Dining & Food

Dining Alone Together Made More Enjoyable

Theo Petron and Melissa Wieczorek, Co-Executive Chefs and Owners, Zest Culinary Services, are elevating the home dining experience for their customers and taking them beyond curb-side pick-up with a Chef-Led Virtual Dinner Party™ experience delivered.  The Zest chefs, known for their on-trend, creative menus and fun in-home chef experiences, have been fortunate to be able to continue offering their customized prepared meal delivery service.  But they’ve had to pivot to be able to offer dinner parties fit for a virtual world. “Many restaurants have shifted to a take-out and delivery model and customers are very happy to continue supporting them.  But it’s not the same experience. We could have simply offered delivery for parties too. But that’s just not the Zest experience. People are looking for more.  So we created the Chef-Led Virtual Dinner Party™ to help create that feeling of enjoying a fun night out and an amazing dinner with friends, a reason to put on make-up and pants that zip.", stated Melissa. Just like a ‘normal’ dinner party, clients coordinate with their guests then reserve a date and time with Zest and select their menu.  On the day of the party, in lieu of on-site service, the chefs expertly source, prepare and deliver the feast to each guest. Everyone then dials into a Zoom™ call hosted by the ever-engaging and entertaining Chef Theo who will introduce the courses, talk food and wine, along with answering any and all food-related questions. He’ll also guide the guests through heating and plating of each course. Beth and Stan L.of Jamison, are looking forward to their virtual dinner party this weekend. “We loved our past dinner party experience with Zest so we know they'll do a great job with a virtual one. It will also help us and some of our friends break the “Ground Hog Day” feeling we have during this pandemic.” Zest Culinary Services is a personal chef and boutique catering company located in Bucks County, PA with a mission to help customers “Eat Well, Live Fit and Have Fun” though food.  Services include customized prepared meal delivery, dinner parties and boutique, on-site catering. Owners and Chefs Theo Petron and Melissa Wieczorek have been proudly serving Bucks County for over 15 years. They have been featured in many publications and media outlets including Bucks Life magazine, Moxie Woman, and the NBC 10! Show. Learn more at www.zestchefs.com. To learn more about the Chef-Led Virtual Dinner Party™ experience, visit https://www.zestchefs.com/virtual-dinner-parties. To contact Melissa Wieczorek, call 215-919-9865 or email chefmelissa@zestchefs.com.

• Dining Alone Together Made More Enjoyable

The Ultimate Tomato Pie

Gino Lenti, owner of La Villa Pizza & Family Restaurant in Morrisville, learned how to cook Southern Italian food as a boy growing up on a farm in the Italian Province of Calabria. His mother taught him how to cook all the traditional foods, including pizza, which was a staple at the Lenti household. La Villa offers delicious veal, seafood, chicken and pasta entrées. The salad menu includes Antipasto Salad, Arugula Salad, Greek Salad and Tuscany Salad. But what really brings the crowds to La Villa is the Chambersburg Tomato Pie. Of course, from its beginning in 1998, Pizza has been a staple at La Villa. However, Gino heard people rave about tomato pies made in the Trenton neighborhood of Chambersburg. These pies were considered the best in area, maybe even in the United States. So in 2005 Gino had a friend take him to Trenton to try a tomato pie. The thin crusted pie was delicious, Gino thought, and he knew he could replicate it. He kept buying them and making them until he had it down to a tee. But as he made them and sampled them, he felt something was missing. Gino decided that he could make a better tomato pie than anything made in Trenton. So he started to improve the pies and the results were astounding. Streams of people came La Villa to eat pizza in, takeout or delivered. Among the improvements that Gino made was the use of an ingredient that Gino’s mother used in her pizza. This ingredient, a family secret, changed the taste very subtly and made Gino’s pies a notch better than anything being made in Trenton. In fact, his pies became so good that people came from outside the area, willing to travel way out of their way, to have a tomato pie at La Villa. When making his pies, Gino uses only the finest ingredients. Even when cheese went sky high for a season, Gino did not skimp. And for those who like their pies topped with sausage, Gino makes his own sausage. The square Trenton Tomato Pies are made in square pans imported from Calabria. La Villa Pizza & Family Restaurant is located at 21 S Pennsylvania Avenue, Morrisville, PA 19067. To see a menu, visit www.lavilla-restaurant.com. To order, call 215-736-3113 or 215- 736-3116.