Farm-to-Table: Where We Source Our Ingredients

When Marco and I opened Bella's in 2012, we made a promise to ourselves and to our guests: we would cook with the same integrity we had experienced in Italy. That meant using real ingredients — not shortcuts, not industrial substitutes, not produce that had traveled five thousand miles in a refrigerated container. It meant building relationships with the people who grow our food and honoring their work by preparing it simply and well.

Temecula Valley is, to our great fortune, one of the most agriculturally rich regions in Southern California. Within thirty miles of our restaurant there are dozens of family farms growing extraordinary produce — heirloom tomatoes, several varieties of basil, zucchini flowers, bitter greens, fennel, artichokes, and more. We work most closely with the Vasquez family, whose forty-acre farm in the De Luz canyon has been supplying us with vegetables since our second year in business. When Chef Marco receives their delivery each Tuesday and Friday morning, he often revises the day's specials on the spot, building dishes around whatever arrived in peak condition.

Our tomatoes deserve special mention. In season — roughly June through October — we use only fresh Temecula-grown tomatoes for our sauces and our Caprese. The varieties we favor are San Marzano types adapted to our climate, along with an heirloom Brandywine that the Vasquez farm grows in small quantities just for us. Off-season, we switch to San Marzano DOP tomatoes imported from Campania, which are the best canned tomatoes in the world. We will not compromise on tomatoes. A sauce is only as good as what goes into it.

For seafood, we drive to the San Clemente fish market twice a week. We have a standing arrangement with two fishermen who work the waters off the Southern California coast — they text us the night before to let us know what they caught, and we adjust our seafood menu accordingly. This is why our fish specials change daily. When local yellowtail is running, you will find it on our menu. When the sea bass are pulling in large, Chef Marco prepares them whole. We believe in eating what is in season and what is abundant — it is better for the ocean and better for the plate.

Our beef comes from a family-owned ranch in Fallbrook, roughly fifteen miles from the restaurant. The cattle are grass-fed and finished on a small grain supplement, which produces a well-marbled, flavorful meat without the industrial feedlot character that plagues so much of the American beef supply. We use this beef for our Bistecca alla Fiorentina, our meatballs, and our Bolognese. When you taste the difference between a meatball made with this beef and one made with anonymous supermarket ground meat, you understand immediately why sourcing matters.

The olive oil we use — both for cooking and for finishing dishes — comes through a family importer we have worked with since before Bella's opened. The Caruso family, originally from Sicily, imports extra-virgin olive oil from small estates in Calabria and Sicily on a seasonal basis. Each harvest is different; the oil we use in the fall and winter, pressed from the new harvest, has a fresh, grassy quality. By spring it has mellowed into something rounder and more buttery. We adjust our cooking subtly to reflect these changes. Italian cooking is seasonal at its core, and even the oil tells the story of the time of year.

We also make our own mozzarella three times a week in our kitchen, using whole milk from a small dairy in Escondido that raises Holstein and Jersey cows on a diet of local forage. The mozzarella is made by hand — stretched while warm, formed into balls, and served the same day. If you have ever wondered why the Caprese at Bella's tastes different from what you have had elsewhere, this is why. There is no substitute for cheese made hours before it reaches your plate.

We are proud of these relationships and deeply grateful to everyone who grows, catches, and raises the food that finds its way into our kitchen. When you dine with us, you are not just eating a meal — you are participating in a network of care that connects our table to the land and sea around us. We think that is something worth celebrating.