Letter from the Chairman

Tony May

Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani is embarking on some exciting new initiatives. We continue to add new restaurants to our growing membership. We welcome: Remi Restaurant in New York City celebrating 16 years of bringing fabulous cuisine and hospitality of the magical city of Venice to Manhattan where Chef Giovanni Pinato dazzles the senses with inspired interpretation of classic Italian dishes; the award-winning Lugano Restaurant in Salt Lake City and Chef/Owner Greg Neville, voted Best Chef by Salt Lake City Magazine, create and recreate seasonal menus that thrive on locally grown organic produce & the freshest ingredients available.

We have initiated a new relationship with the highly regarded Culinary Program at the Food and Finance High School (FFHS) in New York City. We conducted a site visit of the school in September and met with Jessica Mates, Community Liaison for FFHS. We are exploring event ideas and collaborations that include the Student Intern Program. There is a feature article in this issue highlighting this valued new professional liaison.

Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani is participating for the first time at the Cook. Eat. Drink. Live. event in New York City featuring a GRI Pavilion that will include both Corporate and Restaurant members. In keeping with our mission we will be promoting authentic Italian products and cuisine, offering sample tastings to the thousands of "foodies" who will be attending. We will be distributing GRI promotional materials throughout the event for Corporate, Restaurant & Individual memberships. Cook. Eat. Drink. Live. is an excellent opportunity to showcase Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani and our valued Corporate and Restaurant members. Please come out and see us if you are in the New York area from November 6-8 and for more information you can visit their website.

Italian Cuisine Forever,

Tony May

GRI Presence at Major NYC Culinary Event, ‘Cook. Eat. Drink. Live.'

GRI is proud to have its own pavilion at Cook. Eat. Drink. Live. from November 6-8 in NYC. Participation for GRI members is free! This year the event expects 7,000 foodies to attend this three-day culinary experience.

With various types of restaurants participating from the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut), the event will give visitors a chance to taste an array of the area's top restaurants and their signature dishes.

GRI is proud to be teaming up with Cook. Eat. Drink. Love this year and have its own pavilion where our corporate members will also be present offering up their artisinal Italian products.

GRI Member Lou Di Palo (www.DiPaloselects.com), famed fourth-generation owner of Di Palo's Fine Foods in Little Italy, NYC, will be on hand to give a presentation on Learning History and Tradition Through Authentic Italian Products and further divulge the mission of GRI to the many attendees at the event.

If you would like to participate, please contact David Ernst (membership@gruppo.com; 646-624-2885 ext. 117). We look forward to seeing you there!

SD26 Opens!

The much anticipated opening of SD26 in Manhattan finally arrived on September 15th. GRI Founder and Chairman Tony May opened up this new New York hot spot with his daughter Marisa after having closed their former San Domenico location last year.

The New York Times ran a great article about the opening of SD26 highlighting how the atmosphere, menu and approach differ from that of the former San Domenico. Tony and Marisa cater to what today's diners want: a fun, laid back atmosphere where they can expect great food without breaking the bank.

There are three sections to the new SD26: a 140-seat fine dining area, a salumeria that sells cured meats and cheeses and a lounge that presents light, inexpensive plates and offers a very affordable prix fixe menu.

In addition to the renowned cuisine, SD26 offers an extremely unique, contemporary atmosphere featuring Italian black oak flooring, gold-leaf ceilings, Pompeian red walls and a rainbow of fiber-optic installations. Symbolic of how the Mays continue to lead the Italian restaurant industry is the ‘smartcellar,' a hand-held touch screen device used in place of a traditional wine list. SD26 is the only restaurant in NYC to offer this device, which allows you to search the approximately 1,000 wines on the wine list by red, white, rose, Italian region or varietal. The device also gives detailed descriptions of the wine.

GRI congratulates Tony and Marisa on this latest cutting-edge endeavor and wishes them all success in the future.

Food and Finance High School Meets GRI

By: Jessica Mates, Community Liaison
Food and Finance High School
525 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10019

This past summer we were doing outreach to develop more sites for our student interns. We had the good fortune to come across GRI. Here was an organization that could broaden our students' horizons and offer unique and substantial opportunities.

As the only public high school in New York City dedicated to culinary arts, the Food and Finance High School (FFHS) opened its doors six years ago. Our students hail from all five boroughs and represent the wonderful diversity of New York City. We provide our students with a rigorous academic curriculum and also introduce them to culinary arts on their first day of 9th grade. Our students take three years of cooking and baking classes and then are sent out on internships in their senior year. Students graduate with, a Regents diploma as well as food industry certifications such as ProStart, a program of the National Restaurant Association.

Just as GRI seeks to bring authentic Italian cooking to this country, we seek to bring knowledge and experience to our students so that they will be able to cook various cuisines such as authentic Italian food. We believe that with GRI's help, many of our students can become wonderful chefs, specializing in genuine Italian cooking. As our Principal, Roget Turgeon says, "The experience our students gain and the benefit to our school of being affiliated with GRI is tremendous." Already our interns are working at a GRI member restaurant - Il Gattopardo. Another helps out at the GRI administrative office.

We are looking forward to developing a speaker series/visiting chef program with GRI so that all of our students can benefit from their knowledge. Our culinary lesson plans will be enhanced by the tremendous talent of the GRI professionals. It takes a special organization to reach out and open its arms to a high school, but GRI saw our potential and committed itself to offering us its many resources. We are so grateful for the opportunity!

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If your restaurant is interested in learning more about the GRI-FFHS internship program, please contact David Ernst at membership@gruppo.com or call 646.624.2885, ext,. 117. David will be happy to explain more about the program and put you in touch with Jessica Mates who supervises the FFHS Internship Program.

Banfi Now Imports Bolla, Fontana Candida

Iconic Italian Wine Names Together Under Banfi Umbrella

A GRI member for years, Banfi Vintners has been appointed sole US importer and marketer for the internationally renowned Italian wines of Bolla and Fontana Candida, bringing together three historic names in the Italian wine business.

"These brands are true, timeless Italian classics," stated James Mariani, co-CEO and third-generation family leader of Banfi Vintners, founded by his grandfather Giovanni in 1919. "In the current economic climate, the US wine consumer has shown a growing predilection for brands that reflect real heritage, trust and reliability."

Bolla and Fontana Candida were seminal wines for generations of Americans acquiring a taste for Italian wine in the mid to late 20th century and a familiar comfort to Italian-Americans raised with respect for wine as part of the family meal. Since the repeal of prohibition in the US, Banfi has always been respected as a reliable supplier of quality Italian wines and introduced many Americans to wine through the perennially popular Riunite Lambrusco. Riunite enjoyed a record 26 years as America's most popular imported wine and remains a market leader and wine list staple today along with Bolla, Fontana Candida, and the single vineyard, super Tuscan cuvées and Brunellos of Castello Banfi. Founded by the Mariani family in 1978, Castello Banfi is recognized today as Tuscany's most honored vineyard estate.

Still wholly owned by the Mariani family of Long Island, NY Banfi Vintners celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, making it America's oldest wine importer. In addition to its new affiliations with Bolla and Fontana Candida, Banfi represents Castello Banfi, Vigne Regali, Cantine Cooperative Riunite, Maschio Prosecco, Cecchi Family Estates, Sartori di Verona and Florio Marsala from Italy, as well as Concha y Toro and Vinedos Emiliana in Chile, Trivento in Argentina, Wisdom & Warter Sherries from Spain, and Stone's Ginger Wine (UK).

Lugano's Chef and Owner Greg Neville Knows the Secret of Great Northern Italian Cooking

"Selecting the finest ingredients and letting them speak for themselves," according to Roger Toll in Delta's Sky Magazine (July 2007). This pretty much sums up Neville's seasonal approach at his highly successful Lugano Restaurant in Salt Lake City. Voted by Zagat as one of the "Top 20 Restaurants in Utah" for eight years running and also one of "America's Top Italian Restaurants," Lugano Restaurant truly prides itself on personal appreciation of its customers.

"We select a lot of seasonal organic and as many local products as we possibly can," says Neville, "but we also bring in a great deal of Italian products, for example, flour from Naples, tomatoes from Campania and olive oil, fresh truffles and other unique products from Umbria, Apulia, Piedmont and Emiglia-Romagna." Lugano's has a customer base that is well-traveled and appreciates quality ingredients. In 2010 Lugano Restaurant will be celebrating its 10th year anniversary with a variety of events. Please check their web site www.luganorestaurant.com should you be traveling to Utah any time soon. Lugano's is excited to be part of GRI and looks forward to working with fellow members.

New GRI Members Include:

Vincenti- Los Angeles- www.vincentiristorante.com

Artù Trattoria Rosticceria – Boston- www.artuboston.com

Aroma Kitchen & Wine Bar- New York City - www.aromanyc.com

Remi Restaurant- New York City - www.remi-ny.com

More information about these members to follow in the next GRI Report!

Ginger Betty's Bakery Wins Prestigious Award

Beth Veneto of GRI member Ginger Betty's Bakery loves to give ginger snaps to overseas soldiers and holiday gingerbread houses to their family members. As a result of her generosity, Beth's bakery in Quincy, MA has gotten a prestigious Defense Department honor. A Pentagon represent visited the shop in early September to present the Seven Seals Award, which is sponsored by Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR).

The ESGR is the Pentagon's chief agency to promote cooperation and understanding between civilian employers and National Guard members and reservists who work for them and may be called to active duty. The award's name refers to the seven military Guard and Reserve branches.

Veneto organizes cookie shipments and gingerbread house projects through her GI Ginger Betty Foundation.

Filippo Ristorante Hosts The Province of L'Aquila

On Thursday, October 1st, 2009 Filippo Ristorante from the North End in Boston hosted the president of the Province of L'Aquila Stefani Pezzopane and a delegation from the province. A conference on "Rural Heritage Opportunities in the Province of L'Aquila" was followed by a dinner featuring the specialties of L'Aquila.

Send us your recipes!

We would love to report to the rest of the membership what you are up to. Please let us know of your goings on by writing to info@gruppo.com.