'Authentic' Italian: Taste it
It has always been Italian. But now it's really Italian.
That's the message coming these days from restaurateurs in the North End, where the new buzzword is "authentic."
"Some of the younger chefs are using much more authentic ingredients," said Michele Topor, a trained chef who leads food tours in the North End. "They're not using domestic prosciutto; they're using imported prosciutto. [They're using a] higher quality of pasta and presenting food inspired by the way Italian food is presented in Italy."
Of the 102 eateries of all types squeezed into less than 2 square miles in the North End, Topor estimates that 80 offer authentic Italian cuisines. And as the neighborhood prepares for Friday's 15th annual Taste of the North End festival, new restaurants keep coming.
In February, Grezzo, which serves raw and organic cuisine, opened for business on Prince Street with 19 seats. In May, Damiano's, a 40-seat restaurant with an open kitchen and tapas-style dishes, is scheduled to open at 307 Hanover St.
And if the food isn't enough of an attraction, powerhouses like Tresca and Strega are doing what they can to lure the high-end dining crowd, using celebrity affiliations to enhance their images. At Tresca, hockey legend Ray Bourque is a co-owner and dines there regularly on weekends with relatives.
At Strega, actor Vincent Pastore of "The Sopranos" fame is a friend of owner Nick Varano and visits occasionally from New York. Varano touts his celebrity friendships with a wall of photographs in the restaurant.
"The quality of the restaurants has really changed over the last couple of years," said Massimo Tiberi, general manager of Tresca. "It's not the mom and pop restaurant."
The culinary evolution is matched by changes in media and marketing.
About six months ago, the glossy North End Scene magazine switched its focus from fashion to food. The magazine is backed by Frank DePasquale, who is president of the North End Chamber of Commerce and owns seven Boston restaurants, and published by Bobby DiMarzo, a photographer.
Instead of images of Italian fashion, North End Scene now publishes recipes from local chefs and stories about local eateries, Italian wines, and trips to Italy. DiMarzo said the concept is designed to promote restaurants, because the "main thing in the North End is food."
The most recent issue splashed photos of 21 North End chefs across a two-page spread, along with information about almost every eatery - from Al Dente to The Waterfront - in the neighborhood.
DePasquale and DiMarzo are distributing stacks of the publication to 20 nearby hotels in the hope that tourists will choose to eat in the North End. And at a time when Las Vegas proclaims, "What happens here, stays here," the North End Chamber of Commerce has come up with its own slogan: "My North End."
Among the goals listed on the chamber's website is an effort to revitalize the North End by working with "the regions of Italy to bring the finest food products, wines, art, mentality, and designs to enhance the neighborhood's Italian community."
DePasquale recently returned from a trip to the Amalfi Coast in search of innovative dishes.
"Our food is changing and we're changing with the times," he said. "We're getting porcini mushrooms and truffles from Italy. We're getting the best olive oils, balsamic vinegars, San Marzano tomatoes. We're getting all the beautiful wines from all over the world. You can eat as good in the US as you do in Italy."
Topor, who studied cooking in Italy in the 1980s and taught classes in this area, agrees on the quality of local restaurants, with one caveat. "Fruits and vegetables have more flavor [in Italy] because the soil is so rich," she said. "They don't irrigate as much, so flavors are intense."
Still, she said, the North End offers a cornucopia of ingredients. When the baby dandelions arrived at Alba Produce Co. on Parmenter Street last month, Topor said, residents and chefs were abuzz with excitement as they prepared dishes incorporating a vegetable that most Americans consider a weed.
Also on Parameter is Sulmona Meat Market, where the butchers typically get a whole side of a calf and cut it that day, sometimes preparing stacks of cutlets for restaurants.
Maria's Pastry Shop on Cross Street makes genuine Italian pastries daily, and Salumeria Italiana on Richmond Street sells extra virgin olive oil, rices, pastas, olives, and a host of other specialty products from the Mediterranean region.
"It's so alive here," said Topor, owner of Boston North End Market Tours. "Shopping is almost intimate. It's social. You shop every day, and you chit-chat along the way."
More than 40 restaurants are expected to participate in the 15th annual Taste of the North End, which takes place Friday at the New England Aquarium from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. The event benefits the Cam Neeley Foundation for Cancer Care, and various North End schools and recreation centers. A $95 donation is requested; 617-367-2353; tasteofthenorthend.org.
Joyce Pellino Crane can be reached at crane@globe.com.
