Cooking Class with View of the Wood-fired Oven
The end of the holiday season has afforded us the opportunity to take a breath and to start planning our dreams for the restaurants in the New Year. One of our favorite ways to express our creativity and to connect with our guests in a more intimate setting is through our class series. We started with wine lectures years ago under the direction of the ever-talented John Neumark, and, as those increased in popularity we added cocktail classes and then cooking lessons. Our design of the 2013 class series was based on our desire to focus all of our energies into a single class each month wherein several of our talented chefs, bartenders and sommeliers would team up to provide the most interesting and integrated experience possible for the attendees.
Chef Nate with Cooking Class Attendees
As in years past, the cooking lessons will continue to be held in the beautiful open kitchen at Cicchetti. New this year, our talented and beloved sommelier Salomon will be present to pour wines that match the food that is being demonstrated in the kitchen. We are particularly excited for the upcoming Beginner’s Pasta Workshop on January 19th featuring Chef Josh, Nonna Maria and Sous Chef Mako, and for the Italian Sweets class that will be co-hosted by Chef Josh and our pastry chef, Harlee Morrow.
Cocktail classes are arguably the most dynamic classes we offer, with each of our four chefs tasked with creating a dish to pair perfectly with a specific cocktail. Our extremely talented bartenders take turns teaching the classes based on their unique skills. The Resurgence of Pre-Prohibition Cocktails on September 21st already has our bartenders delving into tattered texts to learn as much as possible about some of the finest cocktails made over a century ago.
Iron Bartender at Cicchetti
Wine tastings are shifting a bit this year in a more fun, relaxing and dynamic direction. In a market saturated with vague wine jargon, we like our guests to be able to taste the wines they buy to be sure that they’re taking home a bottle they love. Sal will host a free tasting each season with new finds and old favorites available to try and buy. He will offer a free 30-minute lecture on a particular wine or region that is important to the season for those who want a more structured experience. For everyone else, there will be hundreds of bottles on display for purchase at phenomenal retail prices with our team of wine professionals on hand to answer questions. A special Saturday happy hour follows each tasting from 4:00-6:00 in the Serafina bar.
All of our classes are listed under the Events tab on the website. We can’t wait to share the things that make us feel excited about food, wine and spirits!
