Throughout centuries of agriculture, many of our crops have been hybridized in order to isolate their more marketable qualities. Generations of crossbreeding the various types of tomato, the tomato gene pool has been heavily homogenized. As the species loses its diversity, we are not only losing an exciting array of culinary options, but we are also leaving our remaining tomatoes vulnerable to pests and disease. This is why it is so important to protect our heirloom tomatoes.

Heirloom tomatoes are not, by themselves, a tomato species. Rather, the term can be applied to any type of tomato gene pool that has been preserved and passed down for an extended period of time. In commercial agriculture, an heirloom tomato can be any open-pollinated tomato variety that has been in circulation for at least fifty years.

Unfortunately, many surviving heirloom tomatoes are disappearing as small family farms shut down. The good news is that an increased demand for such tomatoes is better assuring the survival of remaining varieties. At Amaro Bistro, we are doing our part by making use of heirloom tomatoes in many of our dishes. Visit our Bothell Italian restaurant for an heirloom tomato formaggi today!

No celebration in Italy would be complete without a hearty meal, and Christmas in Italy is marked with not one, but three traditional meals.

• The Vigil: Also known as the Feast of the Seven Fishes, this meal is enjoyed on Christmas Eve. Historically, it was the custom to forego meat on this day, so people began to turn to seafood as an alternative protein. Many households will indulge in a selection of fish-based dishes, and then go to Midnight Mass.
• Natale: The most important of the traditional Christmas meals, this is generally a lunch eaten on Christmas Day. It is a lavish occasion, where hosts will expand their tables to entertain their friends and families.
• 28: The day after Christmas is known as Santo Stefano. Those who hosted Natale are likely to call upon their more distant relations. Some people will eat leftovers from the past two days, while others will take a break and go to a restaurant.

If you would like to add a bit of Italian charm to your own holiday season, consider a visit to Amaro Bistro in Bothell.

Quinoa is a seed that is native to the Andes Mountains has been cultivated as a food source since ancient times. Though not itself a grain, it is often used as a substitute for nearly any other grain. To this end, it possesses many advantages both as a food and as a crop.

As quinoa is related to spinach, it possesses many strong nutritional attributes that have made it popular as a health food. It is a rich source of protein, potassium, iron, dietary fiber, and an assortment of other important vitamins and minerals. Further, its delicate taste allows it to blend in nicely with a wide variety of dishes.

Agricultural speaking, quinoa is very easy to cultivate. It has evolved to thrive in harsh mountain environments, growing even in bad soil, dry climates, and high altitudes. Today, it is largely grown in the mountains of South America and the Colorado Rockies.

At Amaro Bistro’s Italian restaurant in Bothell, you can enjoy the strong benefits of quinoa in the form of our quinoa and asparagi salad. Try it out tonight!

If you’re like most people, you’re familiar with two main varieties of olive: the black ones, and the green ones. But do you know the difference between the two? Indeed, both types of olive have distinctly different tastes and uses.

The first thing to realize is that common black olives are genetically the same as the common green olives. The green ones are simply less ripe than their black cousins. After the green olives are harvested, they are typically soaked in a lye solution, then fermented in brine to make them more palatable. This gives them a dense texture and bitter taste that complements a stuffing of pepper, garlic, or cheese.

Black olives are soaked in lye and cured in brine much like the green olives, but it is rare to see them stuffed. The end result has about half as much sodium as the green olives, and more of the healthy olive oil that makes them such a valuable addition to any diet.

At our Bothell Italian restaurant, you can enjoy olives in many of our delicious Italian-style dishes. Join us for dinner tonight!

Parmesan cheese is one of the most important cheeses in all of Italy. The name “parmesan” is protected by European authorities, which means that only cheeses made according to traditional practices in a particular part of Italy can be legally sold under the label. Specifically, the cheese must be a product of Parma, Modena, Reggio Emilia, or certain parts of Bologna or Mantova. True parmesans are molded with a stencil that will indicate where it was produced.

This iconic cheese is made between the months of May and November out of whole cow’s milk mixed with skimmed milk. This mixture is heated and combined with rennet to foster curds, which are then pressed in a cheese mold. It is then soaked in a brine bath and aged for at least two years before it can be sold.

At Amaro Bistro’s Bothell Italian restaurant, you can enjoy parmesan on our pizzas, our pastas, and many of our other classic Italian favorites. Come and get your fill of this Italian classic tonight!

2015 marked the 126th anniversary of the Margherita pizza. In honor of this, a team of Italian pizza chefs assembled during the Milan World Fair to reclaim the world record for the longest pizza ever cooked. It took sixty chefs working for a full eighteen hours with 1.5 tons of mozzarella cheese and two tons of tomato sauce. They cooked it with a wheeled broiler oven, which was slowly pushed along the length of the pizza, baking as it went. The final product was a titanic, rectangular pie that measured 1.59545 kilometers, or nearly a mile long, and weighed about five tons. This roundly beat the 1.1415 kilometer pie made by the previous record holders from Spain.

Once finished, the pizza was cut into over thirty-five thousand pieces to serve to fairgoers, free of charge. The over three hundred leftover meters of pizza were donated to a food bank known as Banco Alimentare.

You may never see a pizza quite as prodigiously large at our Bothell Italian restaurant, but you can still get the large and satisfying taste of real Italian cuisine. Come and try out one of our pizzas or other Italian favorites tonight at Amaro Bistro!

Italy is one of the world’s most significant sources of wine. Boasting a history of fermenting grapes that goes back thousands of years, the country has a well-deserved reputation as a center for excellence in wineries. These wineries come from twenty designated regions, but there are three regions that are widely acknowledged as representing the very best that Italy has to offer. These regions are as follows:

• Alto Adige: Found in the shadow of the Italian Alps, the beautiful vineyards of Alto Adige specialize in crisp, dry white wines. You can experience the taste of this region in the form of Pinot Grigio.
• Piedmont: Up in the northwest corner of Italy, Piedmont is famous for producing robust, super-dry wines. Their wines include Barolo and Barbaresco.
• Tuscany: For many people, this is the single most recognizable name in Italian wine regions. Tuscany wines are made from the Sangiovese grape, which is offered in a wide range of quality and price levels.

Our Bothell Italian restaurant is pleased to offer a variety of different Italian wines to complement your authentic Italian meal. Check out our wine list for more information.

Anybody who knows anything about Italian food should be aware of the wide variety of different sausages that the country produces. Knowing this, it can be hard to know what to expect when you see the term “Italian sausage”. So, what does an Italian restaurant mean when they identify a dish as such?

American-style Italian sausage gets its name from the fact that most of its flavor is derived from popular Italian seasonings. However, if you try to ask for “Italian sausage” in Italy, your waiter will probably not know what you’re talking about. Here in the United States, restaurants will generally use “Italian sausage” to describe one, specific variety of sausage. This is a variety made with pork meat combined with fennel and red pepper flakes. The end result has a sweet flavor that many people find irresistible. Depending on how the sausage is prepared, it can come in either a mild or hot form.

It our Bothell Italian restaurant, you can experience the classic taste of Italian sausage. Come and try it with some of your Italian favorites tonight!

It’s no mystery that the people of Italy like to make any meal into an event. Their love for their delicious food is such that it takes as many as six courses to fully satisfy their appetites. The traditional Italian dinner will generally consist of all of the following:

• Antipasti: This is the appetizer course. It will usually consist of cold cuts, olives, cheeses, and a selection of cold vegetables.
• Primo: The first course of an Italian dinner will typically come in the form of a pasta, rice dish, or soup.
• Secondo: It is at this point when the main course of the meal is served. This is when diners will have their meat, poultry, or seafood dish.
• Contorni: These are the side dishes that go with a meal, most often coming in the form of vegetables, potatoes, or some type of salad.
• Dolce: This is the dessert course.
• Caffe: Also known as digestivo, this is the after-meal coffee or or liqueur that diners enjoy while they digest their food.

To get the full Italian dining experience, come to our Italian restaurant in Bothell.