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Cook with Mario – March 6 and March 20
by Mario | Thu, 03/04/2010 - 16:00
Join Mario for hands-on cooking lessons in the open kitchen at Mario i sentieri, where Mario guides a small class (only nine students) through the preparation of a four-course meal (appetizer, pasta, main dish and dessert) using seasonal ingredients. After the meal, everyone sits down together to eat the delicious food the group has prepared, and to drink three kinds of wine!
Attendance is limited to nine students, and the cost is only ¥10,000, so phone 03-6418-7072 today to book your place! Classes run from 12:00-3:30 p.m. and this month will be held on March 6th and 20th.
Salvatore Licitra makes debut at Mario i Sentieri
by Mario | Thu, 03/04/2010 - 15:50
We were very pleased to welcome world famous Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra to dinner at Mario i sentieri the other night, after a performance at Suntory Hall.
Licitra made his debut at La Scala 10 years ago under Riccardo Muti and soon after landed an exclusive recording contract with Sony Music. He extended his fame beyond the classical music world when he stepped in at the last minute when Luciano Pavarotti dropped out of a performance of Tosca at New York's Metropolitan Opera House.
In case you're wondering, we didn't ask him to sing for his supper.
But how does it know al dente from scotta?
by Mario | Tue, 03/02/2010 - 17:35 
We were reading the other day about an American university team that has developed a robot it calls SnackBot. As far as we can tell, SnackBot, which incorporates a $20,000 laser navigation system and sonar sensors, exists primarily to retrieve snacks from the kitchen while you're drinking beer and watching television.
Unsurprisingly, Japanese companies are also developing robochefs, and the Motoman SDA-10 specializes in okonomiyaki. Check out the spatula hands.
None of these robochefs have mouths, however, so we're skeptical that they're able to tell when the food is perfectly cooked, an important consideration when you like your pasta al dente rather than scotta!
You can read the story here.
"The chef suggests ..."
by Mario | Tue, 03/02/2010 - 13:47
© New Yorker magazine | http://www.newyorker.com
A Spaghettini Hot Morning
by Mario | Tue, 02/16/2010 - 20:11 
On Thursday, February 11, Mario appeared as a guest on NHK's Seikatsu Hot Morning, cooking spaghettini alle vongole for host Hideo Yanagisawa and a special guest, the mezzo-soprano singer Kumiko Mori. Mario whipped up his vongole in less than 10 minutes, including the al dente pasta cooking time, and the preparation of a clams, scallops, white wine and (extra virgin) olive oil sauce. The verdict in the studio? Mori-san, who lived in Italy for a number of years, pronounced it delicious.
Spaghettini alle vongole is a very easy dish to make, and if you're interested in learning how to cook with Mario, every other Saturday he guides a small class of nine students through the preparation (and consumption!) of a four-course meal. The cost of the lesson (lunch included) is only ¥10,000; please call 03-6418-7072 to reserve a place.
Chefs make better lovers
by Mario | Thu, 02/04/2010 - 10:44
Join Mario at lunchtime (12:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.) on February 13 for a special cooking lesson and make sure you're as well-prepared for Valentine's Day as you can be ... because chefs really do make better lovers!
In addition to sitting down to eat the food we prepare, we'll be drinking sparkling wine and on the day before Valentine's Day, of course we'll be eating something sweet to finish off the meal. Oh, and there will be a lucky draw!
Attendance is limited to 40 students, and the cost is only ¥6,000, so phone 03-6418-7072 today to book your place!
Pasta ≠ spaghetti
by Mario | Thu, 02/04/2010 - 10:05
All too often in Japan, "pasta" means "spaghetti". Italians, however, eat literally hundreds of different shapes and styles of pasta, consuming around 30 kilograms per person per year! On the Mario i sentieri menu at the moment you can find pappardelle with a wild boar ragout, and that's a particularly Tuscan dish (it's also often served with a hare ragout). Pappardelle is a handmade, long, flat pasta, and the name comes from the Italian verb "pappare", which means "to gulp down". A perfect dish for a cold winter evening!
