You Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Menu at Cucina di Paolo

“The culture of food and wine is what Italy is all about, and I was in absolute shock and awe of the simplicity of Italian cuisine, and at the complexity it achieved by using the food for what it was meant to be, and not some grandiose production.  It was just really good, simple food – and I couldn’t get enough of it.”

What does great Italian food have in common with Michael Jordan?  Simple: both cause you to redefine the genre they represent.  And while I’d much rather eat good food than play basketball, I can appreciate anything that sets a new standard for how I look at what I thought I knew.

Back in the halcyon days of our youth, my wife and I spent three weeks bumming around Italy (considering how close we came to being busted for vagrancy in a campground in Milano, I’m being as literal as I am figurative when I use the expression “bumming around”).  Although I grew up in San Francisco, a city with a rich Italian heritage, my conception of the cuisine was pretty much limited to pizza and spaghetti.  A week living with an Italian family in a small mountain hamlet not far from the Austrian border, however, tore off my gastronomical blinkers.  I was reminded of that awakening the first time I set foot in Cucina di Paolo.

Paul put himself through Boise State University as the chef for The Flicks, where he worked from 1988 to 1983.  “Mary Jean was the floor show, and I was the back end guy,”

It turns out that Paul Wegner, chef and owner of Cucina diPaolo, had a similar culinary awakening when he went to northern Italy as a twenty-two year-old American serviceman.  He and his wife and restaurant co-owner, Mary Jean, continue to work through the consequences of Paul’s revelation, which is best expressed in the display cases that greet you when you walk through the door of their restaurant – if Mary Jean doesn’t grab your attention first.

Paul Wegner has been cooking since 1973, starting with his family’s restaurant, The Lantern Pizza, in southeast Idaho.  He worked his way through school as a short order cook, pantry cook, and line cook.  It was during his sojourn in Italy, however, where he was stationed about 30 km from Venice, that Paul realized that his perception of Italian cuisine as a boy from small town Idaho was a pale reflection of the genuine article.  “The culture of food and wine is what Italy is all about, and I was in absolute shock and awe of the simplicity of Italian cuisine, and at the complexity it achieved by using the food for what it was meant to be, and not some grandiose production.  It was just really good, simple food – and I couldn’t get enough of it.”

Returning to Idaho, Paul put himself through Boise State University as the chef for The Flicks, where he worked from 1988 to 1983.  “Mary Jean was the floor show, and I was the back end guy,” Paul remembers.  During this period, Paul began some serious kitchen R&D on the ultimate lasagna recipe – a Grail Search that would take him years to achieve.  Once completed, however, Paul and Mary Jean launched Cucina di Paolo as a catering business, and 17 years later, largely on the strength of the reputation their lasagna had built through downtown Boise’s Public Market, they opened their restaurant at its location on Vista, just below the iconic Maytag Washer Woman, near the intersection with Overland.

“The visual merchandising of the food is crucial to the success of our restaurant,” Paul is quick to point out.  “When people can see it, they want to engage you about it, and this adds to the experience of walking into Cucina di Paolo.”

My very first experience walking into Cucina di Paolo brought back memories of my time in Italy, and walking into little bistros and trattorias, where being able to point to something I thought looked good was a thankful alternative to trying to decipher a menu in a language I couldn’t understand – or subjecting the owners to my godawful Italian.  Staring at the displays of pasta, meat entrees, side dishes, and desserts, I found myself saying, “I don’t need no stinkin’ menu”, and instead pointed to an item and asked Paul, “So, what’s this all about.”  His answer was like culinary dial-a-porn: “This is our Chicken Fiori. It’s a local, free-range breast of chicken that we stuff with prosciutto, fresh spinach and mozzarella, roll in bread crumbs, sear then serve over fettuccini with our house ragu.”  Five minutes later I regained consciousness and ordered it.

“The visual merchandising of the food is crucial to the success of our restaurant,” Paul is quick to point out.  “When people can see it, they want to engage you about it, and this adds to the experience of walking into Cucina di Paolo.”  I often find myself struggling with how to describe the culinary mission of Cucina di Paolo whenever I recommend it to folks.  Turns out Paul has the same challenge, but being less of a “word nerd” than I, he takes a different approach: “I want people to understand my philosophy about cooking by letting them taste it.  I’ve tried to stay true to the simplicity of Italian cuisine and my relationship with it.”

“We are a market-to-table kind of business,” Paul explains.  “We work with as many local folks as we can — Hardball Farms, Meridian Meats, Black Canyon Elk Farm, and friends and affiliates at the public market.  This is true to the experience of Italy, with its open-air markets.  We are in a region that has wonderful access to fabulous foods, like Emmett for cherries, Marsing for peaches, and huckleberries from Coeur d’Alene.”

Part of the genre-busting beauty of Cucina di Paolo is, in fact, that Paul and Mary Jean borrow as much from the Pacific Northwest as they do from Northern Italy.  Mary Jean does all the baking, and credits the constant array of desserts to a “short attention span” – not necessarily a liability in a baker with a fascination for new recipe ideas.  Another important aspect of the restaurant is Cucina di Paolo’s relationship with local growers and food producers.

“We are a market-to-table kind of business,” Paul explains.  “We work with as many local folks as we can — Hardball Farms, Meridian Meats, Black Canyon Elk Farm, and friends and affiliates at the public market.  This is true to the experience of Italy, with its open-air markets.  We are in a region that has wonderful access to fabulous foods, like Emmett for cherries, Marsing for peaches, and huckleberries from Coeur d’Alene.”

For your first taste of Cucina di Paolo, Paul recommends the lasagna that he spent years perfecting, but you can’t go wrong with the Chicken Fiori.  Paul also recommends any of their soups, made from scratch, and their quiches and other comfort foods like mac and cheese and a hardy chipolte meatloaf.  Oh…and don’t forget side dishes of wild mushrooms and risotto…and of course, any of Mary Jean’s desserts.  Says Paul, “On any given week you’ll walk about with something good in your mouth, and a good feeling in your soul.”

In 2005, Paul Wegner decided to further his culinary chops and became a certified executive chef through the American Culinary Association.  “It lends credibility to my seriousness about my craft through affiliation with an association that recognizes what I do as a legitimate profession”.  All I can say, Paul, is you don’t need any credentials when your food does the talking.

Just look for the Maytag Washer Woman on Vista

Cucina di Paolo is located at 1504 Vista Avenue in Boise.  It’s open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, but evening closing is at 7 pm, so get there early.  You can also get your meals to go, and you can call ahead at 208-345-7150.

A Behind the Menu inside tip: You can bring your own lasagna pan and get it custom filled with Paul and Mary Jean’s famous lasagna.  You can decide whether or not you fess up to its origins if you’re having company over.