Hello All,

I have to say that our last event at Becco with Lidia was a great success!!  The night kicked off with Lidia making her introductions, as well as talking about how she first started in the restaurant business- working easily 15 hours a day.  She also said how incredibly supportive her mother, Erminia, was of her choice to get into “the business.”  She then went on to talk about how important education was and how she urged her son Joe and her daughter Tanya to steer clear of the restaurant business.  Advice they took to heart for a while; however, (as you know) eventually they both found their way back to the kitchen.

Billy, Becco’s executive chef, prepared a fantastic meal featuring sweet summer corn and heirloom tomatoes.  The all- around-crowd-favorite was linguine with fresh crab, sweet summer corn, heirloom cherry tomatoes, & toasted Panko breadcrumbs- paired deliciously with Friuliano from the Bastianich vineyard, in Friuli.  Billy managed to get off ‘the line’ for a few minutes to discuss the menu in depth with Lidia, which, as usual turned into quite an “Abbott & Costello” routine.  (That’s just what happens when you pair a sassy lady from Istria with an Irish-blooded chef from Long Island.)  The evening wrapped up with a delicious watermelon semifreddo, paired with Distillato d’Uva infused with cucumber, fresh mint, & basil, created specially for this event by Jeremy, our chief sommelier.

The highlight of the evening for me was getting to meet so many new ‘friends’ that I hope I will continue to see again and again at Becco.  I’ve received tons of e-mails from many of the guests saying how much fun they had and how they’re looking forward to another event.  One of our first guests wrote….

………”Last night was amazing!  I could hardly sleep from all of the excitement!”

I want to take a moment to say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all that attended this past event and a special thanks to John & Marie Jarka for being so continuously supportive of all we do.  I can’t wait to see you all again soon.

Ciao for now,

Jimmy =o)