Pesto’s Picks May 2012
In this month’s Pesto’s Picks we take a look at the best of what’s on across Glasgow and the North West, congratulate Pesto Italian Restaurants Glasgow and welcome Pesto in a Pub Widnes to the family!
April has been a brilliant month for Pesto Italian Restaurants, with the official opening of Pesto in a Pub Widnes and Pesto Glasgow landing second place at one of Scotland’s biggest award ceremonies.
Pesto Glasgow placed second in the Best New Restaurant category at the Scottish Entertainment Guide Awards last Sunday, just eight months after opening its doors. The Glasgow team have worked very hard to turn Pesto St Vincent Street into one of Scotland’s best up-and-coming Italian restaurants and we’d like to extend a massive thank you to Francis and the team for all their efforts! We’ve added pics of the Pesto Glasgow team at the awards ceremony on our Facebook page and our web gallery.
Pesto Widnes opened its doors today, officially making it the sixth member of the Pesto family! If you fancy a scrumptious dinner with an ice-cold pint why not reserve a table at Pesto in a Pub Widnes now? Online booking for the restaurant is now available, or if you’d prefer to arrange with a manager directly please call: 0151 424 3729
As the summer months beckon marathons are cropping up all over the place, and this month we recommend participating or helping out where you can with the Great Manchester Run and the Ignis Asset Managements Women’s 10k Run.
The Great Manchester Run takes place on Sunday 20th May, with the route finishing up on Deansgate, just a stone’s throw from Pesto Italian Restaurants Deansgate. If you’re participating in the run and fancy a well-deserved treat afterward, why not reserve a table with our Deansgate team now? https://www.facebook.com/greatmanchesterrun and http://www.greatrun.org/events/event.aspx?id=4
If you’re north of the border and participating in the Ignis Asset Management Women’s 10k run on Sunday 13th May, why not arrange a slap-up meal with the ladies afterwards? Pesto Glasgow is our biggest restaurant, located centrally on St Vincent Street over three floors, so there’s plenty of room to bring the whole team down! https://www.facebook.com/W10KGlasgow?v=wall
For those of you who are less inclined toward hours of grueling exercise, why not check out the Trafford Centre’s Summer of Hope and Glory launch party on Thursday 24th May. Taking place throughout the Trafford Centre, the Summer of Hope and Glory is a celebration of all things British, the Trafford Centre will be alive and kicking with music, dancers, fun and entertainment throughout the evening. http://www.traffordcentre.co.uk/whatson/hopeandgloryparty
- Brooding
Our final pick of the month actually spans over two months, it’s Westlife’s Greatest Tour, which also happens to be their farewell tour. The Irish quartet will be performing at Liverpool’s Echo Arena on Tuesday 15th May and Wednesday 13th June. http://whatson.visitliverpool.com/files/2.html
Widnes Welcomes Pesto in a Pub!
Pesto in a Pub is coming to Widnes Monday April 30th.
Just five months after opening Pesto in a Pub at the Cabbage Hall in Tarporley, Cheshire, we are delighted to announce the opening of our second Pesto in a Pub in Farnworth, Widnes.
Now, if you’re not familiar with Farnworth we’ve got some rather fascinating historical facts for you in this weeks blog, and in the coming days we’ll be adding pics of our stunning new Pesto in a Pub!
Farnworth village can be traced back to 1180, when a chapel dedicated to St Wilifrid was founded in the centre, although the earliest documentation dates back to 1352, when Henry, Duke of Lancaster established a hallmote court (a ye olde way of saying a fancy court) for the manor of Widnes.
Farnworth is a village with a mystical history; according to folklore, in medieval times the village came under threat from a griffin – a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. The village blacksmith fought and killed the griffin, and was henceforth aptly dubbed ‘Bold’, which is apparently the origin of the local noble family Bold, who have a griffin incorporated in their family coat of arms.
- No griffins here…
Five-hundred or so years on the village remains griffin free, but should there be an expected griffin attack, Pesto in a Pub Widnes is the ideal place to settle down with a delicious meal and cold refreshing pint after a successful griffin slaying session.
In other Pesto news this week, we’ve got our fingers and toes crossed for Pesto Glasgow who have been nominated in the Scottish Entertainment Guide Awards in the Best New Restaurant category!
The awards take place this Sunday at Glasgow’s Thistle Hotel – we’ll announce how our Glasgow team fared on the Pesto Glasgow Facebook page on Monday – http://www.facebook.com/pestoglasgow
http://www.entertainmentguideawards.co.uk/
http://www.pestorestaurants.co.uk/pesto-in-a-pub/
Pesto Glasgow in Line for Award
Pesto Italian Restaurants Glasgow has been nominated for a top award only seven months after opening for business.
Our 300-seat restaurant is a finalist in the ‘Best New Restaurant of the Year’ category at the Scottish Entertainment Guide Awards 2012.
“We are very pleased to be in the running for such a prestigious prize,” said General Manager Francis Carr.
“The nomination says a lot about the hard work of everyone at Pesto Italian Restaurants Glasgow to make the restaurant a success with its innovative approach to Italian cuisine.
“We came ahead of 2,000 other restaurants to win a short-list place so now we eagerly await the judges’ final decision.”
Pesto Italian Restaurant Glasgow is situated in the landmark former John Smith Bookshop building in St Vincent Street after an exquisite £1 million refurbishment.
Owners, Neil and Sara hate being ripped off in restaurants that charge fancy prices but don’t deliver on the food or service so they set out to give customers great value for money through freshly cooked food in a warm relaxed atmosphere.
“Sara and I love Italian food, but just not in traditionally large portions of one dish,” said Neil. “We hit on the idea for Pesto where you can order five or six dishes between two diners and enjoy a selection of different tastes in one meal.
“We are pleased with the progress of Pesto Italian Restaurants Glasgow and, obviously, excited to be considered for this award such a short time after opening up in the city.”
The Scottish Entertainment Guide Awards 2012 awards ceremony takes place on Sunday, April 22nd in Glasgow’s Thistle Hotel. For ticket information, event enquiries and table bookings please call 0141 332 1143 / 0141 420 1333
Easter holiday treats at Pesto!
This Easter holiday we’ve a special treat in-store for the kids at our Deansgate and Trafford Centre diners with our fabulous colouring-in competition!
Kids dining over the Easter holiday weekend with an adult at our Trafford Centre restaurant can bag a £30 Pesto voucher, while our Deansgate kiddie diners are treated to a chocolate egg, with the winner also claiming a £30 Pesto voucher.
The competition will run over the Easter holiday weekend, and the winner will be announced on Easter Monday! We’ll be posting pics of the winners with their prizes right here on the blog as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages.
In other Pesto news – shortly after the Easter holiday the second Pesto in a Pub will open in Farnworth, Widnes – watch this space over the coming weeks for updates, or keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter! Pesto Glasgow has been nominated for a top award only six months after opening for business!
Pesto Glasgow is officially a finalist in the ‘New Restaurant of the Year’ category at the Scottish Entertainment Guide Awards 2012 – we’ll be following up on the full story early next week, so keep your eyes peeled peeps!
If you’d like to make a reservation over the Easter holiday why not book a table online now at http://www.pestorestaurants.co.uk/bookings – alternatively you can call our restaurant managers directly to make a bespoke booking on the numbers below. If you’d like to check out our kids menu first click here to download the kids menu or click here to browse online.
Deansgate – 0161 831 9930
Trafford Centre – 0161 749 8228
Liverpool One – 0151 708 6353
Glasgow Central – 0141 204 0979
Cabbage Hall – 01829 760 292
http://www.pestorestaurants.co.uk/deansgate-menu/kids-menu/
http://www.pestorestaurants.co.uk/trafford-centre-menu-2/kids-menu/
Queen Elizabeth set for city visit
The City of Manchester is gearing up for a royal visit this week with MediaCityUK, BBC Media City, University Hospitals and the Town Hall all penciled in for a visit from Queen Elizabeth!
Queen Elizabeth’s reign of 60 years is the second-longest for a British monarch, the only monarch to have a longer reign is Queen Victoria, who reigned for an astounding sixty-three years and seven months. Queen Elizabeth’s Silver and Golden Jubilees were celebrated in 1977 and 2002, with her Diamond Jubilee celebrations taking place throughout 2012.
Queen Elizabeth’s most anticipated engagement of 2012 is the opening of the 2012 Summer Olympics on 27 July and the Paralympics on 29 August in London.
Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth begins her visit by opening the Central Manchester University Hospitals on Friday 23rd March, followed by the opening of MediaCityUK and BBC Media City at Salford Quays, all on the same day.
Later in the afternoon Queen Elizabeth will attend a lunch in Albert Square at Manchester Town Hall, located just a five minute walk from Pesto Italian Restaurants Deansgate – ideal if you’re out Queen-spotting and you fancy a scrumptious lunch with a taste of the royal treatment for yourself from our super team at Deansgate!
There’s also talk of the Queen traveling through Deansgate past Pesto Italian Restaurants en route to lunch at the town hall – why not reserve a front-row seat at Pesto Deansgate now with our simple online booking form?
- Guess who else loves a bit of Reiss?
The Pesto Italian Restaurants Deansgate team will also be busy tonight at the rather swanky VIP Reiss evening taking place at Whitewall Galleries from 6pm – 9pm.
Reiss will be showcasing their new collection along with Tom Ford Beauty, Molton Brown and Sugar & Spice! To reserve a place at this special one-off event call the Reiss Manchester store on 0161 831 7994
www.bbc.co.uk/rd/contact/mediacitylocation.shtml
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine,_Duchess_of_Cambridge
www.manchester.gov.uk/info/514/listed…/manchester_town_hall/1
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria
www.direct.gov.uk/diamondjubilee
Interview: Andi Ferguson
After a hectic month at Pesto Deansgate we finally stole a few minutes with our brand spanking new (well, not strictly speaking new…) Deansgate General Manager Andi Ferguson.
How long have you been part of the Pesto team?
I first joined Pesto in the summer of 2010 working at the Trafford Centre branch, then after a short break I rejoined Pesto as the General Manager for Deansgate February 2012
What is the best thing about working for Pesto Italian Restaurants?
I would have to say that the best thing about working for Pesto is that no two days are the same, be it the customers, the team, or simple the crazy weather in Manchester! I love the constant challenge to excel in our customer’s expectations, be it with just a warm welcoming smile every day, or making their visit so special that they never forget it.
What is your favourite Pesto dish and drink?
My favourite dish is Bruschetta Pomodoro, you just can’t beat it for fresh vivid flavours, as to drink it have to be our Valpolicella Classico. This great red can be simple enjoyed on its own or with any of our dishes, an amazing “all rounder” that never fails to tickle my taste buds.
Which three celebrities would you invite to dinner at Pesto Italian Restaurants?
Andrew Lincoln, as I was a massive fan when he was in This Life, Teachers and currently loving his latest work!
Julius Caesar, just to get some tips on how he managed to get where he did and find out what drove him so hard.
Basil Fawlty, again because I’m simply a fan, but also to show him it should be done.
What inspired you to become a manager?
It was when I was working as a waiter and just started to realise that it’s the fine detail and little touches that make a good place great. Then it was the simple leap that I could, and wanted to, make that difference, fifteen years later….
After a meal at Pesto Deansgate, what’s the best thing to do in Manchester?
I would have to say a visit to the big wheel or to Cloud23 as the views of Manchester in the evening are next to none.
What was the last show you went to and how was it?
I was out in Liverpool with some friends last month and after a quick meal at Pesto L1 we were walking back to the train station when we discovered a local pub that had a live folk band from Ireland, we were meant to be only having a “sneaky” drink then getting the train home, but the band was so good we ended up staying the whole night! The best nights are always the ones that you didn’t plan!
What does the next year at Pesto Italian Restaurants hold for you?
I hope that it will involve making Pesto on Deansgate a great venue that the customers love to visit time and time again, be it for sipping wine on the terrace with friends after work or having a great night out celebrating an event. I’m looking forward to having a great summer, with lots of sunshine, bringing a little bit a smile back to Deansgate.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Life
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar
Tasty New Chapter for Bookshop
Dinner for a group of former colleagues turned out even tastier when they booked a meal in the famous place where they used to work.
Pesto Glasgow, one of the city’s newest Italian restaurants after a £1 million refurbishment, is located in what was for over 250 years the flagship, landmark John Smith Bookshop in St Vincent Street.
The privately-owned restaurant was happy to welcome the special group of diners at the weekend and before placing their orders they were given a guided tour of their old place of work.
“We didn’t need to look up directions to the restaurant,” said Sue Bryson, who has been meeting up every six weeks for the past 12 years with her fellow John Smith Bookshop managers.
“We enjoy our get-togethers and when we learned that number 57 St Vincent Street was now a restaurant, we were intrigued and just had to make a reservation there.”
The ladies taking a walk down memory lane were Joan Douglas, Jean Long, Sharon Tornow, Christine Anderson, Sue Bryson and Gloria Miller, who still works for the company at Strathclyde University’s Jordhanill branch.
In total they can boast over a century of service with John Smith, the oldest, and still thriving, bookseller in the English-speaking world. The company, which has been awarded the Academic Bookseller of the Year Award for the past five consecutive years, now has 25 shops located in universities throughout the UK.
“It has been very tastefully changed,” said Sue. “We were pleased to get a tour of the building, too, so we appreciated that very much. It brought back happy memories.
“It was a friendly and enjoyable place to work. It was a treat to be back. We enjoyed the visit, the kind attention of all the staff and the lovely food.
“All in all, a special night. We will be back.”
Pesto, which has been open for less than six months, specialises in dishes called Piattini, meaning small plates in Italian.
The idea is that you can order five or six dishes between a couple of diners but enjoy a selection of different tastes in one meal.
Francis Carr, the restaurant’s general manager, said: “We were really pleased when we got the booking to learn of the ladies’ connection with the building through their days as book sellers.
“It was a pleasure showing them around and we’re delighted they enjoyed their visit as well as their meals. We are pleased they are planning a return visit, too.”
Mothers Day Pesto’s Picks
Mothers Day is just a few weeks off, and with that in mind Pesto’s Picks takes a look at some of the best Mothers Day entertainment on in Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
The Moscow City Ballet’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s epic tragedy Romeo and Juliet has a two-night run scheduled at the Manchester Opera House on the 15th and 16th March. A stunning combination of artistry, technique and narrative accompanied by an emotive dramatic score from the late award-winning composer Sergei Prokofiev is sure to make for an original and moving Mothers Day gift.
http://www.atgtickets.com/Moscow-City-Ballet-s-Romeo-Juliet-Tickets/172/956/#overview_tab
Now, if you’d rather go for something a little more upbeat, why not treat your dear old mum to tickets to the Glasgow International Comedy Festival?
The festival runs from the 15th March till the 1st of April at venues across the City. Our personal highlights are Loose Women panelist Jenny Eclair and Father Ted’s Ardal O’Hanlon appearing at the Citizens Theatre, March 30th and the King’s Theatre, March 29th respectively.
http://www.ticketsoup.com/tickets/jenny-eclair-old-dog-new-tricks-2012-13444/default.aspx
http://www.ticketsoup.com/tickets/ardal-ohanlon-2012-13493/default.aspx
Perhaps a little nostalgia would make the perfect Mothers Day gift, and what better way than to reminisce than a trip to the flicks to watch a modern-day classic? 80′s sci-fi romp Back to the Future returns to the big screen at Glasgow Cineworld on March 30th – this is set to be a sell-out so be sure to get tickets well in advance!
http://www.cineworld.co.uk/cinemas/28
Over in Liverpool we have something that will delight music-loving mums – International Guitar Night – the world’s premier touring guitar festival. Lulo Reindhardt (nephew of the late, great Django Reindhardt), Brian Gore and Adrian Legg, touted by slick-fingered legend Joe Satriani as “simply the best acoustic guitar player I’ve ever heard” have been wielding their axes across the globe, and March 1st sees the show come to the Liverpool Philharmonic.
http://www.visitliverpool.com/whats-on/search/international-guitar-night-p305161
Whatever you do for Mothers Day you can be sure that a delicious meal washed down with our special Mothers Day cocktail the giola Di Mardi (Mothers Joy!) will be the perfect accompaniment to a perfect day! Why not book a table at your favourite Pesto now?
Interview: Aga Cabbage Hall
Cabbage Hall manager Aga
Cabbage Hall manager Aga takes time out from managing the newest Pesto Italian Restaurant to tell us why she loves being a manager and what she hopes the future holds for Pesto at the Cabbage Hall.
How long have you been part of the Pesto team?
I have been part of the Pesto Cabbage Hall team for three months now.
What is the best thing about working for Pesto at the Cabbage Hall?
I love dealing with our Pesto customers. Here at Cabbage Hall people are very friendly and even though we are here for just over two months we have already regular customers and many of them are friends already
What is your favourite Pesto Cabbage Hall dish and drink?
I love many of our dishes, however if I would have to choose one of them I think it would be the bruschetta pomodoro. My favourite drink is for sure the soda water – we run here so much water is always welcome!
What’s the funniest thing to have happened to you at Cabbage Hall?
It was when the fire alarm went on in a very busy night. It took me some minutes to disarm it and when I finish I had all this faces looking at me. It was so funny, I just went around saying to everyone that it was fine, no fire at all.
Which three celebrities would you invite to dinner at Pesto Cabbage Hall?
It would be Hugh Grant, Demi Moore and George Clooney.
What inspired you to become a manager?
Necessity and loving been bossy! Just kidding! I love managing people, making sure that things are done properly, in a way that the customers would always feel like coming back.
After a meal at Pesto Cabbage Hall, what’s the best thing to do in Tarporley?
Go to sleep!
What was the last show you went to and how was it?
Yesterday, I went with friends to a pub in London. It had live music and we had the best time.
What does the next year at Pesto at the Cabbage Hall hold for you?
I hope a lot of fun, many more customers and hopefully getting a very good reputation for good service and food in the Tarporley region.
Pesto’s Picks February 2012
With the Celtic Connections festival in full swing and the Glasgow Film Festival 2012 gearing up for kick-off on the 16th February, Scotland’s biggest city is certainly living up to its reputation as a hub of creative activity.
Pesto Italian Restaurants Glasgow is located right at the centre of the city on vibrant St Vincent Street, just a stone’s throw from Central Station and countless music venues, cinemas, nightclubs and theatres – the ideal place to fill up before throwing yourself into the action!
For all the mums and dads out there, this years Glasgow Film Festival has put together a special parent and baby screening; in short it’s highlights from the eight international competition programmes condensed into an hour-and-a-half long ‘film’. The selection of clips is set to remain a secret right up until the curtains open, but the folks at Glasgow Film Festival promise and “entertaining and thought-provoking drama, documentary and animation from around the world” with “no extreme content or sudden loud noises” with the lights remaining on low to allow easy movement during the screening. Tickets are a very reasonable £4 and all babies go free, but must be accompanied by an adult, obviously.
http://www.glasgowfilm.org/festival/whats_on/3624_short_stuff_parent_baby_screening
Now, this year at the Glasgow Film Festival there’s said to be festivals within festivals, which all sounds a bit Inception to us, but apparently it’s just “mini festivals within the Festival that both complement and diversify the programme as a whole”. The mini festivals are the Short Film Festival, Youth Film Festival, the Music and Film Festival and Frightfest – ooh er!
The Frightfest is brought to Glasgow Film Festival by Film4 and will premiere a massive eleven movies this year, including Crawl, War of the Dead and The Raid. The two-day-movie-marathon starts at 13:30 on Friday 24th February and ends Saturday 25th February at 23:15. All screenings are rated 18+ and are likely to put you off your tea, so if you are heading out to Frightfest be sure to stop by Pesto Italian Restaurants Glasgow for a spot of lunch first.
Heading down to the North West for February, highlights for the month include Irish superstars Snow Patrol at the Manchester Evening News Arena and the X Factor Live Tour 2012 also at the MEN.
Snow Patrol’s sixth album Fallen Empires was released on November 11th 2011 and was the band’s highest debut on the Billboard chart. Almost nine years after their commercial breakthrough album Final Straw, the band are have just started their fifth major tour with
dates scheduled across Europe, the US and Canada. The Irish lovelies will take to the MEN stage on Friday 3rd February with support from Manchester lads Everything Everything.
- Not part of Fright Fest
Last years X Factor competition was easily one of the most explosive yet, with fiery exits, band break-ups, bitchy judges, Kitty Brucknell and more Adele renditions than your average karaoke bar on a Saturday night. And all without Simon Cowell.
We reckon the X Factor Tour 2012 is not to be missed, and there are still (just a few) tickets left for their two
-day-stint at the MEN Arena on Saturday the 25th and Sunday 26th of February. If you want to treat your other half to a flamboyant Valentine’s gift tickets are £38 (inc booking fee) available from Ticketmaster.
Hi
ghlights in Liverpool this month include a show at the Liverpool Philharmonic from Mike and the Mechanics legend Paul Carrack and a special Valentine’s screening of the Audrey Hepburn classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Former Mike and the Mechanics frontman (you’d think he’d be called Mike…), Squeeze keyboardist and the voice behind Ace’s How Long and Squeeze’s Tempted and The Living Years has a reputation as a brilliant live performer. His velvety voice oozes soul and his talent as a multi-instrumentalists makes him one of the last century’s most underrated artists.
Friday 17th February from 7:30pm, tickets are available from Ticketmaster.
Truman Capote’s charming fairytale is once again brought to life this Valentines Day at the Liverpool Philharmonic. For those of you who don’t know the story, or haven’t got round to seeing it yet (really, what’s your excuse?!), young New York writer Paul Varjak (George Peppard) moves into a flat and meets the eccentric Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) who has a penchant for the dramatic and leads highly glamorous social and emotional life. Holly is a party girl whose extraordinarily stylish facade masks bleak inner anguish and a hidden past. Henry Mancini’s Oscar-winning ballad ‘Moon River‘ underscores a beautifully romantic end to the 1961 classic.
http://www.glasgowfilm.org/festival
http://www.glasgowfilm.org/festival/information/festivals_within_the_festivals/gmff
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Patrol
http://www.everything-everything.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/#!/kittybrucknell
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/X-Factor-Live-tickets/artist/27410
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeeze_(band)
www.mike-and-the-mechanics.co.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Carrack
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Capote
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_at_Tiffany’s_(film)
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