So many people have asked me why I opened a second restaurant in San Mateo (my latest venture, Osteria Coppa), specializing in artisan pasta and artisan pizza. What can I say? Italian food is a great passion of mine. Some of my fondest memories are from travels to Italy where I enjoyed the wonderful local, fresh (and often daily) farmers markets, and the true “farm-to-table” experience. This is an exciting concept in this era of fast food, and we are fortunate to be able to implement it so well here in Northern California with such extensive local bounty.
Chef Chanan Kamen (formerly head of all things pasta at San Francisco’s Quince) visits the local farmers markets throughout the week, hand selecting produce, cheeses, and other artisan products. Chef Kamen makes and cures all of our salumi in-house, hand makes all of our pasta and pizza dough, using methods learned in European kitchens. He spent a year in Italy in the kitchen of seven different regional restaurants to experience each cooking style, six of which have one or more Michelin stars. His food is amazing.
But I guess the truth of the matter is, I really opened Osteria Coppa to have a great place to go on our weekly date nights with my wife, Julie.
