A Community Of Businesses

By supporting local businesses in your community or the communities you love (for all of you visitors to Paso) you make a difference that allows us business owners to make a difference. First of all the number of folks we employ is significant; at Etto alone combined with the Pasta Bar and winery we employ around seventy-five people in full and part-time jobs. These local people then tend to spend their money locally at other local businesses see how that works.

Studies have shown that there is a multiplier effect when money is spent locally that can provide up to a sevenfold increase in community impact vs shopping at an online behemoth like Amazon. Before I get accused of virtue signaling (I have before) or shaming anyone (I'm not perfect). We all make choices about where to spend our money and our family occasionally makes trips to Target, Trader Joes and Costco (I'm a Costco guy - see my below recommendation for the Costco Tonkatsu ramen broth).
Just be aware that when you support small local businesses like ours you make an impact that we can then spread throughout our community. We donate to various charity auctions nearly every week and so do many of our community business colleagues. Maybe you saw Stephy and I at the Cancer Support Network auction last weekend.

Etto has been active since the beginning with our mission to combat food insecurity through pasta donations to various local organizations like ALF, SLO FoodBank, and ECHO. As a food producer we are in a unique position to contribute to this worthy cause, as a larger share of folks in our community, including many children, sadly face hunger problems daily. We have been publishing our pasta donation statistics at the end of this newsletter for years.
Also, local business owners and employees are much more likely to get involved in local charity and other organizations like youth sports and the local arts than national chains and obviously large online retailers.

In the spring I joined the Board of ECHO (the El Camino Homeless Organization) and have been fortunate to be involved during the construction and completion of the new Balay Ko Family Resource Center. Not only will this center provide beds and privacy for unhoused local families, but it will also provide comfort and resources to help them find jobs and housing, including a bathtub for kids and an Idler's laundry center.

Local businesses were instrumental in raising funds and contributing to this efficient construction project both through financial contributions and by doing the physical work to make it happen. As an illustration, the local businesses below all contributed funds, time and effort to make this amazing project happen. We can do great things when we support our community business.

We are excited this coming Monday to give you an opportunity to come help them reach their goal for their Building Hope and Home Campaign that is currently 90% funded. Shop and/or dine with Etto and we will donate 10% of the proceeds to this campaign. If you can't join us you can learn more and make a donation HERE.

Ramen is Back

As the Fall chill begins to emerge our ramen is back so now I don't need to make ramen with bucatini as I did pictured above (it was good and worth a try). If you're in a pinch and have a Costco card you might want to pick up the Tonkatsu ramen broth that was a new item to me. I thought it was more than passable and while ramen purists might consider this a sellout it sure was easy. 
Lately when we make ramen we chop us any veggies that we have and add them to the top of the bowl. To this one I also cooked some ground pork Dan Dan style seasoned with the chili crunch from Sichuan Kitchen that we carry at Etto. This sauce makes a nice addition to a bowl of Ramen.

Expect Etto Ramen on the first Thursday or the month until it sells out from now until next Summer. Ramen heads rejoice.