SEATTLE — Chef Mark Laska, owner and chef of Ciao Restaurant on Whidbey Island, is passionate about pizza. He says fresh, simple ingredients are the key. He joins New Day NW to share the way to make great pizza, but we also highly recommend stopping in at Ciao for authentic Neapolitan pizza. In fact, Laska and Ciao are certified by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture to make and use the name "Neapolitan". It's about the flour, the ovens.
If you don't want to take hours to knead and make the pizza you're in luck, you can either go to Ciao OR you can order a Food Artistry Pizza Kit to your door. Amity and Suzie had a blast trying to make pizza in the studio with Ciao's kit. It wasn't pretty but it was pretty delicious (See what we did there?!)!
Ciao also has an online store where you can order all kinds of Italian foods and full kits for pasta date nights, a porch party with charcuterie and more.
ABOUT CHEF LASKA AND CIAO:
Before settling in Coupeville on Whidbey Island, Ciao Owner and Chef Mark Laska mentored in Italy under Enzo Coccia, founder of the slow food movement, who wrote the globally recognized standards on making the best Neapolitan pizza and was also recently been featured on CNN’s Stanley Tucci’s “Searching for Italy,” It was here that Mark developed a passion for Italy’s love of food and sense of place and received certification to make authentic Neapolitan Pizza by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture before choosing Whidbey Island to raise his family and business alongside one another.
A popular local restaurant located in the seaside community of Coupeville, Ciao continues to serve hungry customers its flavorful, authentic fare at the restaurant, yet Chef and Owner Mark Laska has expanded his business to meet customers at home with retail and curated boxes available to ship nationwide.
The Shop features all of the hard-to-find, artisan products from family-owned Italian purveyors that Mark has used throughout his time in both Italy and running a beloved local restaurant. Ciao’s wine selection, available individually or in regular shipments through the wine club, is sourced from small production, family-owned and mostly organic Italian wineries.
Segment Producer Suzie Wiley. Watch New Day Northwest 11 AM weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.