L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano A lot of people in L o s A n g e l e s , especially base- b a l l f a n s , w i l l miss eating at the stadium during a Dod- g e r s ' m a t c h : f o o d h a s a l w a y s b e e n p a r t o f t h e experience. Fries, hot dogs, nachos, carne asada, you name it, you could find it all at the stadium. Michael Jacobs, CEO a n d f o u n d e r o f L A - b a s e d H o m e T e a m K i t c h e n s , a c o m p a n y t h a t f o c u s e s o n creating delivery dishes for chain restaurants and other organizations, decided that the pandemic was not going to rain on fans' parade for the upcoming baseball sea- son. So he teamed up with the Dodgers to make delive- ries to Hollywood and West Hollywood by creating a ser- vice called Home Plates that c a n b e f o u n d o n t h e Postmates app. "To me there's no baseball season without a Dodger Dog and so now we're able to deliver that experience for the fans t o t h e i r h o m e s , " s a y s M r Jacobs. Food is prepared out of a s i n g l e g h o s t k i t c h e n i n Hollywood, but there are plans to expand it to 25 loca- t i o n s t h r o u g h o u t L o s Angeles so deliveries can be faster and fresher. Jacobs also wants to partner with sports bars to open several dine-in options: "We intend to enlarge the scale and deli- ver to many more zip-codes in the city." "We will bring a unique experience to our customers' doorsteps through this deli- very-first concept when LA baseball fans need it most," c o m m e n t e d E r i c E d g e , head of marketing and com- munications at Postmates. What's significant is that, behind this great idea, there is Italian creativity, coming from Massimo Noja De Marco, a business man ori- ginally from Milan but long r e s i d e n t o f t h e U n i t e d States. Massimo is co-foun- d e r a n d C O O o f H o m e Team Kitchens and has a l i f e t i m e o f e x p e r i e n c e i n food, having owned many restaurants and worked with industry icons like Wolfgang Puck. He was named one of the ten most powerful peo- ple in the foodservice indu- stry by Nation's Restaurant News. " B r i n g i n g t h e D o d g e r s Experience to people's living r o o m s w a s a d r e a m t h a t Michael and I both shared for a while." Massimo tells m e . " S o w h a t ' s o n o u r menu? Well, fans can choose t o h a v e D o d g e r s D o g s , Helmet Nachos, Brooklyn Dodgers Pizza and gelato in the comfort of their home, sitting on their couch." Exactly, gelato. That's t h e I t a l i a n t o u c h o f t h e Dodger menu that Massimo included to the services, the Dodgers' Blue Gelato . The addition was made pos- sible by an entirely Italian team effort. The flavor was in fact exclusively created by G e l a t o G o , a n a r t i s a n a l gelato brand with stores that s p a n f r o m F l o r i d a , L o s Angeles, Hong Kong and, s o o n , H a w a i i . T h i s l i n k between the Italian gelato franchise and Massimo was Mara Olivetta, a philanth- r o p i s t a n d i n v e s t o r f r o m Turin, Italy. "I followed all the process between Gelato Go and the Dodgers. They worked in their laboratory for weeks to craft a special f l a v o r , n o t o n l y w i t h a n amazing taste but also beau- tiful to look at." She says. "We created at first hand- crafted vanilla with natural blue color, a color that was c o n c e i v e d a n d c r e a t e d through a combination of natural dyes such as blue- b e r r y a n d r e d f r u i t s . W e imported our gelato machi- ne from Italy so that we can keep our recipes artisanal." Alessandro Alvino, co- founder of Gelato Go, states. "We have also been working on two other flavors, a fancy one, which will have a base of wild berries and cream, while the last one will be c h o s e n b y a p l a y e r e v e r y month. The player will tell us what his dream gelato fla- vor is and we will make it." "Our gelato is first pre- p a r e d w i t h s e l e c t e d r a w materials, then pasteurized and finally whipped with a c r e a m y r e s u l t t h a t t r u l y recalls an Italian summer afternoon." He adds. "Our s e c r e t i s t h e m e t i c u l o u s search of the ingredients used in each of the recipes, imported from our home- land of Italy and from all over the world. Some of the ingredients we use in the production of our gelato are p i s t a c h i o s f r o m B r o n t e , S i c i l y , h a z e l n u t s f r o m Langhe, Piedmont, and we e x c l u s i v e l y u s e V a l r h o n a chocolate, which sources cocoa beans of the finest variety from a plantation in Venezuela." "It's amazing for our com- pany to work with such a great reality in Los Angeles, everybody loves the Dodgers and it's a dream to be part of it. As Italians, it's a great satisfaction that the official Dodgers gelato will be 100% I t a l i a n . T h i s i s n o t something completely new for us: we have already expe- rienced multiple partnershi- ps with other brands like Ferrari USA, Bulgari, Furla, Peroni and soon it will be A c e t o B a l s a m i c o d i M o d e n a ' s t u r n , " s a y s Domenico D'Addio, co- founder of the Italian fran- chise with Alvino. "We have The official Dodgers gelato will be 100% Italian SILVIA GIUDICI been working on this project for a while and we are thril- led to launch it - especially in a moment full of uncer- tainty and with retail sales r e l y i n g m o s t l y o n o n l i n e delivery platforms." Beside the Dodgers' Blue Gelato and in addition to the Dodger Dogs and Brooklyn Dodger Dogs, it will be pos- sible to order micheladas, garlic fries, carne asada ,hel- met nachos and some dishes c r e a t e d s p e c i f i c a l l y f o r Home Plates, including a Brooklyn-style pizza. The full menu includes a selec- tion of burgers, tater tots and chicken tenders as well. All the food will be made a t t h e n e w H o m e T e a m K i t c h e n s r e s t a u r a n t i n Hollywood. The restaurant will start with delivery and may open for dine-in service in the future. And the sta- dium food will be available year-round, not just during the baseball season. Home T e a m K i t c h e n s e m p l o y s technical innovations, inclu- d i n g h e a l t h i e r a i r f r y i n g r a t h e r t h a n o i l , a n d u s e s moisture-reducing packa- ging technology to ensure freshness. "Los Angeles sports fans will now have year-round access to their favorite sta- dium flavors, whether it's for a gourmet game day, cele- bration or just to satisfy an e v e r y d a y c r a v i n g , " s a i d Tucker Kain, president of D o d g e r s B u s i n e s s Enterprise. "The coronavi- r u s a c c e l e r a t e d w h a t w e thought was a cool brand extension for us. We want to build a bridge with fans in a meaningful way, given that the live experience isn't avai- lable." Alessandro Alvino, co-founder of Gelato Go, the company behind the Dodgers' gelato (Photo: Gelato Go) LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY Dodgers gelato is, of course, blue, but its color is fully natural! (Photo: Gela- to Go)

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