Long before Pat and Rocco Nicastro were choosing which olive oils, pastas and cheeses deserved a place on the shelves at La Bottega, they were the kids expected to help stock them.
Pat still remembers climbing onto a stack of milk crates to reach a top shelf at his family’s grocery store. The crates gave way, sending him, cans of olive oil and a display of dried pasta crashing to the floor. His father walked over, pulled him up by the back of his apron and handed him a broom.
“Good, now you will know how to sweep,” he told him in Italian. “After that, stack it again.”
They laughed about it over pasta that night.
It’s a funny family story, but also a fitting introduction to the world in which the Nicastros grew up. The grocery store was an extension of home, Sunday dinner was mandatory, September meant making tomato sauce, and knowing who made your food was hardly considered unusual.
Decades later, much of that thinking still shapes La Bottega Nicastro. What has changed is how unusual it has become.
As grocery shopping has become faster and increasingly automated, Pat and Rocco have noticed customers gravitating back toward something more personal.
“Shopping small isn’t just about buying a bag of groceries; it’s about human connection,” they say. “When people come through our doors, they want to be greeted by name, smell fresh basil and simmering sauce, and talk to someone who genuinely cares about what goes into their basket.”
That relationship also shapes what makes it onto La Bottega’s shelves. Quality, authenticity and value are the benchmarks, with an emphasis on products the family has tasted and would serve themselves.
Some come with stories stretching back generations. Pat and Rocco point to small olive oil producers in Calabria and Puglia, including family-run estates still farming land cultivated by their great-grandparents. One Calabrian producer faced a heat wave that threatened much of its harvest and chose to produce a smaller batch rather than supplement its yield with less expensive oils.
It’s that sense of discovery that can turn a quick stop at La Bottega into something more. Customers come for an ingredient and stay for a cappuccino, sit down for a meal, discover something new or join a wine tasting.
And discovery does not have to mean extravagance. Pat and Rocco encourage customers to pay attention to everyday staples like olive oil, coffee, pasta and canned tomatoes, where a little more quality can make a noticeable difference in a simple meal.
It’s an approach closely connected to the traditions they grew up with. Traditions the next generation is now learning too.
“Everything moves so quickly these days, and there’s something special about slowing down and sharing a meal,” they say. “These simple moments become habits, memories and traditions you look back on and cherish.”
For the Nicastros, keeping those traditions alive is simply part of what La Bottega has always done.
