Wednesday, February 27, 7:00 P.M.
Members $95, guests $120

Beppe chef Cesare Casella had the good fortune to grow up surrounded by pots and pans. Now, some people might not consider this fortuitous, but Casella's parents ran the popular trattoria Il Vipore, overlooking the Tuscan city of Lucca. There, Casella grew up picking sprigs of rosemary in the backyard while crusty loaves baked in the oven and steamy pots of ragù simmered on the stove. In this bucolic and nurturing environment, Casella joined his parents in their kitchen when he was just 15, and soon went on to earn a degree from the culinary school in Montecatini. He returned to Il Vipore, and before long, the restaurant sprouted a Michelin star.

But like some other famous Italians we can think of, Casella set sail for the New World, and landed in 1993 at Coco Pazzo in New York City. Without missing a beat, he launched Coco's sister restaurant, Il Toscanaccio, as well as his own restaurant- consulting business. The pace must have been tremendous, for despite all the accolades that followed, Casella insisted on taking a two-year "break" (if you can call it that) to write Diary of a Tuscan Chef and Italian Cooking for Dummies. Then, in 2000-when New Yorkers were beginning to despair of ever again indulging in Casella's sublime, rustic, herb-infused Tuscan fare-came the opening of Beppe (Casella's childhood nickname for his grandfather).

Casella, who is passionate about both food and family, can still wax ecstatic about his forebears' cooking. But these days, he's more interested in introducing customers to his self-described "Free Range Tuscan Country Cooking." If that means 11-herb pasta; lamb potpie simmered in Chianti with baby artichokes; and Tuscan "cowboy style" spare ribs, slow-cooked with tomatoes, garlic, and giant spagna beans, who are we to argue?

Casella, by the way, says that beans are his favorite food, and he has 19 Italian heirloom varieties grown specially for Beppe at the Mountain Sweet Berry Farm in Roscoe, New York. He is determined to get Americans on the bean bandwagon, and may already have a few converts. "Casella is a wizard with beans," Adam Platt wrote in New York magazine after devouring Casella's handmade pork sausage, grilled and served on a bed of Tuscan beans. "Stellar," declared New York Times writer Marian Burros of her warm seven-bean salad, tossed with slivers of red onion and fragrant olive oil. This month, come to the Bean House, er, Beard House, and see if he can persuade you. (Not to worry if you're not yet a believer. There's plenty of mouth-watering non-bean, Tuscan cucina tradizionale in store.)