How An Italian Culinary Legacy Found A Home At The Ritz-Carlton

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The kitchen should feel like a home you’re invited into, and that’s exactly what we experienced with Mario Iaccarino of Casa Don Alfonso at the Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis. From Sorrento to Clayton, Mario shares how design, memory, and an open-kitchen stage turn dinner into a sensory journey—copper pans glowing, custom tiles whispering history, and wisteria captured in glass and paint. It’s hospitality you can see, smell, and taste.

We dig into the culinary mission that powers the room: safeguarding generational recipes from Southern Italy while honoring Mediterranean seasonality. The menu changes twice a year to mirror nature, with winter vegetables replacing summer favorites, except for the beloved eggplant parmigiana that never leaves. We explore how classics are reimagined with integrity—a feather-light parmigiano espuma gracing a house Caesar, a tiramisu included because guests crave it and done with precision, not shortcuts. Then comes a sweet new chapter: the Casa pastry boutique, where morning croissants, Sfogliatella, Babà, and Caprese cake meet Ritz-Carlton staples, inviting daily rituals from cappuccino to tea-time indulgence.

Mario also speaks to food as an investment in health, drawing on the Mediterranean diet’s proven benefits—extra virgin olive oil, fish, legumes, vegetables, and fruit driving longevity and heart health. From there, we switch gears to relationships and time: scheduling dates with partners, teams, and ourselves; saying yes to surprise nights out; and learning to take a small vacation from our routines to keep the spark alive. To cap the holiday mood, we share a practical guide to real Christmas trees—balsam or grand fir for that classic scent, Fraser for a clean piney note, and a few to avoid if you want aroma—plus local Missouri tree farms for a nostalgic outing.

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