Remember Dario Cecchini, the weird and wonderful Tuscan butcher from Heat? Well, he’s coming to Boston (OK, Southborough) this evening—fresh from a display at New York City’s Del Posto with Mario Batali—to butcher at Tomasso Trattoria. And all your favorite chefs are going to be there! (So don’t look for them at their restaurants.)
Toro’s Jamie Bissonnette, Craigie on Main’s Tony Maws, Barbara Lynch, Lydia Shire, plus folks from Lumiere, Radius, and more will trek down the Mass Pike to learn at the able hands of the eccentric meat master, who owns Antica Macelleria Cecchini in Panzano.
“He wants to spread a message of the importance of community butchers and of using the whole animal,” says Tomasso owner Tom Prince. Cecchini will break down a quarter-side of beef from JJ Farm in West Brookfield—about 250 pounds.
After the meat demo, there’ll be a public wine dinner prepped by Tomasso Chef Justin Melnick, complete with Fontodi wines. (Cecchini and Fontodi Estate’s Giovanni Manetti are pals, and Prince speculates Cecchini was lured on the U.S. trip by Manetti. “At first we thought maybe he was writing a book,” says Prince.)
Prince admits that his restaurant is somewhat out of the way but thinks Cecchini was enraptured thanks to Tomasso’s combination restaurant/market, where Prince sells wine and butchered meats. We’re already seeing more and more restaurants breaking down whole animals and fashioning mini-events out of the process; expect—nay, demand!—plenty of innovative cuts from your favorite (m)eateries in the near future.
