EAST Best of the

Italian M ITALIAN

We asked you to nominate your East Side favorites in dozens of categories. Then, we compiled the top three vote-getters in each one and asked you to cast your ballot at the Best of the East party at Eton Chagrin Boulevard April 27. Read on to learn about the winners.

Stories by:

Lesley Gibson, Kristen Hampshire, Chrissy Kadleck, Myra Orenstein, Lynne Thompson and Sarah Webb

Cacio e pepe only requires a few ingredients to make — the name of the classic Roman pasta dish translates to “cheese and pepper.” And that’s what makes it so good, according to Tony Rotello, director of culinary for M Italian’s Chagrin Fallsbased owner Monven Group. Its popularity among American diners, ordered as a shared course served before the entree or as the entree itself, has increased over the last three years, prompting Rotello to add it to the restaurant’s menu in February.

“It’s so delicious you’d think there’s more to it,” he says. “Italian food, traditionally, is simple ingredients, but high-quality ingredients — and not a lot of them.”

The pasta. M Italian uses bucatini, which he describes as a thick, long, spaghetti-like variant with a hole through it. “Basically, it’s hollow,” he says. “As the sauce gets incorporated, it can fill in the holes of the longcooked pasta, which makes it that much more flavorful.”

The freshly cracked black pepper. Rotello explains that grinding peppercorns in a peppermill right before using produces pepper that is much stronger in flavor than a preground counterpart. Toasting it in extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat in a saute pan while the bucatini cooks, he adds, releases the pepper’s natural oils. “Once drawn out into the oil that you’re going to use to complete your sauce, every bite has that peppery taste.”

The unsalted butter. M Italian adds a tablespoon per serving. “Butter is a multiplying agent,” Rotello says. “Once we get ready to add the pasta water, it will blend everything to a creamy texture.”

The pasta water. Rinse pasta in cold water and pour the water in which it was prepared down the drain, Rotello warns, and you lose the starch released as it cooked.

“It’s the starch in the pasta that is a binder for the sauce” and helps make it creamy, he explains. M Italian reserves three ounces of that salted water per serving — he goes so far as to call it “liquid gold” — to add, along with the strained-but-unrinsed bucatini, to the “layers of flavor” he’s building in the saute pan.

The freshly grated pecorino Romano. Rotello observes that the sheep’s-milk cheese is “stronger, more pungent” and saltier than parmesan. The recipe M Italian uses calls for a whopping 3.5 ounces per serving for the sauce. “Because the cheese will be the thing that really tightens it up, [the pasta] will actually twist and get a little height on it,” he says.

Fitness Instructor: Josh Mekota, Results Fitness

At Results Fitness, success is not just about results — it’s also about helping clients do what they love for as long as possible. That might be playing golf, hiking or playing with the grandkids.

“That process allows [clients] to be a better version of themselves,” says Josh Mekota, owner and director of training at Results Fitness in Mayfield Heights. “The gym is just where the process happens.”

While Results Fitness’ small group personal training sessions and highintensity interval training classes tout the benefits of connection by working out outside of the home, Mekota offers ways people can stay active between workouts and break up sedentary workdays.

1 WALK. Stand up and walk between 5,000 and 10,000 steps a day. Setting a timer and moving for five minutes will increase mental clarity and loosen up muscles.

2 STRETCH. Cross one foot over the opposite thigh or sit in a figureeight position to open hip muscles.

3 STRENGTHEN. Do pushups with your hands on the desk or a traditional pushup on the floor.

6005 Landerhaven Drive, Suite C, Mayfield Heights, 440-684-0460, resultsfitnessforlife.com

Music Instruction: The Fine Arts Association

A community hub for all things arts, the Fine Arts Association is a playground for creativity, exploration and discovery in dance, painting, sculpture and music. Dr. Tim Minnis, a piano instructor for more than 50 years — 33 of those at the Fine Arts Association — says it’s never too early to foster a lifelong love of music. “Children are magnificent creatures. If they see you perceiving them as talented, intelligent, thoughtful, good people, they’ll work to live up to that perception, and it brings out the best that they have.”

The piano is a great place to start as it provides the foundational elements of harmony and structure. From there it’s all about teaching to the child’s skill level by ear, reading or hand:

1 First let the child pick a song such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb” or “Happy Birthday” that they can learn by hearing and watching. “It’s a very exciting moment when they realize that they can do it and that they have this big instrument,” Minnis says.

2 Children can learn to play by reading music and then “the whole world of music opens up and you can play any piece by any composer and any style.”

3 Children can learn by matching the sound they hear by putting their fingers on the keys and finding the right places to go based on the sound. “They can reproduce the sound they get by experimenting on the keys,” Minnis says.

38660 Mentor Ave., Willoughby, 440-951-7500, fineartsassociation.org

Organic Food: Sage Karma Kitchen

Good vibes abound at this sustainable mecca for people with dietary restrictions. Diners are greeted by scents of Palo Santo and sage incense at this two-yearold scratch kitchen, which showcases a mural of the 12 laws of karma and a “what goes around comes around” tagline.

“People have this misconception that we’re a vegan restaurant. We cater to people who are vegan and gluten free, but we are offering a healthier option for everyone — that’s our main goal,” says owner Teanna Vitantonio, adding that it has dishes with organic chicken and grass-fed beef. “We’re all about good energy, good people, good food, good drinks.”

Our pick: The cauliflower appetizer

Organic cauliflower is quick blanched and hard seared then served with house-made date jam and finished with harissa seasoning. The jam combines fresh dates, local maple syrup and spices. The dish is finished with toasted pistachios.

4051 Erie St., Willoughby, 440-946-2300, sagekarmakitchens.com