About_Us

Our Mission: To bring high quality authentic Italian food to the Valley
at a reasonable price; to feed you & your family, and to have a great
time doing it.

Welcome Message:
"Welcome to Marco’s Italian Bistro. This is a chef-owned & operated restaurant. We cook all the food
from scratch just like Mom used to, using only the finest ingredients. We have a full service Bar and a
good selection of Californian and Italian wines.
Buon Appetito!" -Marco

Our Specialty:
"High quality authentic Italian food at a reasonable rate... Chef-owned and operated. Fettucini is made
In-house, most of the other pastas are imported from Italy. Gluten-free pasta available, as well as
Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti. Many great specialty dishes such as: USDA Prime Steaks, Osso
Bucco, Frutti di Mare, Parmesan-encrusted Halibut w/ a lemon-caper-dill sauce over Yukon-Gold mashed
potatoes. Only 1 chef- who is also the owner. What does that mean? That means that we care about
making great food and getting to know our regular customers. As you can see- it's not about the profit-
it's about the food & the people. Small, family-owned & operated businesses are a true gem, a piece of
Americana, something to be supported and preserved." - Marco

Our History:
"Ever since I can remember I've loved cooking. My parents were born in Italy, I went there every summer
to stay with my grandparents. I've been making sauce and homemade pasta since the age of 4. My
father wanted me to be a doctor and I pursued that path, but cooking was always my passion and my
hobby. I started working in a professional restaurant part time at age 14. That restaurant opened in 1962
and is still open today. Between my parents, grandparents, my part time job, and my education, I
developed the concept which is today "Marco's Italian Bistro." It is a marriage of authentic Italian food
and high quality ingredients. In 2007, frustrated with the lack of high quality yet affordable choices in
popular restaurants, I discussed the idea with my parents. They were skeptical, but I had studied some
Tony Robins tapes and one thing that I learned was that "if you want to do something, don't ask "how,"
ask "why." If you have a good enough why, the how's take care of themselves." - Marco

Being Green

This is a good spot to explain to our customers how & why we are doing our best to "Be Green."

Also, in the near future, I hope to have a full nutritional analysis of every item on my menu.

6-12-08 - Why we use Sea Salt
From "Restaurateur of Arizona" April 2008, Vol. 17, No.4:

"Unrefined Sea Salt contains 98% NaCL (sodium-chloride), is dried from the sun & wind and harvested by hand. [note: there are a lot of
natural trace minerals in this salt that are good for the body.]

Table salt, or refined salt is 99.9% NaCl, is pristine white, is mined and highly refined to remove minerals. [note: so nothing good for you in
there.] Then iodine may be added. Sugar is added to stabilize the iodine & used as an anti-caking chemical. Regular table salt may also
contain other additives including aluminum silicate, dextrose, bleaching elements, and other chemicals. It is also dried at over 1,200 degrees
Fahrenheit, changing its structure."

6-19-08 - Why we WON'T use High Fructose Corn Syrup

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a man-made product that uses a lot of genetically-engineered products in its formation. First, the corn
itself is genetically engineered. HFCS is made from "Dent Corn" also known as "Field Corn" which is unfit for human consumption. Next, the
dent corn is processed using various genetically engineered enzymes.

HFCS is cheaper & sweeter than natural sugar. But this cheap sweetener comes at a cost to your health. Consumption of HFCS has been
shown to increase your chance of getting Diabetes. It also hurts your liver. In addition, new research is showing that HFCS blocks a hormonal
feedback system in your body that tells you when to stop eating. In other words, if you eat HFCS you'll still be hungry and want to keep on
eating. Finally, I have noticed that products made with HFCS seem to have more calories than similar products made with natural sugars.

Of course, since the production of HFCS is a billion-dollar industry, there are a lot of companies who are trying hard to make sure that there is
lots of company-funded "research" that shows that HFCS is not harmful at all. Do you believe them?

For our part, we try to avoid HFCS as much as possible. In our restaurant it is only found in the name-brand sodas that we sell, as well as in
the name-brand ketchup. Our homemade cannoli cream is made with natural sugar.

6-20-08 - What's in the Fish?
You've heard of mercury in Tuna. Maybe you've also heard about the fact that Blue Fin Tuna are almost endangered. Here's a little more I've
learned: while there are size requirements under which commercial fisherman must release a fish that is too small, there is no law stopping the
fishermen from KEEPING the small fish in an oceanic fish farm. So what they do is rather than release small fish they bring them to a fish farm
and dump them in there. There, they are fed large quantities of food to make them grow as fast as possible until they reach the minimum
required size.
There are several problems with this. First of all it is disrupting the normal migration of these fish which would normally cover thousands of
miles in their travels. Secondly, we are not sure exactly what these farmed fish are being fed. A tuna is a natural predator that catches its
prey live. But in a fish farm they are not fed live fish as that would be way too expensive. They are fed pellets of fish food.
What's wrong with fish food? Well does anyone remember the scandal last year when China was caught putting Melamine in the fish food?
Melamine is a chemical that fools an inspector's testing apparatus to show that the pet food has a high amount of Protein. Melamine also
hurts your kidneys. People's pets died, and the pet food was recalled, but not until after it was found to have been fed to many FISH &
LIVESTOCK. (but of course, inspectors found that the level of Melamine in your farmed fish & livestock was a SAFE level. Do you believe
them?) Well who is to say what fishermen in the Mediterranean sea are feeding to the captured Tuna? For all of these reasons, I am staying
away from all farmed fish in general and especially Tuna in specific. When you buy fish, I suggest you make sure that it was WILD CAUGHT.

8-8-09 - Being Green: what does that mean to us?
It means that we CARE. We are aware that our presence on this earth has an effect, and though while just one person alone cannot make too
much of a difference, we understand that together we CAN make a difference.

We also believe that we can succeed in the business world even while being globally-conscious. We hope to set an example that other
businesses will follow. It is my dream that one day EVERY restaurant will use organic ingredients and globally-conscious business methods.
Hopefully someday pollution and chemicals in our foods will be a thing of the past.

We strive to use ingredients that are absolutely free of any chemicals such as artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. We also strive to
use meats & fish that were raised in a humane and globally-responsible manner. When purchasing from our suppliers, we look for products
that are Free Range, Hormone Free, Vegetarian Fed, and Sustainable. We do not carry any products that use MSG.

Finally, we try to run our restaurant in an energy-efficient manner. Our Tankless Water Heaters only heat water on demand, saving us huge
amounts of money. [a note for Restaurant Owners: we have a 2000 square foot restaurant, all appliances are gas, and my gas bill last
month was $270. I use 2 Noritz commercial units hooked up in series, the first brings the ground water temp up about 45 degrees, and the
second one finishes off the final temp to whatever temp I set it. Each is capable of about 9 gallons per minute for a total of 18 gallons per
minute which is plenty. Total cost installed was about $5000, though that was 2 years ago, I believe they are actually cheaper now. They do
require a small amount of maintenance every year for descaling, this costs about $250. If you consider that most restaurants my size use
about $500-600 per month in gas, this is a savings of about $250/month or $3,000 per year, so these pay for themselves in less than 2 years.
Another added benefit is SPACE- they are each about the size of a medium-sized piece of luggage and are installed high up on a wall in the
dishwashing room at about the 7 foot high mark, saving you valuable floor space.] We use "Arctic Air" refrigerators which have some of the
most energy-efficient motors in the industry. We have a water-saving pre-rinse system for washing dishes. We use Pro-Clean Cleaning
products which are fully Biodegradable and Earth-friendly. And we are currently looking into installing solar-panels on our roof.