How it started
Six months in a chef's kitchen
For years, chef Gianni Scappin told Mark Goldfarb his pesto was the best he'd ever had. Scappin grew up in a family of trattoria owners in the Veneto, cooked at Hudson Valley hot spots Market Street, Barbaro, and Cucina, taught at the famed Culinary Institute of America, and advised on the film Big Night. He knew what he was tasting.
He also insisted Mark come into his kitchen and get the recipe exactly right. That took six months. In 2018 In Mark's Kitchen went to market with four flavors — basil, arugula, dandelion greens, and ramp — each one made in a vegan version as well.
The first stop was Sunflower Market in Woodstock, NY. It was the most expensive pesto on the shelf then — and still is. Mark is a stickler for what he considers the best ingredients and won't compromise. He uses Parmigiano Reggiano DOP; he was advised to switch to Grana Padano to save 25 percent in costs, and he declined. His olive oil is organic, first cold pressed, from Morocco. His basil comes from a hydroponic grower in Goshen, NY — a three-hour round trip, done by Mark, in Mark's van.
Eight years on, the pesto is in roughly 30 markets around the country, in the refrigerator cases of good food shops and specialty stores. It's still made in small batches, and it's still essentially one person doing the work.
