To Everything There Is a Season

Down a stone path and around a narrow corner in the back of Trattoria Fratelli grow the finishing touches, the tasty essences of some of the Lebanon eatery's finest dishes. The restaurant's herb garden is an aromatic, flourishing mass of Italian parsley, basil, tarragon, garlic chives, edible flowers and more, fertilized with organic compost made of coffee grounds, vegetable trimmings and bread. On any given afternoon or evening, with the drone of Lehman Street traffic in the background, it is not unusual to find chef Larry Nauman in the garden, trimming off the delicate leaves, strolling back inside his kitchen and adding fresh herbs to the pescatora pizze al forno or the cream sauce that tops the penne al pollo in salsa di basilico.

"More than half of the herbs that we use com from our garden, " Nauman explains. "The rest we get from a local Marysville nursery."

For almost four years, Nauman has called the herb garden and the wood-fired brick oven, wooden ceiling beams and mosaic floor tiles inside Trattoria Fratelli his workplace. But as a chef, there are "no walls", he says. "I love the creative freedom I have here." Owners Greg and Tony Allwein "don't stifle ideas. They really let it up to me."

Nauman advocates the creation of seasonal dishes, thereby expanding the restaurant's culinary sesctions. The result of his campaign is four annual menus - including vegetables, herbs, fish and other foods - that create Trattoria Fratelli's seasonal Italian dining experience. "Asparagus is best in spring; squashes in fall," Nauman reasons. "I try to stick within the season. Patrons appreciate it and look forward to it. For me, it's exciting.

Food preparation has generated excitement for Nauman throughout most of his life. Growing up in a family where his father did most of the cooking ispired Nauman to learn how to cook for himself. By the age of 12, Nauman was experimenting on his own, first with soups, chili and other simple things. He progressed to preparing crepes, manicotti and cannelloni, then later expanded his reportoire of French dishes.

Largely self-taught, Nauman forges ahead with menus that include his personal favorites as well as popular dishes from the restaurant's past seasons. Trattoria Fratelli's angel-hair pasta with jumbo lump crabmeat and raosted-tomato broth is Nauman's summer entree choice - the wood-roasting of the tomatoes "concentrates sweetness and gives it a smoky flavor that goes throughout the dish," he says. (The restaurant roasts the tomatoes in its wood-burning oven, but cooks at home can roast them in regular ovens until lightly charred to get the same results). "It's the perfect summer pasta dish," Nauman remarks. "It's very popular and tasty".

But while Nauman appears to be basking in his creative freedom, the challenges of keeping everything fresh and different are always on his mind. He is constantly on the lookout for the next new dish, a distant taste, a novel presentation. Well-traveled patrons sometimes mention an entree or a dessert they enjoyed in Italy or elsewhere and are then surprised to find it on the menu the next time they visit.

Nauman just can't help displaying other creative preferences, either. "I like music with an edge," he says with a laugh. "Beforecustomers arrive I sometimes play the music of the hard-rock band Disturbed during preparation."