- Rob Emery -

📙 My Story

I grew up in a small town in Northern California where a focus on agriculture and understanding where food comes from was taught from a very early age. I then went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to study Food Science. During my time in school I worked at the Cal Poly Creamery as a lead cheesemaker making both American style and Italian cheeses. After graduating from Cal Poly, I followed my passion for craft beer and started work in the Lab at Firestone Walker Brewing Co. While at the brewery, I ran the packaging quality program, sensory analysis program, and R&D/Special Projects. Ultimately, my curiosity and passion for travel led me to leave Firestone and spend time in New Zealand working wine harvest. After that, I ate my way all throughout Asia before ending up in Australia to work another wine harvest. When Covid ended my travels, I spent a wine harvest working in Napa but ultimately found my way back to the Central Coast where I met up with Brian Terrizzi who as fate would have it, was looking for a Production Manager just as I was looking for my next adventure. Helping to grow Etto and build a company focused on high quality and traditional pastas has been extremely rewarding and I look forward to continuing spreading my passion for good food and travel.

Eating pasta in Gragnano, the dried pasta capitol of Italy. Casarecce in a zucchini cream sauce and zucchini fritti

Eyeing a sandwich in Rome stuffed with porchetta, greens, pesto, and stracciatella

Marin and I on a cruise around Positano and the beautiful Amalfi Coast

🇮🇹 Favorite Region in Italy

I love Puglia. The ancient olive groves that run right into the brilliant blue Adriatic sea. The bleached white cities with winding streets serving up the simplest but most delicious orrecchiette made with Semolina from the endless wheat fields nearby. It's all too perfect to be real.

🍴 Best Meal in Italy

Pasta alla Genovese in Praiano

🤔 Florence, Venice or Rome?

I love Rome, it is always a great place to get your feet under you and grab some classic Roman pastas before heading out to explore the rest of Italy. There is always something new and delicious to discover in the Eternal City!

🚗 Off the Beaten path

Altamura in Apulia. Incredible historical bread and cheese in the city center.

☝️ Pointers or Tips?

Don't be afraid to try new foods! It is easy to lean on the familiar basic pizzas and pastas, but try to seek out the specialties of any region you are in. Ask your hosts/waiters what they do best as that is the best way to get great food with fresh/local ingredients.

👀 Where do you still want to visit?

I would love to travel to Sicily and visit the town that my great great grandparents were from. I'd also love to visit Calabria as I love the chilies and it seems like a less trodden area of Italy.

😱 What surprised you the most when you first visited Italy?

The hospitality! Most places have hospitality down and it seems to be just part of the culture.

❤️ What is it about Italy that really speaks to you?

The regionality is incredible. There are few places in the world that have retained their distinct regions and have such a variety of different foods, traditions, and cultures within such a small area.

🌾🍷 How does this tie in to you working at Etto/Giornata?

I am always on the hunt for new recipes to use with our pastas. My absolute favorite thing to do when traveling to Italy is trying as many pastas as possible, and bringing home recipes to recreate here.

🍝🍷 Favorite Etto Pasta/ Giornata Wine?

Favorite Pasta: Radiatori Favorite Wine: Nebbiolo

Love it!

The candies were absolutely delicious, but I’m giving it 2 stars because the shipping cost was outrageous. For $24 worth of candy, I paid almost $20 in shipping fees. It wasn’t a heavy package or super fast shipping to justify the price. In total, I ended up paying $40 for less than 1 pound of candy, which just doesn’t seem reasonable. This was my first and last time ordering from here – the shipping cost completely ruined the experience.

Hi Russ,

Thanks so much for the feedback. We are always working hard to bring down our shipping cost and provide a great customer experience. As a small, family run business it is challenging to reduce this. Unfortunately, we can only control the cost of shipping to a certain extent. Location has so much to do with it and the rates are provided to us though the carriers.

I do understand your frustration. We do have a free shipping option for all orders over $89 and we hope that some day we can lower that.

Have a great day!
Gina

Great product!! Great delivery!!

Love Etto and shipping was great

Etto is always the BEST