Six A.M. Time for Pat Nicastro to rise and enjoy his first espresso. After that, he dutifully ventures to the Byward Market-based groceteria and social hub proudly emblazoned with the family name. Many members of the staff are already there, prepping for another day in the life of La Bottega Nicastro, the hundred-plus-year-old Italian food store Pat and first cousin Rocco Jr. converted into a combination fine food shop, café, lunch counter, and catering business in the chancy ‘90s.
“Everybody who works here is great,” Pat informs the day’s first enthusiastic visitor: me. “Our job, Rocco and I, is essentially management. We hire the good people, then we give them the right tools: support, supplies, autonomy. If we do that right, they do their job right based on our example.”
Giovanni “John” Adamo, La Bottega’s longtime cheese expert, arranges freshly cut wheels with the same care he’s shown for decades behind the counter.
A job accomplished with, to boot, a tremendous amount of pride and loyalty. While other food emporiums struggle with turnover, La Bottega Nicastro can boast of tenures from ten to thirty years. Yes, some employees are family, so there’s a vested interest – but many are there because, as Catering and Event Manager Larissa Beznaczuk-Smyrnew gratefully acknowledges, “You’re allowed to stay in your lane. They are always open to new ideas and they help make the vision happen,” the sunny one-time wine broker elaborates: “You don’t work for Pat and Rocco. You work with them.”
And work hard. While Rocco joins Pat to look over the needs of the day, the worker bees are busily handling deliveries, kneading bread, and prepping the deli counter, to list but a few of the countless tasks that keep the shelves stocked, the bakery brimming, and the meats piled high.
After all, three sets of customers are about to rotate through 64 George Street: the early birds, the lunch trade, and the after-work crowd. On Friday nights, the one evening that the store stays open past 6 PM, it welcomes yet another demographic since they are also open for dinner. But whoever shows up, they’re all guaranteed two things: a plentiful supply of the Italian staples that they’re looking for (along with a few surprises) and an up-close-and-personal encounter with those who are minding the shop.
“What we carry and how we act,” says Pat, “is aimed at keeping our regulars happy and impressing first-timers.”
That aspiration starts with the inventory, determined over those early morning check-ins. Pat plays the enthusiast, Rocco Jr. the strategist. “We make a great team,” Rocco affirms. “That said,” adds Pat, “we also rely on in-house expertise, as well as our longtime suppliers and salespeople.”
“Our vision,” Rocco shares, “is to create the European shopping experience in Ottawa. In Europe, people buy food for the day or for the next few days – so it’s current, it’s quality. Plus, in Europe, food shopping is a social occasion.”
The boys know whereof they speak. They travel regularly to ancestral Calabria, scouting products sure to provide Ottawa with an authentic taste of Italy. The Nicastros are even investors in a number of olive groves, from which they produce the best-selling oil that bears their name, available in-store and at other select boutiques.
Chef René Rodriguez, Top Chef Canada Season 4 winner, prepares lunch for the steady stream of regulars who fill La Bottega’s bustling café each afternoon.
In-house, you’ll find it alongside other delectables like their homemade pasta sauces, in aisles that may be full with product, but are surprisingly easy to navigate. “Layout is extremely important,” Rocco details. “We have a saying: ‘You’re only as good as your store looks today.’”
And if you’re stuck at the office and can’t get away to their intimate lunch counter – run by Chef Rene Rodriguez, no less, the Top Chef Canada Season 4 winner and the guy who, in 2017, beat Bobby Flay – or to the adjacent deli where over 300 Italian sandwiches are made every day, no problem! La Bottega also runs a successful catering division accommodating lunchtime work sessions and corporate get-togethers.
Then, there are those closed-door affairs, everything from wine tutorials to cooking classes, hosted by Team Larissa. Occupied as everybody is, though, nobody is complaining.
Larissa Beznaczuk-Smyrnew (right), Catering and Event Manager, selects wines for an upcoming tasting, one of the many events she curates to bring Ottawa’s food lovers together.
“When you love what you do,” longtime cheese authority Giovanni “John” Adamo says, “the rest comes easy.”
“The famously friendly fromager’s theory is proven when, their espresso cups empty, Pat and Rocco unlock the doors to greet the day’s inaugural customers. Pat immediately engages in small talk; Rocco unpacks incoming boxes; Larissa and her team deconstruct last night’s soiree while setting up the next one; Rene starts prepping his faithful grill; Giovanni wields a wedge from a wheel and adds it to the display of fresh cheeses that he treats like family.”
Una giornata nella vita di La Bottega Nicastro!
