In Davidson County there are more than two dozen restaurants that claim—some with good reason, some with not-so-good reason—to be Italian. They range from take-out fast-food to white-linen Continental. But nowhere in Nashville will you get a more concentrated dose of Italy than at a charming little market that recently opened in Paddock Place.
And there’s no better time to sample the flavors of Taste of Italy than on a Saturday morning, when, it seems, much of our Italian and Italian-American community drops by to pick up some pasta, some meats and cheeses, a link of homemade sweet or hot Italian sausage, and a cappuccino and a biscotti. On a Saturday morning, for example, I encountered Pino Squillace, the Calabria-born and Milan-bred owner of Caffé Milano, who came in for an espresso and stayed for a couple of hours, sampling the cheeses and visiting with Taste of Italy’s owner, Carlo Giordano. Or you might stumble upon my friend Judy Wright (née Culotta), who has been back half a dozen times since our first visit, or attorney Michael Geracioti, who stops by on a weekly basis.
Giordano is a native of Imperia, on the northwestern coast of Italy in the Liguria region. His culinary pedigree stretches back 150 years, which is how long his family has been in the olive oil business. His great-grandfather, his grandfather, and his mother are all members of the Berio clan, and that name is familiar to any American who has ever bought olive oil. Giordano first visited Nashville three years ago when one of his sons was making plans to attend Vanderbilt University. Carlo liked our community and returned to settle here with his wife, Marie (who is French). Just six weeks ago, they opened Taste of Italy.
Like several other ethnic food outlets that have recently opened in Nashville, Taste of Italy is a market doing double-duty as a restaurant. Giordano didn’t plan it that way. “We didn’t have the idea to be a restaurant,” he says in his heavily accented but impeccable English. “This is a small space, but people are wanting to eat here.” As word has spread—in English or Italian—about the delights to be found at Taste of Italy, the three tables and the stools at the counter have been filling up at lunchtime, spilling over to the outdoor seating on pleasant days.
The center of the small store is mostly taken up with shelving, stocked with colorfully packaged Italian gourmet food products, but the place never feels cluttered or busy. The shelves are filled with olive oils, Torrefazione and Lavazza coffees, dry pastas, olives and peppers in jars, sauces, spreads, and pesto (imported from Liguria, the dream land of pesto lovers). Refrigerated cases hold packages of vacuum-packed gnocchi and pasta, premade desserts, Italian waters and sodas, and prepacked cheeses and meats.
But it’s the deli case that is most irresistible. If you’re like me, you’ll have your nose pressed up against the glass for an eye-level look at the glistening pink prosciutti: prosciutti cotti, which are different from the prosciutti crudi most Americans are familiar with. The latter are raw hams, aged and salt cured. But prosciutto cotto is cooked, and the result is a much milder, almost buttery flavor. Taste of Italy carries both versions of prosciutto, and either is superior to what you are probably accustomed to, unless you make frequent trips to Emilia-Romagna and the Veneto. If you ask nicely, Marie will gladly cut you a thin slice of Ravognati prosciutto cotto or San Daniele prosciutto crudo— and you can decide for yourself.
You’re also welcome to sample the imported ricotta, which will make you swear that you’ve never tasted ricotta before. Taste of Italy boasts weekly deliveries of cheeses, including ricotta, Bufala mozzarella, pecorino Romano, and stracchino. Carlo warns that, for that reason, some cheeses or meats are occasionally in short supply. That’s a comfort if you are concerned about freshness. In addition to the various prosciutti, you can take home a pound of sliced salami, pepperoni, mortadella, capacollo, or pancetta, each of which will be carefully wrapped in white butcher paper, taped up, and handed to you as if it were a gift, which is just what it is.
Glass dishes hold glistening slivers of grilled eggplant, peppers, zucchini, artichokes, and baby carrots, marinated in herbed olive oil. Order them by the pound, or enjoy them in a vegetarian sandwich, served on sliced bread from Provence Bakery, toasted on the panini grill, then topped with fresh mozzarella and tomato. The vegetables are imported from southern Italy, but they’re prepared here.
Four traditional panini on toasted baguettes—a breaded veal cutlet, Parma ham, cooked ham, or mortadella—are offered as well. All sandwiches are made while you watch, which means that they take a little longer than your average deli sandwich. As Giordano points out, there is an art to slicing the prosciutto, and the process simply can’t be rushed.
For a lighter lunch or a snack, try one of the four bruschetti. The name for these open-face sandwiches comes from bruscato, which means that it has been toasted in the oven or on a grill. The classic bruschetta is simply a slice of coarse bread, toasted and rubbed with garlic, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt. But there are countless variations of the classic, including the Apulian frisella with tomatoes and fresh basil; a version with roasted peppers and fresh robiola; and the farmer’s bruschetto with salami, pecorino Romano, and freshly ground pepper.
For the perfect side order—or a take-home treat—try the fabulous Arborio rice salad, a dense, creamy, rich mix of cold cooked rice, artichokes, tuna, olives, provolone, and ham.
Taste of Italy is not large enough for a standard kitchen, but that’s not keeping them from offering the best baked pastas I’ve sampled in a long time. A satellite kitchen, under Carlo’s direction, is working magic, producing the lightest and most delicate lasagna, manicotti and canneloni. When Tyler Wright, all of 8 years old, sampled the lasagna, his spontaneous response was, “Mommy, this tastes just like your garden smells!” (From the mouths of babes...) When asked to divulge his secret, Carlo just shrugs and says, “There is no mystery. There is only one way to make lasagna bolognese—a ragu, bechamel sauce, and parmesan cheese. It’s simple.”
Unfortunately, that is the secret that evades so many. Italian food really is simple, but that doesn’t make it easy. Italians are among the world’s pickiest eaters, making endless demands on their restaurants and their chefs. “If you don’t cook good food [in Italy], you will close,” says Carlo.
It’s not just the food that Italians savor, of course. It’s the ritual of food. It’s talking, tasting, touching, looking, drinking, and, above all, taking the time to appreciate every nuance of the table. Anyone who doesn’t understand that should, for starters, rent the movie Big Night, a gorgeous, almost unbearably lusty celebration of Italian food and culture. Then drop by Taste of Italy, spend a few hours over a cup of espresso, eavesdrop on the musical flow of conversation in front of and behind the counter, and absorb the flavor and passion of Italia. You’ll never eat at one of those spaghetti-western fern bars again.
Taste of Italy is located at 73 White Bridge Rd. in Paddock Place Shopping Center (615-354-0124). Open Mon.-Sat. 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Catering available on 24 hours notice. Credit cards accepted.
