L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano PAGE  16 THURS DAY,   AUGUS T  22,   2013 Grand Italian Ferragosto Celebrations at Pasquini: the real taste of Casa Barbera Italian espresso sILVIA sIMONETTI On Sunday, August 17 from 5 pm Mr. and Mrs. Barbera opened their home to their guests to celebrate the Italian feast of Ferragosto, which originates from the Christian tradition honoring the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and at the same time represents the approaching end of the summer season. The joyful garden party was attended by more than a hundred Mr. and Mrs. Barbera celebrating the Italian feast of Ferragosto of dear friends of both the Barbera family and the "L'ItaloAmericano" newspaper, which was the beneficiary of the event thanks to all the generous contributions to its future development. For over 100 years the "L'ItaloAmericano" has been keeping alive strong ties with the Italian heritage by collecting and spreading information about Italy as well as about local initiatives relating to the Italian community in California. This year's festivity was organized in collaboration with the Patrons of Italian Culture, who work under the umbrella of the Federated Italo-Americans of Southern California in promoting Italian culture and history, in particular with the younger generations. In the spirit of this commit- ment the president of the association, Mr. Paul Romano, awarded the first Albert J. Casola scholarship to Valeria Galeazzi, a UCLA graduate student of Italian origins who will complete her BA in Italian studies next year. In their speeches, both Mr. Romano and Valeria underlined the importance of such a prize to encourage and support young people's interest in preserving and expanding the knowledge of Italian culture and language. The Patrons of Italian Culture and the "L'ItaloAmericano" share this common objective, therefore Mr. Romano also praised and thanked Mr. Barbera for his hard work to enhance the newspaper as well as for his warm hospitality. During the evening, a delicious buffet dinner was served by the house pool, combined with Pinot Noir and other Italian wines, while the sponsors Pasquini coffee, Ventura limoncello and Bulgarini gelato delighted guests with their original and amazing tastes. The representatives Matteo Pasquini, Manuela Zaretti and Leonardo Bulgarini were invited sauce, beans, pasta and other exquisite food products were offered as prizes for the rich and playful raffle presented by Mr. Barbera himself together with Mrs. Margherita Palumbo Underhill. Later on, the event was cheered up with live entertainment provided first by the talented vocalist Debi Raven, and then by the hilarious show run by "The Meatballs of Comedy" Joey Sorice and chef Eva Miller, comedians Mel Kohl and Brian Sheil whose jokes, sketches and songs really amused the audience. On the whole, it was a very pleasant afternoon that everybody enjoyed thanks to the nice weather, great food and lovely company. The staff of the "L'ItaloAmericano" would like to warmly thank Josephine and Robert Barbera for the wonderful reception, as well as all the supporters and contributors to the newspaper who deserve the credit for allowing us to do our job in the best possible way. We look for- Mr. Paul Romano awards Valeria Galeazzi with the first Casola scholarship on stage by the host to be acknowledged for their valuable contribution. In addition, Italian wine, tomato ward to seeing you again next year and celebrate together another happy Ferragosto "Italian-style". Matteo Pasquini preparing his famous cappuccino sILVIA sIMONETTI On the occasion of Ferragosto celebrations at Casa Barbera, we met the representative of Italian coffee in Los Angeles, Matteo Pasquini, and learned about his family business while enjoying a delicious cappuccino. Let's start from the beginning… In 1955 my father came to the United States and opened his own business "Moka D'Oro", as there were no cafés in Los Angeles at that time. But it was very hard to import coffee from Italy, and he had few customers, so he closed it and went to work as a manufacturer of military parts. He made another attempt in 1957 by selling espresso machines imported from Italy, and two years later he established a new espresso bar on Sunset Strip called "Via Veneto", which became a meeting point for Hollywood celebrities. In the early '60s, when the area started to change, he sold the place and took us on our first family trip to Italy for about nine months. When we came back, Bullocks Department Store offered him to take part in the "Italian Week" with an espresso cart in Downtown: the initiative was so successful that he was given a permanent spot from 1959 to 1984. With four cafés owned in Los Angeles, my father also reopened the selling business, using his technical skills to modify and even build his own espresso machines named after my grandmother Livia. The first residential cappuccino machine ever manufactured in the US was a Pasquini. What do you think is the difference between Pasquini and big coffeehouse chains? Our coffee is original, it tastes Italian. In Italy you can find a good coffee almost everywhere, which means that it isn't difficult to make, but you need to know how it tastes. Most famous coffeehouses do an amazing marketing job…without knowing what coffee is! Pasquini just can't market itself out of a paper bag. We commit to have the best product (through our in-house roasting facility), the best machines, and the best customer service. Our technicians who came from other companies may have experience working on espresso machines, but with us they also learn about coffee. What are Pasquini's future goals? We are growing. Just like in Hollywood in the '70s and '80s, today we take part as sponsors in special events involving both the Italian-American and local community. We provide restaurants, hotels and institutions (J.P.Getty Museum, Disneyland) with our coffee, high-tech machines and components, and the best technicians in the country. Now we have focused on the California, Arizona and Nevada markets, leaving other States to our partner Cimbali's distributors. Proud of our Italian origins, Pasquini still remains an American company, and we know how important customer service is. I just make and serve a real Italian espresso or cappuccino, and let people decide whether they like it or not. Sometimes it is the best they have ever had, and when my customers can taste it and understand the difference, then my mission is accomplished.

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