Flour-coated hands, the smell of tomatoes and freshly grated cheese wafting through the air, sunshine streaming through the windows, and laughter spilling out all across the room… not to mention the satisfaction of a job well done and the joy of eating your own pizza masterpiece. There’s just nothing quite like a cooking class, and Vecchia Pizzeria & Mercato has some of the best hands-on cooking classes out there. Here’s why you should bring your kids:
BACK TO THE BASICS
Okay, before I tell you why the classes are so special, let’s back up first. Brianna and Chef Benard Tamburello first opened Vecchia 12 years ago in The Preserve in Hoover (610 Preserve Pkwy., Suite 100). But Chef Benard has been cooking up good stuff for much longer—he’s been a Birmingham chef for 37 years!
Just a few years after opening Vecchia, the couple began hosting cooking classes for the community. “We started with cooking classes because we wanted to show people how easy it is to cook with fresh ingredients,” Brianna explains. The pair is a dynamic duo: the husband is the chef, the king of the kitchen, the “recipe” (picture what you imagine an Italian chef to be and you’re not far off) and the wife is the queen of hospitality and all things fun.
1. GIMME A PIZZA THAT COOKING CLASS
Every month, they offer three types of classes: a wood-burned pizza-making class that’s hands-on and great for kids 3rd grade and up, a Thursday date night demo class that’s more like dinner and a show (plus a cocktail), and a pasta class. “Our passion here at Vecchia is bringing Italy to you without a passport or Vecchia,” Brianna states. When you visit, whether for a meal or a cooking class, she says it’s like “coming into our home.” It’s not fancy—a loud, open kitchen with three hand-made ovens shipped straight from Naples, just like home.
Did you know? In 79 AD, the Italian city of Pompeii had a pizza place!
2. FRESH INGREDIENTS
As Chef Benard likes to point out, this is no Domino’s pizza. (No shade to Domino’s.) This is a fresh, real-deal Italian pizza cooked in a wood burning oven. “At Vecchia, our passion is our food,” their website explains. “We are paying homage to our grandmothers’ recipes that first inspired us and the Italian traditions that made us curious. Our menu is a stroll through Italy, and a seat at our Nonna’s kitchen table.”
What sets Vecchia apart is their healthy, fresh ingredients. They make their own cheese from curd, create their own Italian sausage, and whip up fresh pizza dough daily. “The luxury is in the food,” Brianna adds. They even use type 00 flour from Italy. “If it doesn’t come from Italy, I probably won’t use it,” Bernard likes to declare.
Chef tip! Bernard recommends using tomatoes from the Chino yellow can as the “red sauce.”
3. LONG, BUT NOT TOO LONG
This isn’t one of those classes that takes allll day to make something. (I went to pastry school in Italy—trust me, some things take hours upon hours before you get to indulge.)
And you’ll never guess how long the pizza cooks… one and a half minutes! Needless to say, those pizza ovens get HOT. (The bricks are made from volcanic ash and lava rocks!) The class is long enough that the experience is worthwhile, but before you know it, the pizza is in front of you and it’s time to eat! So even your ADHD kid will enjoy it without losing interest.
Plus, the instructions are straightforward and easy to follow. And who doesn’t love getting to eat what they make? (Don’t worry, it’s kid-proof—there’s really not a way they can make it where it won’t taste delicious.)
4. YOU CAN MAKE A DAY OUT OF IT
Whether Hoover is just up the street or way across town for you, The Preserve is like its own little world where you can easily spend the entire day having fun. “We’re all about a good time,” Brianna says with a smile. Start out by visiting the new Vecchia Gelato & Cafe for one of their beautiful, authentic pastries before heading over to the pizza cooking class. Once you’ve finished your homemade pizza lunch, I’d recommend swinging back by the gelateria for a scoop of their scrumptious homemade gelato. When your kids finish licking their bowls clean, they can jump to their hearts’ content on the bouncy house that Vecchia puts up every weekend (Friday through Sunday). There are also 350 acres of walking and hiking trails. Moss Rock Preserve directly connects to The Preserve neighborhood, so you can even check out the epic Boulder Field trail.
Other reasons to check Vecchia out:
- Kids eats free EVERY Tuesday
- Half price wines on Wednesdays
- Free wine tasting once a month
- Live jazz every Friday night
It’s more than a cooking class—Vecchia’s pizza-making class is an experience kids (and parents) will actually enjoy. Plus, it’s a fabulous way to make fun (screen-free!) memories. And who knows, perhaps you have a little chef at home and you didn’t even know it! Be sure to book ahead—the classes sell out fast.
