PRESS RELEASES

Carba-Nada
We accepted the challenge and here it is! A reduced-carb pasta with wonderful taste and texture! To top it off, because Al Dente™ pasta cooks in just 3 minutes, it has a remarkably low glycemic index, slowing the rate at which it is digested. Healthy and all-natural, now you can have your pasta and eat it too!

America & Pasta
In the early 80's, Americans viewed their pasta as spaghetti and the only known sauce was tomato. Less than two decades, that entire picture has changed. Pasta is a household word and once exotic pesto and alfredo are familiar terms rolling off the tongues of pasta lovers everywhere. Specialty pasta has earned itself a permanent spot on the pantry shelf with the help of companies like Al Dente who pioneered this segment of the market.

Food Network
Top 5 Pasta Sensations featuring Al Dente airs periodically on the Food Network. Check www.foodtv.com for the next airing.

ZINGERMAN'S GUIDE TO GOOD EATING

By Ari Weinzweig
to order the book go to www.zingermans.com
Houghton Mifflin Company Boston New York 2003

America's leading artisan egg pasta, Al Dente, has been made in the Ann Arbor area by Monique and Dennis Deschaine for over twenty years. Monique learned her technique from none other than Marcella Hazan, as good a teacher as one could ask for. Following Hazan's recommendations, Monique swears by a blend of semolina and extra-fancy durum flour that she mixes with fresh eggs. She prefers that her pasta not be exceptionally eggy, so it's less intense than comparable Italian offernings. She insists on "sheeting," or rolling out the pasta [the alternative is extrusion, or pressing out the dough, which works well for dried pasta but toughens the texture of tender egg noodles]. Sheeting the dough makes the finished fettuccine as close to hommade as possible. As a result,

Al Dente noodles are very light and delicate and cook up in a mere two to three minutes. Al Dente makes many fine flavored noodles - wild mushroom and spicy sesame are my favorites - but I'm still partial to the original recipe for the egg fettuccine. The spinach noodles are also noteworthy, made exclusively with fresh spinach.

PASTA PARADISE

The Express July 23, 2000
By Kasey Everly
Photography by Hal Gould

Whitmore Lake's Al Dente Pasta facility is result of owner's lifelong dream
It's the closest thing Whitmore lake has to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. But instead of candy and chocolate by the cart load, Al Dente Pasta churns out oodles of noodles daily to grocers across the nation and locally from it's single factory on Main Street in Whitmore Lake.

From the outside, the factory appears so conventional outsiders could miss in entirely if it weren't for the giant bag of pasta sitting on one side of the building along U.S. 23. That always manages to attract plenty of attention from passers-by, says Al Dente founder Monique Deschaine.

But from the inside, the Al Dente pasta factory is a delight for curious minds — and for the senses. Smelling the aroma of fresh wheat blending with all the ingredients to make the pasta, tourists are first led through the factory door by their noses. They travel through a maze of tall trays on which lie various colors and shapes of noodles waiting to be dried and immediately shipped out. Finally, the hub of the factory is discovered and workers are seen bustling busily about.

For the 20-or-so factory workers who make the pasta day in and day out, Al Dente means a steady job in a friendly environment with an interesting set of tasks. For visitors, it's a chance to see something new. But for Deschaine, it's the realization of a dream.

Deschaine founded Al Dente in 1981 at age 25 with the help of her then-boyfriend Dennis, whom she later married, and her sister, Nanette Carson, the company's production manager. But the factory itself, along with the success it has enjoyed in recent years, didn't happen overnight.

It's a story that starts in the French kitchen of her mother, Denise Dubacq, where Deschaine first discovered she loved to cook.

"In French culture, food is very, very important. It's a priority of life," Deschaine said. "My mom is a fabulous cook and she's an engaging, enthusiastic person. I get a lot of those qualities from her."

Deschaine grew up in Warren, Ohio and earned her degree in psychology from the University of Michigan. Upon her graduation in the early '80s. Deschaine took a job managing the Blind Pig, an Ann Arbor café. It was during that time she took note of an important trend in cooking that would ultimately propel her to success: the changing world of pasta preparation

"I knew a revolution was happening in the United States in terms of pasta," she explained. "All of a sudden there were new recipes for pasta."

Once Deschaine hatched the idea for a pasta factory, she said she never doubted for a second it would be successful. It was simply a matter of making it happen.

"I'm a risk taker. I never think it won't be successful: I just make sure it is successful," she said. "That's one thing about owning a business — it's not for the faint of heart."

Interestingly enough, Deschaine said she knew very little about pasta recipes when she decided to try to open a factory. To learn more, she was introduced by a mutual friend to world-renown chef Marcella Hazan, who Deschaine taught her everything she knows about making delicious pasta.

"She took me to her beautiful New York City apartment and she taught me everything I needed to know about pasta and that's what I've stuck to all these years," she said.

Deschaine's factory orginally opened in a small space in Ann Arbor with just herself and one additional employee churning out six pounds of pasta an hour. The factory has grown significantly since then, producing 150 pounds per hour, adding up to an impressive 100 tons of pasta every year.

Eventually, she and Dennis moved to Whitmore Lake due to his plans to open a wind surfing business. When they married in 1982, Dennis closed his business to help focus on Al Dente full time as the company's engineer — he even built the building himself and designed some of its equipment. They now have two children who also help out at the factory from time to time.

The pasta at Al Dente comes in 17 different flavors, from the versatile egg fettuccine to squid ink. Deschaine said making the pasta is a very labor-intensive process that begins with using the highest quality durum wheat, milled in Ohio.

"We don't take shortcuts: we just don't cut any corners," Deschaine said. "I think that's what the secret is."

PARTY WITH PASTA

STYLE magazine winter 2000
By Lori Seleno
Photography Steven Kovich
Styled by Kathleen Sheridan

While Chef Chieko Hughs is cooking behind the kitchen counter, Lori Saginaw becomes inspired. Friend Mike Monahan consults on how long to bake the fish. With a towel draped over one shoulder, Dorian Jurgle pours some champagne.

Meanwhile, Francis Glorie shuffles through a stack of CDs. Nearby, Dennis Deschaine buzzes around the room, talking and helping where needed. In the midst of all this, hostess Monique Deschaine stops in her tracks. With a huge smile spreading across her face she takes in the party scene and exclaims, "Isn't this fun?"

This is fun. A genuine warmth prevails here at one of Monique's dinner gatherings. Good food abounds and laughter is everywhere. Isn't this what it's all about? For Monique, co-owner with husband Dennis Deschaine of Whitmore Lake-based Al Dente, Inc., the answer clearly is "yes."

Tonight, the banquet combines business and pleasure because the Deschaines are taste-testing recipes that incorporate Al Dente products.

"I'm never afraid to try a new recipe," says Monique. "You want opinions. It makes the journey much more adventurous." The huge room, where these taste-testing feasts take place, features a kitchen, a long dining table and two sitting areas, all overlooking Whitmore Lake.

Besides the ability to make friends and family feel right at home, Monique likes to entertain with a salute to her French heritage. Parties amost always start with an aperitif. On this evening, the champagne flows freely. Says Monique, "I love to start with champagne." A tray of crostini accompanies the bubbly and is consumed in no time.

As the night progresses, everyone seems to be doing a dance, moving closer and closer to the dining room table. As dinner is announced, Dennis says, "Boy, girl, boy, girl." Like many of the details that define the Deschaines' entertaining style, this arrangement carries the French influence. Yet it is lighthearted and not to be taken too seriously.

Glasses are raised, toasts are declared and dinner begins. The main course of baked Atlantic cod and see trout is complemented with a pasta tossed with fresh arugula. Then a scrumptious salad of walnuts and bleu cheese follows. Before the dessert, geusts pass a cheese platter. And, of course, the laughter and lively conversation-including recipe suggestions and tweakings and nods of approval - never ends. Says Monique, "I'm always looking for inspiration. And I find it all around me. It gives me energy to have these parties.

ACCENT ON FRANCE
Add the French entertainment ideas to your next gathering for a truly bon temps.

Begin the evening with an apertif such as champagne, or Campari and soda. Not only are these festive drinks, but they will "wake up" the taste buds. Keep appetizers to a minimum, says Monique Deschaine. That way, guests will still have an appetite at dinner.

Serve the meal in courses. After appetizers, serve the main course, followed by salad, a cheese course, desert, and ending with coffee and a simple sweet such as a cookie or chocolate. This makes for an unhurried meal--- one to be thoroughly savored.

Alternate seating — man, woman, man, woman — and split up couples. This way, everyone intermingles, giving geusts that may not know each other a chance to talk.

THE BUSINESS OF PASTA
When Monique Deschaine combines eggs and flour, you know it's going to be good.

In retrospect, people who know Monique Deschaine probably aren't surprised that she ended up being a food entrepeneur. By the time she was 7, Monique had made several summer pilgrimages to her mother's native France, staying with relatives and eating the way Europeans are known to — leisurely. "I'd sit at the table for three hours. I remember eating avocado with vinaigrette, lobster with homemade mayonnaise...."

Al Dente was founded by Deschaine in 1981. Why pasta? Deschaine, an avid newspaper and magazine reader, explains that she started seeing a lot of recipes for pasta. "The thing that attracted me — it was a trend that was based not on a trend. With this trend, things could only get more popular."

And it definitely has. With husband and co-owner Dennis Deschaine heading up national sales efforts, Al Dente products can now be bought in every state plus Canada.

The pasta is unique because the dough is sheeted, duplicating what a person would make with a rolling pin. The other method for making pasta is to extrude the dough — think Play-Dough. Says Monique, "When it comes to flat noodles, the only way to duplicate what someone does at home, you have to sheet it. As a small company, we could do what no large company could. Sheeting is the only way to get the texture and a three-minute cooking time."

Today, Al Dente produces 17 flavors of fettucine and linguine, including Wild Mushroom, Squid Ink, Garlic Parsley and Spicey Sesame packaged in the widely recognized cellophane bag with the round, checkered label. Recent product additions include Pasta Selecta (organic), Sure Success Pasta and Sauce Kits, plus two new sauces — Luscious Leek & Sundried Tomato Sauce and Outrageous Olive & Caper Sauce. You can find Al Dente pastas and sauces at serveral major grocery stores, as well as upscale, specialty food stores around town.

And the noodles really do taste homemade. When customers mention that to Monique, she isn't surprised. "People always notice that — the taste of homemade."