Oranjestad — In honor of the restaurants’ 10th anniversary, the students of EPB, enrolled in the local basic culinary professional stream were treated to a special event at Casa Tua, Renaissance Marketplace.
Twenty-one top students were invited for an informal pizza making workshop with the expert Casa Tua chefs, LIVE in the restaurant’s exhibition kitchen.
Their audience, friends and fans of Casa Tua, including the island’s Minister of Education, press members, and dignitaries got to enjoy their gourmet just-made pizza for lunch, and declared it incredibly delicious.
Brothers David & Gregory Nataf who run the family business decided to celebrate their anniversary by staging a culinary event, involving the island’s future chefs. They invited the students and their teaches, also providing the round trip transportation. At the end of the fun learning experience, they pledged a contribution to the school’s media room, in the form of study materials.
It was the restaurant’s way of supporting education and culinary development, helping raise and nurture local kitchen talent.
The Nataf family, who owns the two Casa Tua Restaurants on the island, traces its culinary roots to the south of France, to Provence, the famed region sandwiched between the French Alps and the French Riviera.
It was there, in 1961, in the idyllic little town of Montpellier, that Michel Nataf, the first of the four first-generation Nataf siblings, was introduced to the secrets of thin-crust pizza when he became the apprentice to the Pizza Master, an Italian Sicilian who made a name for himself baking a revolutionary-style pie.
Michel taught his brother Victor and Victor taught the other brother, Serge, then their only sister Monique added her own French, Spanish, Italian influences, and some family recipes from around the Mediterranean and voila, over time the Natafs operated as many as 10 eateries, in France and in the Caribbean, where they relocated to open stylish establishments, two in Curacao, and two in Aruba.
The second-generation, Victor’s two sons Gregory and David, practically grew up in the kitchen and became the creative minds behind Casa Tua, literally translated as ‘your home, ’ and both restaurants serve the by-now-famous thin-crusted pizza, in their own unique environment.
As the brick oven keeps the pies coming, patrons savor home-made pastas and classic Spanish and Italian recipes such as Osso Bucco di Vittelo, Beef Carpaccio, Paella and Tiramisu, in air-conditioning or al fresco. For lunch, dinner, drinks and snacks Casa Tua is your home, and the well trained staff is happy to serve elegantly, and with a smile.
