The Lasagna Monday

When your team consists of three generations and your colleagues have lived in big cities – New York, Munich, Bucharest, Vienna, Sterzing ;-), the simple task of having lunch in Brixen can prove to be quite a challenge.

Deciding where and what to eat can take from 2 to 20 minutes. This is then followed by discussions during and after the meal which can make even the toughest chef drop the towel.
But it’s one thing to dissect a burger, which is rather the bringer of peace in the team, and quite another to try to find the best lasagna in town. Then you can hear comments like:

“It has no taste.”
“It has no crust.”
“It has ONLY crust!”
“Too big.”
“Too small.”
“Too fat.”
“It needs more meat.”

So it was during one desperate afternoon, after Elia had been served a lasagna smaller than his phone battery, that we made the bold decision to hold a Lasagna Monday. But while the cheers of celebration for such a bright idea could be heard as far as Klausen, the burden of responsibility brought on the first doubts:

Sümer: “Everyone should prepare the lasagna in their own ‘style’: Italian, South Tyrolean, American, German, Romanian, etc. – i.e. an international incident waiting to happen.

Lorenz: “Um, I need to talk to my father…”

Kris: “I don’t even like pasta.”

Elijah: “My mother makes it green…”

Dorel: “Olivia (his partner) is going to kill me for agreeing to this.”

Fortunately, in the end, common sense prevailed and responsibilities were divided as follows: Lorenz and Elia, i.e. Papa Benacchio and Mama Testi, will educate our taste with some original, patented, 100% Italian lasagna as passed down in their families for generations because ‘ricetta is ricetta’. Dorel, who will wash and clean the kitchen at home after cooking, will also bring some but only because Olivia is a chef and likes to challenge herself by cooking Italian food for Italians. Kris has agreed to keep an open mind and bring a healthy appetite. Finally, Sümer will stop by Peter’s wine bar to find the right wine – next episode follows: “The search for the right wine”.

In the end, a very successful enterprise which we found out is also emblematic for the way in which we treat our projects: trust in the process; high quality and good taste need time; every single layer is important.

If you would like our recipes for your own ‘Lasagna Day’, just write us or stop by on Mondays at lunch time.