Red Spring wheat flour from Wild Hive Farms. “It’s an older grain that they’re trying to bring back, it’s not a modified wheat,” he says. This is for their New York Blend, which is a shade darker than traditional semolina pasta but “Not as hearty as whole wheat. ... It’s whole grain, not whole wheat. The color’s lighter, and it’s certainly milder,” Gonzalez explains. Gonzalez has the cadence and demeanor of a seasoned cook; his passion lies squarely in the food. When I ask about the community in the building, he says he used to go on the roof for beers with the guys from Brooklyn Kombucha, but since the building has started to fill up, “there’s security up there now.” No more beers on the roof. Even so, Sfoglini hosts weekly pasta lunches for the people in the building, since the neighborhood is a culinary desert. Nearby restaurants include a McDonald’s and Burger King, some Halal carts near Woodhull, a dicey pizza joint, and a couple Chinese places, and these are blocks away. Down the hall, Delaney Barbecue also hosts a weekly lunch. Delaney uses an eighth-floor space as a meat locker and prep kitchen for their service at Brisket Town in Williamsburg, which arguably ousted Fette Sau as the King of Northside Barbecue when it opened last fall. Delaney’s latest project, ‘Smoke Line,” a food cart stationed at the High Line in Chelsea, was an instant hit when it opened this spring. Downstairs, Delaney has a shipping container in the Pfizer parking lot. Inside is a smoker shipped in from Texas. Philip Powers, Delaney’s pit boss and kitchen manager, leads me to the trailer, where firewood is stacked outside, tarped against the soaking summer rain. It looks like something you’d see in the rural Dirty South, and I say so. “That’s the inspiration,” Powers replies, “It’s all inspired by the guys down in Texas, whose operation pretty much looks like this--there’ll be a smoker, and a couple picnic tables outside, and they’ll serve the brisket right there.” Back inside, Kelsey Torstvet, market sales manager at Brooklyn Kombucha (whose fifth-floor space offers a building-wide happy hour once a month with DJs and snacks) remembers a crawfish boil Delaney hosted awhile back, just outside the smoker-trailer: “Daniel Delaney was just there cooking for everyone. It was really fun and cool. Only working here would I have such a random and great experience.” It’s a striking image: a Southern-style crawfish boil in front of a Texas-style smoker in a shipping container at the base of a massive pharmaceutical factory in Bed-Stuy with young entrepreneurs and their young workers enjoying hand-made, natural, locally sourced food. Will slow food change the world, and is it good for our communities? There seems to be something happening here that suggests so. By Hannah Palmer Egan RECENT PRESS MARTHA STEWART PASTA PERFECT MAY 1, 2013 “It’s a truth universally acknowledged that all moms love pasta, mine included,” says Jennifer Anderson, digital food editor. If you live nearby, you could make dinner for her on Mother’s Day, but if you don’t, send Mom regular deliveries of artisanal pasta and make sure she has a lovely new pot and colander to cook them in. She’s on her own for the sauce! Sfoglini Pasta of the Month Club, 6 months for $140, sfoglini.com “IF YOU LIVE NEARBY, YOU COULD MAKE DINNER FOR HER ON MOTHER’S DAY, BUT IF YOU DON’T, SEND MOM REGULAR DELIVERIES OF ARTISANAL PASTA.” RECENT PRESS SIMPLY GOURMET EVERYTHING BAGEL FUSILLI WITH CREAM CHEESE SAUCE APRIL 30, 2013 I am so excited to share this really cool pasta with you! It comes from Sfoglini Pasta Shop in Brooklyn, NY. I hadn’t heard of them but as soon as I went on to their website I knew I was going to be a fan. All of their pastas are made in small batches, from the finest semolina flour, and air dried at low temperatures. Besides just using high quality ingredients to make their pastas, the team at Sfoglini uses their creativity to come up with really fun and different pasta flavors. The one I am going to share today is their Everything Fusilli which is one of their Seasonal Pastas. Other flavors in this category include Basil Reginette, Beet Fusilli, Chili Pepper Fusilli, Sauvignon Black Reginetti, and BxB Radiators (yes this is pasta made with beer!). Flavors change regularly and depend on the season so I will definitely be checking back often to see what is currently in stock. If plain, semolina flour pasta is your thing check out their Organic Pastas. These are more typical pasta shapes and includes a whole wheat option. I have tried their organic fusilli and it blows boxed pasta from the grocery store out of the water! The traditional everything bagel has a seasoning of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic, onion and salt and all of these flavors can be found mixed right into the Everything Bagel Fusilli dough. As soon as I saw this pasta I knew immediately that I wanted to do a recipe that played on a bagel and cream cheese. While it was very tasty the sauce was a little too heavy for my liking so next time I will try to thin it out with reserved pasta water. The Sfoglini websites suggests serving this pasta with a butter and sea salt sauce which would be a nice light match for this hearty pasta. You can purchase Sfoglini pasta from their website but if you are looking for it in the Boston area check out these two locations: Central Bottle in Cambridge 196 Massachusetts Ave Boston, MA 02139 617.225.0040 West Elm Fenway 160 Brookline Avenue (Btwn. Kilmarnock Street And Park Drive) Boston, MA 02215 617.450.9500 “BESIDES JUST USING HIGH QUALITY INGREDIENTS TO MAKE THEIR PASTAS, THE TEAM AT SFOGLINI USES THEIR CREATIVITY TO COME UP WITH REALLY FUN AND DIFFERENT PASTA FLAVORS.” RECENT PRESS CRAVINGS PASTA OF THE MONTH APRIL 25, 2013 Sfoglini produces innovative fresh and dried pastas in distinctive textures and flavors. The Williamsburg-based pasta producer makes both traditional (organic semolina or 50/50 whole wheat and semolina) and seasonal lines. The seasonal pastas are made with ingredients from local green markets and urban farms, so there’s always something fun and interesting like nettle radiators, basil reginetti and beet fusilli. The pastas’ textured and porous surfaces are designed to soak up sauce. My personal favorite is the pumpkin-shaped zucca (middle left), because sauce not only clings to the outside ridges, but also pools inside. And Sfoglini’s whimsical everything bagel-inspired “everything fusilli” (bottom right) has a hearty consistency and that great flavor combination of salt, onion, poppy seed and sesame. A membership to Sfoglini’s Pasta of the Month Club (two bags of pasta per month, one signature and one seasonal) would be a great gift for Mom or any pasta lover in your life. And if you happen to share a household, you may reap the benefits too — now that’s a win-win! “THE SEASONAL PASTAS ARE MADE WITH INGREDIENTS FROM LOCAL GREEN MARKETS AND URBAN FARMS, SO THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING FUN AND INTERESTING LIKE NETTLE RADIATORS, BASIL REGINETTI AND BEET FUSILLI.” RECENT PRESS NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY TASTE OF NEW-YORK HISTORY: INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT KETCHUM OF SFOGLINI PASTA APRIL 18, 2013 New York has long been a food capital, from the upscale kitchens of our finest restaurants to the bagels and sausages on the street corners. But as anyone whose walked around Brooklyn has figured out, the next chapter of New York’s food history has everything to do with the local, “artisanal” food scene that is making its mark on the city. From the rise of greenmarkets and food fairs to the focus on seasonal ingredients, these products embody a DIY ethos that New York City has had from the very beginning. The New-York Historical Society’s Museum store is introducing it’s Taste of New-York History collection of specialty foods that can only be found in New York City and State, including jams, cheeses, and chocolates. The store will also be hosting a series of Friday Night Bites events, where local vendors will provide demonstrations and tastings. One of our vendors, Sfoglini Pasta, will be here on June 7. Based in Brooklyn, Sfoglini Pasta focuses on making freshly extruded pastas from local grains and ingredients, experimenting with new flavors like beet, nettle, and even everything bagel! We spoke to Sfoglini co-owner Scott Ketchum about making pasta, New York’s food scene, and how best to cook their bagel pastas. You and [co-owner and chef Steve Gonzalez] have lived and worked all over the country. What about New York made you want to start this business here? I came to New York about 12 years ago, and really, it had always been a dream of mine to move here. I grew up in the MTV generation and seeing everything that happened here—it was just so different from where I grew up. I had that desire from young age. I moved to San Francisco for a while, but I still knew I wanted to come to New York. As for Steve, the restaurant business brought him here. This is where all the chefs want to be. Given your culinary backgrounds, why did you choose to open a pasta business instead of a pasta restaurant? That really was our original concept, to have a restaurant with wholesale business on the site, and we worked on that for a long time. But with times being tough, financing, it wasn’t happening as quickly as we had hoped. So we saved up some money, and thought we’d have enough to do the wholesale business. And there seemed to be a hole in the marketplace; no one was doing pasta the way we wanted to. We want to share pasta making with people, show people how it’s done. A Sfoglini is a type of pasta maker in Italy, so it’s about sharing tradition. Our space doesn’t have room for classes right now, but eventually we want to expand into that. It’s a nice thing to share with people. Do you have any tips for making pasta at home? I think using great ingredients and taking the time to do everything right makes a difference. We like to experiment with a lot of new grains, and we’re hoping to bring that more to the market, and show people how to use local grains. What gave you the idea for the more inventive pasta flavors? Steve really loves to go to the markets and local farmers, where we see what there is available to use. Just using whatever is local and fresh at the time is what we try to focus on. We know there are certain things we try to repeat, but you never know. The beet pasta we did in February was very popular, the nettle pasta turned out magnificent. Not everything always works, but we try. “MY WIFE LOVES EVERYTHING BAGEL CRUMBS, AND SPRINKLES THE CRUMBS ON EVERYTHING. WE WERE JOKING AROUND THAT WE SHOULD TRY TO MAKE A PASTA OUT OF THAT...” The everything bagel pasta has gotten you a lot of press recently, mainly I think because it combines these two New York food cultures in a really new way. What gave you the idea for that? That grew out of Hurricane Sandy. Steve was in the East Village, and lost power for that week and came to stay with me on the Upper West Side. My wife went to get bagels one morning, and she loves the everything bagel crumbs, and sprinkles the crumbs on everything. We were joking around that we should try to make a pasta out of that, and it just grew. But it all started over bagels for breakfast. New York has a long history of food culture. How do you think what you guys do, and the larger artisanal food movement happening right now, is a part of that? I think the food culture disappeared for a while in New York and people wanted to bring that back, especially when things became so processed with artificial ingredients in everything. Everyone just wanted to eat fresh again. It’s not necessarily why we started this. It just started happening and we were in it. Steve has had this passion for a long time. Italian cooking is all about finding local, fresh ingredients. What’s your favorite way to serve the everything bagel pasta? We’re doing it in our pasta of the month box this month, but we think people should treat it like is is a bagel, so the recipe here includes cream cheese and smoked salmon and onions. But I really like a lot of our seasonal pastas because they have so much flavor on their own, so you can’t go wrong with cooking them with some brown butter or olive oil and a little bit of cheese. RECENT PRESS NEW YORK MAGAZINE EVERYTHING “EVERYTHING” APRIL 15, 2013 RECENT PRESS GRUB STREET WHAT THE ICONIC NEW YORK EVERYTHING BAGEL HAS WROUGHT APRIL 7, 2013 If you were to identify one taste that best represents New York, you could do worse than the everything bagel, with its frenetic coating of poppy, caraway, and sesame seeds, plus salt, garlic, and onion. An everything bagel, like the city itself, is not shy. It’s brash, aggressive, over-the-top, and utterly polyglot, both an emblem of New York’s immigrant past and a vehicle for its culinary future. To some, it’s the only bagel. “It has depth and complexity … It’s the thinking-man’s bagel,” says wd-50 chef Wylie Dufresne, who broke ground a while back with his innovative interpretation, an “everything bagel” of savory ice cream with smokedsalmon threads. Since then, the versatile spice mix has strong-armed its way into everything from more haute tasting menus to a hot-dog bun. But here’s the thing: Although the everything bagel seems as historical as the Waldorf salad, it was only invented sometime around 1980. (A New Yorker article credits David Gussin, a teenage sweeper-upper in a Howard Beach shop at the time, for collecting the oven’s burned-seed detritus after a day’s bake and undergoing an everything-bagel epiphany.) What does Gussin, now a middle-aged Wantagh, Long Island, businessman think about the current crossover craze? “It makes me smile,” he says. “Although I should be getting royalties.” Torrisi Italian Specialties’ bagel chips with smoked sturgeon, cream cheese, and everything-bagel spices Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi’s nod to the Lower East Side’s legacy. It’s known among the cognoscenti as crostini alla Russ & Daughters, and is a rotating dish on the restaurant’s $75 seven-course menu. 250 Mulberry St., nr. Prince St.; 212-965-0955. Smith Canteen’s turkey on everything croissant Buttermilk-brined turkey, sage mayo, and good bacon on an “everything” croissant. Believe it or not, chef Rob Newton, the brains behind this excellent idea, grew up in the bagel-bereft state of Arkansas. $9; 343 Smith St., at Carroll St., Carroll Gardens; 347-294-0292. Iconic Hand Rolls’ New York roll It’s smoked salmon, cream cheese, red onion, and rice wrapped in a sheet of nori and looking not unlike a savory ice-cream cone with “everything” sprinkles. $6; 135 First Ave., nr. St. Marks Pl.; 646-476-3100. Momofuku Milk Bar’s Bacon Bagel Bomb Outside this billiard-size ball of dough, you’ll find the usual mix of seeds and spice; inside there lies a stealth bacon-scallion-and-cream-cheese filling—an everything bagel trapped in the body of a jelly doughnut. $3.50; multiple locations. Talde’s Everything Roti After dabbling in “everything-bagel” spring rolls, Dale Talde has moved on to unleavened Indian flatbread. $4; 369 Seventh Ave., at 11th St., Park Slope; 347-916-0031. Eleven Madison Park’s smoked sturgeon with everything-bagel crumble, pickles, and caviar Not to be outdone by Messieurs Torrisi and Carbone, Daniel Humm makes a spice mixture of his own and calls it an “everything crumble.” It’s part of his $195 tasting menu. 11 Madison Ave., at 24th St.; 212-889-0905. “JEWISH APPETIZING MEETS BROOKLYN ARTISANAL PASTA MAKING. HOW NEW YORK IS THAT? SO MUCH SO, THE NEWYORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY HAS SEEN FIT TO SELL THE STUFF AT THEIR MUSEUM STORE.” Crif Dogs’ Jon-Jon Deragon No less an “everything” innovator than Wylie Dufresne is a fan of this stupendous Crif Dog creation (deep-fried frankfurter, chopped scallion, “everything” seeds, and a shmear) invented by bitters guru and former PDT bartender John Deragon. $3.75; 113 Saint Marks Pl., nr. Ave. A; 212614-2728. Sfoglini’s everything-bagel fusilli Jewish appetizing meets Brooklyn artisanal pasta making. How New York is that? So much so, the New-York Historical Society has seen fit to sell the stuff at their museum store. You’ll also find it at Brooklyn Victory Garden for $8.99 a sixteen-ounce package; 920 Fulton St., nr. St. James Pl., Clinton Hill; 718-398-9100. By Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite RECENT PRESS HUNTINGTON POST EVERYTHING BAGEL PASTA BY SFOGLINI IS OFFICIALLY ON OUR WISH LIST MARCH 4, 2013 In oh-my-goodness-we-have-to-have-it news, Brooklyn pasta shop Sfoglini has invented Everything Bagel Pasta. You read that correctly, these fusilli are infused with the flavor of your morning everything bagel: poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic, onion and salt. We have so many ideas for how to use this pasta, but so far, we think New York Mouth’s suggestion is absolutely the best: “Serve them just like a bagel, with a sauce made from cream cheese and whole milk, bits of lox, thinly sliced red onion, chives and chopped tomatoes -– the ultimate New York meets Italy experience. Fuggedabowdit!” Our minds are absolutely reeling with flavor combinations. Anything that would taste good on a bagel will taste good with this pasta. Think capers and a cheesy sauce. Creme fraiche and caviar! Ham and cheese with mustard sauce! Sorry, we’ll calm down. It appears that Everything Bagel Pasta’s popularity has grown so exponentially that it is currently out of stock. When it returns, you’ll be able to get it from New York Mouth for $8 a bag. How will you serve it? Rebecca Orchant “OUR MINDS ARE ABSOLUTELY REELING WITH FLAVOR COMBINATIONS. ANYTHING THAT WOULD TASTE GOOD ON A BAGEL WILL TASTE GOOD WITH THIS PASTA. ” RECENT PRESS URBAN DADDY THE THING: AN EVERYTHING BAGEL. AS FUSILLI. MARCH 1, 2013 Notable moments in breakfast. 1963: Horatio Magellan Crunch is promoted to the rank of Cap’n. 1967: the first frosted Pop-Tart is born. And now, in the 2,013th year of our breakfast lord, pasta just possibly found a way to the morning table. By way of everything bagels. We’ll explain. Meet Everything Bagel Fusilli, essentially the compositional makeup of a Brooklyn-style everything bagel in fusilli pasta form, available online now. Okay, we get that this is a pretty confusing food concept, so we’ll take it slow. First, this stuff hails from Brooklyn. There, a pasta shop decided to take organic semolina flour and all the makings of a New York everything bagel (poppy and sesame seeds, onion, garlic, salt) and fuse the two. The result: everything bagel fusilli. So if you’re intrigued, you’ll buy a bag or two. Next, you’ll boil it up. Put a little marinara on it. Have it for dinner. Then again, you may just want to embrace the bagel properties of this pasta. You know: cook up a steaming bowl of the stuff in the a.m. and get all the joys associated with carbo-loading and morning bageling. Add a side of sliced red onion, capers, maybe even some lox. This may open the door for gnocchi cereal down the road. “AND NOW, IN THE 2,013TH YEAR OF OUR BREAKFAST LORD, PASTA JUST POSSIBLY FOUND A WAY TO THE MORNING TABLE. BY WAY OF EVERYTHING BAGELS.” RECENT PRESS COOL MATERIAL EVERYTHING BAGEL PASTA MARCH 1, 2013 What’s your favorite kind of bagel? Plain? Sesame? Gluten-free cardboard? If you didn’t answer “Everything,” we’re afraid we’re going to have to disagree with you. If you are a fan of your bagel covered in a bit of everything, here is your new favorite pasta. Everything Bagel Fusili is infused with the flavors of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic, onion, and salt. Mess around with your sauce to see what works best, or follow the instructions in the product description to make a topping that really makes for that New York bagel experience. Frankly, we could just boil it and eat it straight. “IF YOU ARE A FAN OF YOUR BAGEL COVERED IN A BIT OF EVERYTHING, HERE IS YOUR NEW FAVORITE PASTA.” RECENT PRESS OPENSKY INSIDERS JANUARY 25, 2013 Tom Colicchio If you’re a regular on OpenSky, you already know that I’m always on the lookout for dried pastas done right. Making fresh pasta at home is a great thing, but it isn’t always a practical option. Store-bought dried pastas are almost universally so bland and lifeless that a lot of consumers don’t realize how wonderful they can really be – if you’re willing to pay a premium for the good stuff. That’s where Sfoglini comes in. The company was co-founded in Brooklyn by Steve Gonzales, a chef who has been a part of some of the most formidable pasta programs out there: Vetri, Insieme, Hearth, Roberta’s, and Frankies Spuntino are just some of the restaurants where he’s rolled and shaped dough. Steve knows the craft inside and out. He started Sfoglini in order to bring really great, shelf-stable pasta into peoples’ homes. What Sfoglini produces is freshly extruded pastas created from Americanmade organic semolina flour. They use traditional bronze dies, which result in that textured, porous surface to the pasta that really allows for sauce to cling and cover, not slip to the bottom of the bowl. This, and the flavor locked in by slow, low-temperature drying, is what sets Sfoglini apart from the crowd. In addition to a series of traditional semolina and whole wheat pastas (albeit in some unusual shapes like lacy Reginetti and tubular Spaccatelli), Sfoglini also produces a line of seasonal pastas flavored with fresh, local ingredients ranging from porcini mushrooms to cuttlefish ink. Get your hands and some and you’ll be able to the difference from supermarket brands from the moment you see and touch it. Cook Often, Eat Well, “STEVE KNOWS THE CRAFT INSIDE AND OUT. HE STARTED SFOGLINI IN ORDER TO BRING REALLY GREAT, SHELF-STABLE PASTA INTO PEOPLES’ HOMES.” - TOM COLICCHIO RECENT PRESS SERIOUS EATS FOOD ARTISANS: SFOGLINI PASTA JANUARY 28, 2013 Scott Ketchum and Steve Gonzalez were trying to raise money to open a pasta restaurant and market when they realized that few New York-based companies were making dried pasta for the retail market. So they started one. Sfoglini makes dried pasta that’s more or less to order; when a store or restaurant places an order, Ketchum and Gonzalez make whatever’s needed then. Skipping out on inventory allows them to both keep costs down and provide the freshest possible products to their customers. This also allows them to do short runs of seasonal flavors, or try out unexpected ingredients. They have a particular interest in working with “things people are just getting rid of”; among those they’ve incorporated into pasta are Eagle Street Farm’s late-season basil that’s going to seed, spent grain from Bronx Brewery, grape skins from Red Hood Winery,* and Brooklyn Grange’ otherwise compost-bound tomato leaves. The latter are actually edible, says Gonzalez, despite persistent rumors to the contrary. “We read a lot of Harold McGee articles about it,” before experimenting with tomato leaves, he says, “and we ate enough ourselves to prove [the rumors] wrong.” * They only got their hands on a small quantity of sauvignon blanc skins before the winery was severely damaged in Hurricane Sandy, though Ketchum and Gonzalez are looking forward to working with the skins from red wine grapes next year. Any non-flour ingredients get pulverized in a Vitamix blender, then sifted carefully through a tamis to remove any fibrous bits that could cause problems for their extruding machine. Once they develop a dough they’re happy with, they pick the best shape to show off the flavor. It may be a familiar shape, like fusilli, or one that’s less common, like reginetti or spaccatelli. Once the pasta shapes are extruded, they air dry for anywhere from 48 to 96 hours, depending on the air temperature and humidity, and are packaged in bags that are stamped with the date the contents were made. It’s all in keeping with their company’s mission; sfoglini, Gonzalez explains, are generations of “ladies in Bologna who make pasta by hand.” By naming their company after these women, Gonzalez and Ketchum hope to make clear their connection to the tradition of handmade pasta, but they also aim to convey their desire to pay it forward—they hope to begin teaching pasta-making classes soon. “I didn’t know how to make pasta when I was born,” Gonzalez says. “Someone had to teach me.” By mentoring others and passing along their knowledge to people who have an interest in learning how to make pasta, Sfoglini aims to honor the sfoglini. Sfoglini pasta is currently available at shops and restaurants around the city, as well as at the New Amsterdam Market. They launched a pasta of the month club around the holidays, though one can join at any time, that brings one bag each of their organic and specialty pastas along with a quick recipe for using them. Ketchum and Gonzalez are also excited about making their pastas available through CSAs this spring and summer. About the author: Stephanie Klose has more mustard than you. You can follow her on twitter at @sklose. “SCOTT KETCHUM AND STEVE GONZALEZ WERE TRYING TO RAISE MONEY TO OPEN A PASTA RESTAURANT AND MARKET WHEN THEY REALIZED THAT FEW NEW YORK-BASED COMPANIES WERE MAKING DRIED PASTA FOR THE RETAIL MARKET. SO THEY STARTED ONE.” RECENT PRESS 150 ISH - THE LOCAL DISH WOULD YOU LIKE A LITTLE CHEESE ON THAT? NOVEMBER 8, 2012 More than macaroni. New world pastas steeped in tradition and covered in homemade sauce. How long did you think it would take for Francesca and Marisa to talk about pasta? When we met Steve Gonzalez and Scott Ketchum, co-owners and co-everything of Sfoglini: New York Pasta Shop, we were immediately intrigued—they turn a lot of preconceived notions about pasta on its orecchietta . . . um, ear. People have a lot of opinions about pasta. Fresh or dry? If you choose fresh, do you make your own? When it comes to dry, do you choose imported or domestic? Truth is, most people settle on a brand and pretty much stick with it for life. So why should two Italian girls suggest you seek out Sfoglini small batch pastas, made right here in South Williamsburg? Lots of reasons: first and foremost, it tastes great. Steve and Scott use traditional bronze dies to extrude the pasta, resulting in a beautiful rough texture that gives the sauce something to cling to. And they use only the best organic ingredients, most of them locally sourced and none of them imported. Here’s the dish. A chef for more than 13 years, Steve earned a culinary arts degree in Colorado and began his career at Ventri in Philadelphia. He moved on to restaurants in Spain and Italy, constantly honing his pastamaking skills—experience that paid off when he moved to New York. Here he’s worked in such popular kitchens as Insieme, Company, Hearth, and Roberta’s, as well as Frankies Sputino, where he managed the pasta operations in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Steve’s girlfriend had a good friend whose husband was a graphic designer. That would be Scott, who had studied brewing at Chicago’s Siebel Institute and had a growing interest in the artisanal food movement. Introductions led to long conversations and soon a partnership and Sfoglini was born. (Sfoglini, by the way, is the Italian name for the women who traditionally hand-make pasta.) In a space on the eighth floor of Pfizer Brooklyn, in one of the laboratories that may have seen the invention of Viagra, the pair produce, on average, between 100 to 200 pounds of pasta a week, packing up more than a dozen different types of dried pasta, along with seasonal specialties and a newly introduced fresh pasta line. In addition to wholesale and retail sales, they also supply many of the city’s top restaurants. Sfoglini pasta looks as good as it tastes. “I wanted shapes that are a little bit different—but in the beginning everyone asked for spaghetti and rigatoni!” Steve laughs. “So we try to introduce people to shapes that will work in the same way. The zucca, the little pumpkin shapes, are really popular. And we make a fresh spaghetti now, too.” A pasta for every season. We love the idea of seasonal pastas, although according to Steve, this was not part of the original plan. “I really like plain pasta,” he says. “But over the summer we made basil pasta—the basil was from the Eagle Street rooftop farm in Greenpoint. We sold 20 pounds in the first half hour. That changed my mind about flavored pasta! We also made chile pepper pasta—when the local farms had too many peppers, we took the overage off their hands. Now we’re making porcini and squash pastas for the holidays.” Maybe it’s because they work in a lab, but we find Steve and Scott completely open to experiments and happy accidents of the pasta-making kind. They have made pasta with spent grain from the Bronx Brewery, and wine pasta using grape skins from Red Hook Winery is coming soon. There were plans for both a white and red version, “but we only finished “SO WHY SHOULD TWO ITALIAN GIRLS SUGGEST YOU SEEK OUT SFOGLINI SMALL BATCH PASTAS, MADE RIGHT HERE IN SOUTH WILLIAMSBURG? LOTS OF REASONS: FIRST AND FOREMOST, IT TASTES GREAT.” the white before the storm hit,” Steve lamented. “The winery got hit really bad and we don’t think we’ll be able to make the red this year.” Once a week, Steve and Scott open their laboratory doors for lunch. “It started simply because there’s nowhere to eat around here,” they tell us. “Now we do a lunch in our space every Thursday. We offer a different pasta shape and flavor each week—people who work in the building, local contractors, even people who work on the movie sets filming here come and taste. It’s $7 for a plate and $5 for take-away and we serve—mostly vegetarian dishes—from 12:00 to 2:00. Some of the other food companies here have started to do this on other days, but we pretty much own Thursday,” he laughs. Steve and Scott are at the New Amsterdam Market (South Street between Beekman Street and Peck Slip) Sundays from 11am to 4pm. Their pasta is also available at Foragers Market (Manhattan and Dumbo), the newly opened West Elm Market (Dumbo), Gourmet Guild in Williamsburg, Bedford Cheese Shop, Brooklyn Victory Garden in Crown Heights, and Pure Mountain Olive Oil in Tarrytown and Rhinebeck. Check out sfoglini.com for updates. RECENT PRESS SEMI SWEETNESS ALL HAIL SFOGLINI PASTA JANUARY 28, 2013 Is there anything more perfect than pasta? The answer is no. There is nothing more perfect than a bowl of fresh pasta just waiting to marry with rich sauces, roasted veggies, or just a simple splash of beautiful olive oil, a pinch of sea salt and a quick toss of fresh herbs. But, poor pasta has really gotten the shaft over the past few years. Between those of you avoiding gluten and carbs and those like me avoiding mass-produced, over-processed boxed goods, finding a legitimately delicious pasta that won’t turn your insides into toxic waste has proven more difficult than it should be. But then, the other day, a gorgeous box of Sfoglini Pasta samples popped up at Artisan Cheese Company and changed the game. Their marketing alone – an outstanding website and gorgeous packaging – is reason enough to try these pastas. Couple that with the fact that Tom Colicchio serves these beauties at his restaurant and store and you definitely have that extra push to purchase a bag or two. Tommy C and pretty packaging are all well and good, but the real beauty behind these pastas are how they are made. Here’s a little backstory from the Sfoglini site: “Sfoglini is a Brooklyn based producer of small batch, freshly extruded pastas made from the finest organic semolina flour produced in America. We use traditional bronze dies which give our pasta a textured, porous surface for your sauce to cling to and we air dry at low temperatures to preserve the most nutrition and flavor.” It continues: “Sfoglini’s signature offerings include twelve organic semolina and organic whole-wheat pastas. In addition to these customary pastas, Sfoglini sources ingredients from New York City based rooftop farms and green markets to create special seasonal pastas. ” So, what you’re saying is, these pastas are made with organic ingredients, plus nutritious veggies from nearby gardens and produced in a way that preserves the integrity of the ingredients? Yeah, I’m down. Made by Steve Gonzalez, a chef for the last 14 years who has worked at revered restaurants all over the Northeast and Europe, including a Three Star Michelin restaurant in Spain, partnered with Scott Ketchum, a creative graphic genius, with extensive travels under his belt as well, to create pastas with organic and seasonal ingredients that are delivered in sustainable packaging. That, folks, is what you call pretty fucking awesome. Now, I only had a couple of samples, but I’m eager to get my hands on several more. Perhaps I should look into their ‘Pasta Of The Month Club?’ I just died over the Porcini Trumpets, which I mixed with a light cream sauce full of roasted garlic, caramelized onions and fresh basil. The texture is slightly different than traditional boxed pastas from the megamart. There’s a bit more chew and their tell-tale porousness is evident in the way the sauce clings to the pasta. On top of the already mounting pile of awesomeness listed above, Sfoglini is cool enough to offer monthly recipes featuring their magnificent pastas and a few fresh, seasonal ingredients. Let me know if you get your hands on a bag and how your meal turns out! “SO, WHAT YOU’RE SAYING IS, THESE PASTAS ARE MADE WITH ORGANIC INGREDIENTS, PLUS NUTRITIOUS VEGGIES FROM NEARBY GARDENS AND PRODUCED IN A WAY THAT PRESERVES THE INTEGRITY OF THE INGREDIENTS? YEAH, I’M DOWN.”