There’s a mini Italian food empire growing in Fort Greene, and the two women leading it brought back from Italy a passion for food and a savvy for business.
LaRina Pastificio & Vino, an inviting new Italian neighborhood restaurant in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, offers an extra perk: a retail counter well stocked with food made both in-house and imported from Italy. Silvia Barban is the chef and an owner.
“You Can’t Buy Happiness, But You Can Buy a Bowl of Pasta,” reads the sandwich board outside of LaRina Pastificio & Vino, a Fort Greene newcomer from the Aita team. “And That is Pretty Much the Same Thing."
We make everything ourselves,” says Silvia Barban, chef and another of LaRina’s partners. “Every day, we make fresh pasta, of course, but I like to put my own twist on things.”
Among the eight contestants is Silvia Barban, the executive chef of Aita in Clinton Hill and the executive chef and owner of LaRina Pastificio e Vino in Fort Greene.
“Just being on the show for me is a big achievement,” said Silvia Barban, who co-owns Italian eatery LaRina Pastificio and Vino in Fort Greene and is the executive chef at Clinton Hill’s Aita. “I’m a huge fan of ‘Top Chef’ and it was a dream come true.”
Silvia Barban, Jim Smith, Katsuji Tanabe and John Tesar, four contestants who competed in the season 14 of “Top Chef: Charleston, South Carolina,” will be cooking at the 20th annual Meals on Wheels Delaware fundraiser at the DuPont Country Club.