Jeremy Ouellette
HIS BUSINESS: Pasta La Mano
WHERE: CANADA – Calgary
My first experience with Sfoglia came in 2018. I had heard of this amazing chef making pasta by hand in California. I planned a trip to Los Angeles based around eating at his restaurant, Felix. It was the most surreal pasta experience I’ve ever had. His commitment to tradition was inspiring.
I bought Evan Funke’s book, American Sfoglino, upon my return to Canada. I read it cover to cover, which introduced me to VSB Bologna. I started to plan my trip to Italy.
Life happened, and a few years went by. I decided I’d waited long enough, and applied for the professional program.
I arrived in Bologna in September 2022. Upon starting school, it was the first time in years that I felt like I had so much to learn. I’d never used a mattarello to roll out a sfoglia. I spoke almost no Italian. I couldn’t believe it when my first 20 sfoglias were not approved for tagliatelle. I mean in Calgary my pasta was considered very good!
3 months went by so fast. Thank you to my fellow sfoglini, Sofia(it would have been significantly more difficult without your translations!) and Jordan. And the wonderful team at VSB, Bert, Gaiona, Vale, Ghep and Mariotti! Of course, we cannot forget the best teachers, Ste and Maestra Spisni! You’ll all always have a special place in my heart.
Today, I run a small fresh pasta company called Pasta La Mano in Calgary, Alberta. We have a retail shop, a market stall inside a food hall, do wholesale to restaurants and ship out a direct to consumer fresh pasta kit to more than 1000 people per month!
Pasta is Life.
Keep on Rolling.
LINK:
https://www.instagram.com/chefjerbear/
https://www.instagram.com/pastalamano/
ABOUT HIM THE TEACHER SAYS:
Alessandra Spisni