  
Whitmore Lake, Michigan'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 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. 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."
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.
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.
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."
from The Express July 23, 2000
By Kasey Everly
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