The Italian Way

I fell in love with Italian food and culture at a young age.  My mother spent her teenage years in Italy, and a typical weekday meal at my house as a child centered around pasta.  Our Christmas feasts were elaborate Italian affairs featuring sumptuous meat dishes and layered pastas, and for the longest time I thought everyone lived this way.  Despite my early initiation into the Italian way of life, I grew up being told I wasn’t Italian.  A recent DNA test through 23andMe found Tuscan heritage way back in my ancestry, however.  Dreams do come true after all.

The Italian way of life is more epicurean than how Americans live.  Pleasure takes center stage, and the Italian manner of dress and flavors of food are sensual and warm, a comforting feeling during the cold Northern winters.  Finding Italian style in the Twin Cities was difficult not long ago, but brands like Eidos Napoli, Boglioli and Aspesi - among others - have made their way to the North.  While the Italian restaurant scene in the metropolis is mediocre, it’s easy to eat excellent Italian food at home, thanks to the wonders of Cossetta.

Some of my earliest memories involve eating pizza at Cossetta.  Since their expansion and since I’ve become a dedicated home chef, I’ve developed a mature appreciation for the shrine of all things Italian.  Cossetta stocks shelf after shelf of Italian necessities, from San Marzano tomatoes to DeCecco pasta and top-tier olive oils.  The same goes for the deli and butcher shop, which features the best Italian Sausage in town and is one of the few places that consistently carries veal.  The market is filled with panettone during the holiday season and since they only import the best from Italy (and offer a wonderful house-made version), it’s hard not to walk away with five.  Sure, the prices might make one wince, but you are what you eat, so why not eat well?  

The pizza is as good as I remember in my young years.  The slices are as big as your head and the best of the lot is the sausage, where the spicy meat is married with fresh local mozzarella.  Such a simple slice gets screwed up too often, but Cossetta nails the execution time and again.  Cossetta’s brought an upscale rooftop restaurant - Louis - and a stellar pasticceria into the fold in their expansion.  I haven’t been to Louis, but the marble-clad pasticceria is a sight to behold.  Rows of intricate pastries tempt lingering shoppers, and it’s criminal to leave Cossetta without stopping to enjoy a cappuccino and cannoli.  Cossetta is the only place I’ve drank a proper cappuccino in town, where the espresso - not any fancy latte art - does the talking.  The airy cannoli cuts the cappucino’s strength and makes for a guiltless midafternoon indulgence.

At 105, the centenarian Cossetta is primed for longevity.  Generations of fans return to the restaurant and shop the market to recreate the classics of Italy and to bask in the old school atmosphere where Frankie and Dino and Tony Bennett tunes still reign supreme.  While the recent expansion brought the complex into the 21st century, Cossetta retains the spirit of la dolce vita better than any other place in the Twin Cities.  

Jacket: Barbour, Sweater: J. Crew, Shirt: Vintage U.S. Navy Chambray

Location: Cossetta