A purveyor of Tuscan Ricotta in Williamsburg

The folks behind Lunetta, a Tuscan restaurant in Boerum Hill, have launched Salvatore Bklyn Ricotta. Betsy Devine, a sous chef at the the restaurant, along with Rachel Mark, studied ricotta making in Tuscany from a cheese maker in the tower-filled town of San Gimignano.

Devine and Mark make their ricotta using local cow's milk mixed with whey (the Tuscan version uses only whey). The milk is heated, curdled, mixed with lemon juice, then drained. The result is a light and creamy cheese, different (and certainly more delectable!) than what you'll find at your local grocers. Try it with some good quality honey and you'll imagine you are in Tuscany. Also try a dollop over some pasta pomodoro or on bruschetta.

You'll find Salvatore Bklyn Ricotta for sale at Blue Apron in Park Slope, Stinky Bklyn on Smith St. in Carroll Gardens, and Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg. Starting in April, it will be sold at Brooklyn Flea, the large outdoor market in Fort Greene (Sundays through early fall starting April 6, at Lafayette and Vanderbilt Avenue. It's also on the menu at Lunetta, 116 Smith Street, between Smith and Dean in Boerum Hill.

Now mangia!

Mario Giacomelli exhibition in New York

The Instituto Italiano di Cultura of New York has just opened an exhibition of photographs by the renowned Mario Giacomelli. Organized by the IIC's sister institute in Los Angeles, the New York presentation will be its final showing in the United States.

Born in Senigallia (Ancona) in 1925, Giacomelli began working as a typesetter at age 13. There, he discovered the world of photography, and began photographing around his hometown. Essentially a self-taught photographer, he decided to fully commit himself to phtography after World War II. Inspired by the gritty Neo-Realist films of Vittoria de Sica and Roberto Rossellini, he was drawn to an art form that offered immediacy and realistic veracity.

Although Giacomelli is one of Italy's great modern photographers, it is not yet well known in the United States. Some of the images in this exhibition are being shown for the first time in the United States. His themes are broadly universal - loneliness, old age, and death are common subjects in his work. His photos, almost always black and white, were printed to emphasize the contrasts between figures and background, thus revealing their abstract forms. Giacomelli died in 2000.

The exhibition will be on view at the Instituto Italiano di Cultura of New York through Friday, February 15, 2008

Instituto Italiano di Cultura

686 Park Avenue @ 69th Street

New York, NY 10021

tel. 212.879.4242