Toscana Market Cooking Classes
Cooking class · Downtown ·
Italian market with bomboloni, pastries, pasta, and classes
Italian market with bomboloni, pastries, pasta, and classes
"Daniele Catalani built Toscana Market’s doughnut program around northern Italian bomboloni that are softball-sized, light, and chewy thanks to a mix of high-gluten and cake flours; a plain version dusted in sugar and lemon zest strips away competing flavors so the dough’s texture shines. Catalani tested recipes in the early-morning hours at his Cucina Al Volo stall and honed consistency once he moved into a space with commercial fryers, and since opening the day after Thanksgiving he’s had to double production as demand grew. He started by offering plain and filled versions (Nutella, pistachio spread, vanilla pastry cream) as weekend brunch specials and is now adding a bomboloni display case to showcase up to 20 rotating flavors—from birthday cake and s’mores to maple-bacon and even a smoked-salmon bomboloni with everything-spice cream cheese and caper—because customers keep coming back." - Gabe Hiatt
"I read that recently opened Toscana Market is taking preorders for a $55 pickup brunch box that feeds three to four people and includes fried Buffalo wings, beef arancini, meats, cheeses, Italian sliders, grilled vegetables, and fruit." - Tierney Plumb
"I visited the new alimentare opened the day after Thanksgiving in Mt. Vernon Triangle by chef Daniele Catalani, and it feels like a hybrid market and takeaway counter: half of the 3,000-square-foot space at 414 K Street NW is devoted to groceries (Italian olive oil, tomatoes, cookies, panettone, 10-inch focaccia, salumi, cheese sold by the wheel, and jams) while the other half sells around 15 shapes of colorful fresh pasta, soups, meal-kit boxes with regional Italian themes, frozen portions of Catalani’s pasta sauces (vodka, eggplant Norma, bolognese, and duck or lamb ragùs), and prepared pickup items such as appetizer portions of pork and meatballs, chicken Parm sandwiches, margherita pizzas and entrees like beef lasagna or pork shank ossobuco on fettuccine; a pasta box for four ($39.50) lets you choose four shapes (think green spinach fusilli or paprika-red pappardelle) and four sauces. Because the project took three years and opened during the pandemic, there are a few outdoor tables and an online ordering system, and Catalani has created a back-of-market stage for small chef demonstrations and planned cooking classes with butcher-block tables spaced more than six feet apart. I also saw the bomboloni—yeasty doughnuts dusted in sugar and lemon zest and filled with Nutella, pistachio, cannoli cream (with plans for savory versions like bacon, cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers)—which Catalani predicts will become the shop’s signature item; when they first sold them from a cart they sold out in about an hour, and for now bomboloni sales will be limited to Saturdays and Sundays." - Gabe Hiatt
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