Food Philosophies of Bella Notte
Mission Statement: Find the freshest, highest quality ingredients and do as little to them as possible. If it is not the freshest and highest quality ingredient, remove them from the equation.
To know Bella Notte is to know a little about Italian culture. In Italy, we would go to the store and see what was fresh and plan our menu from the selection at the market as well as rely on the towns' farmers, cheese makers, florist, etc. to take care of the rest of our needs. If we wanted eggs, then the local chicken farmer would bring us eggs, ricotta was delivered still warm every afternoon and so on. This is prevalent in the restaurants as well as the livelihood of the Italians. We usually plan what we want to eat and go the store and purchase the foods, come home and prepare them; whereas in Italy you plan what you eat from the selection of the best and available. All foods are produced and kept in local regions; there is very little distribution of fresh foodstuffs throughout the regions.
We have adopted this philosophy at Bella Notte to where we utilize locally grown vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, fruits, lamb, and rabbit whenever possible. We are always looking to support the community by supporting any local products we can get our hands on thru programs such as Kentucky Proud, a farmers community that specialize in mostly organically grown and certified produce, fruits, meats and game, as well as any word of mouth. We love when farmers show up at the door with a box of ripe, sun-warm tomatoes or fresh produced goat's milk cheese.
We grow many herbs at Bella Notte that are used extensively throughout our menu and features including basil, oregano, mint, sage, thyme and lavender. It is a daily routine to go to our front garden and clip the tops and sprigs as preparation for the evening's service, either as garnish or for a bright addition to any of our al minute (made to order) pan jus lie sauces.
Our chefs are solely responsible for all butchering and fabrication of meats and fish on a daily basis. Our fish is wild, never farmed and line caught when possible. Fish arrives every morning and is scrutinized first by the steward and then the chef di partie for quality and accuracy. It's not only important that the fish is day boat fresh, but it must be free of any blemish that would be the result of mishandling on the fish mongers part such as water/ice damage, tears, punctures and so on. The fish is immediately fabricated and brined in a sea water salinity solution for flavor, moisture balance and quality control. We receive a lot of our meats from Critchfield meats, a local butcher shop, in as whole a state as is practical. Our steaks are not only hand cut, our pork and veal racks are frenched and trussed in house, we cure and age our own pancetta, we cure our own salmon graved lox, we make our balsamic vinaigrette from scratch daily, as well as blending our own spice rubs, marinades and bread herbs. And on occasion we make pasta from scratch.
Another unique component of Bella Notte is the access to a brigade of chefs that will make simple modifications up to complete recipe creations to accommodate our guest. We have a large following of allergy restricted patrons that come to us because of the flexibility our restaurant is able to offer due to so many food items being made from scratch every day, including to the minute sauce preparations. We are able to leave out ingredients or simply adjust quantities to adequate just about any request.
Bella Notte is a large restaurant that can accommodate intimate dinners for two, private parties up to 60 persons, as well as open banquets that would comfortably accommodate 100 people by utilizing our enclosed patio with our enoteca (wine bar). A five star chef ready to consult and refine your menu needs from passed hors de oeuvres, country club style buffet, wine tasting formal and non-formal to even easily accommodating 7-11 course Dégustation dinners with a comfortable range of truffles and foie gras to a perfect fish and chips sandwich.
Bella Notte also excels in corporate dining/chef with plenty of items to choose from for long travel times or special occasion selections. Our chef coordinator is ready to put a menu together that will meet all expectations as well as giving you the flexibility and limitless possibilities of personal creations with our five star chef.
Birthday celebrations? Consult with our pastry chef to create cakes for 2-10 persons. Trained in Colle val d'Elsa, Siena at Ristourante Arnolfo, a two star Michelin rated restaurant, specializing in chocolate.
Bella Notte offers career opportunities to those looking to excel in the hospitality industry. Hands on training including front of house service to management in bar service and general management as well as joining our kitchen brigade of 22 chefs from morning steward responsibilities and daily from scratch mise en place including knife skills, vegetable preparations, sauces, roasting, light baking, butchering and fabrication as well as artisan skills such as operating our wood burning brick oven and wood burning grill. At high volume energy and artistic plate presentations, the environment is invigorating, challenging as well as instantly and highly rewarding. Not a lot of careers over the chance to create and control an experience quite like cooking, and not nearly at the pace we offer. How many jobs can give you upwards of 185 perfect executions/rewards a night? And that is just your station; now sync that experience with the rest of your team and impress 600 people on a given Saturday with perfectly cooked, artistically garnished, simply crave-ably delicious food, minute after minute. The rush is magnificent, tremendous energy, followed by great waves of accomplishment, satisfaction and the knowing that you did it!