09-02-2016
Maico Campilongo, right, with Apulian chef Krystian D'Angelo. Together with Maico’s brother Franco, they are the ones behind the success story of restaurant-pizzeria Terún in Palo Alto, California
What can you do if you have an Italian restaurant in Palo Alto, California, and some foods such as salami from Calabria can’t be imported from Italy, for some obscure reasons? Or what can you do if you want a locally produced mozzarella in the States? Let’s start from an article from 2006 on the Los Angeles Times. It basically said: you probably have never heard of Vito Girardi, but perhaps you’ve swooned in front of his cheese. He’s the man who introduced burrata to America.
Vito Girardi with his Gioia Cheese introduced burrata to the American clients
The triptych works marvellously: Chefs' Warehouse wants to sell all available products; Gilberto has every advantage in selling Chefs' Warehouse’s excellent products; restaurant-pizzeria Terun wants the best and would like everything it offers to be made in Italy. Sometimes, however, this really isn’t possible.
The Campilongo brothers with their parents in front of their restaurant in California
The best solution is not to be satisfied with mediocre products. There’s a different way out: find someone who can make those products here, but well. For instance, there’s Gioia Cheese Company near Los Angeles, which has been producing fiordilatte mozzarella and burrata as fragrant as the Italian ones since 1994. It belongs to the Girardi family, originally from Bari, with a very long history in the business. Or we can move to Wisconsin, where they make an excellent ricotta. The company’s name: Grande Cheese.
The headquarters of Grande Cheese Company in Wisconsin
So now, what I’m asking is, is this the possible answer? You tell me.
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Born in 1973 in Scalea (Calabria) the son of a bricklayer and a housewife, after studying engineering he arrived on the West Coast with his brother Franco, and opened pizzeria Terún in Palo Alto. A success: it became a favourite for Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg, or Apple’s CEO Tim Cook. Now he’s doubled with iTalico, dedicated to pasta