L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano D iners looking for The Pink Door restaurant, a Seattle institution for nearly 40 years, need to know there is virtually no sig- nage. Just head down Post Alley near Pike Place Market, look for the slate-gray exterior walls and enter through, well, a pink door. Once inside, customers are treated not only to delicious food but also to a constantly changing menu of live entertainment -- from opera to burlesque, aerial artists to accordion players. It's this fun-loving, slightly off-beat, cabaret approach that gives the restaurant its special appeal. The Pink Door is owned and run by veteran restaurateur Jackie Roberts whose grandparents came RITA CIPALLA artistic, aerial or burlesque per- formers. A quick look at Febru- ary's offerings show evenings de- voted to jazz, blues, accordion, aerial arts, burlesque and tarot readings. "I spent a lot of time in France and Italy when I was younger," said Roberts, "and was inspired by the romance of the French bistro and the Italian trattoria. When I opened my own restau- rant, I envisioned a space where people would spontaneously break into song, not the polished commercial performances we see today, but music that comes from the heart. I wanted to offer my diners a surprise, something in addition to the delicious food." As a young woman, Roberts never thought she would spend more than four decades in the restaurant business, but there were some clues along the way. As a child, she hosted pretend- dinner parties for her friends, us- ing corn silk as play spaghetti. After college, when considering a career, she made a list of all the things she loved the most. On her list were: books, music, cabaret, cooking and feeding people. No need to be a fortune teller to con- nect those dots. By her own account, Roberts says she is "obsessed with health and nutrition," firmly believing that the best food is the kind we grow ourselves. Coming from a family of avid gardeners, she en- joys puttering around in the soil. She has an extensive home gar- den where she grows artichokes, peas, arugula, zucchini, cucum- bers, carrots, tomatoes and more, rotating the beds seasonally to ensure optimal use. Some years ago, after moving to a new home in northeast Seat- tle, Roberts hired a Nepali to build a low stone wall to enclose raised garden beds. The wall re- flects the sun's warmth, creating a micro-climate that contributes to the quality and sweetness of the vegetables. "Everyone says you can't grow good tomatoes in the Northwest," she said, 'but I've proved that wrong. I grow amazing tomatoes, just as deli- cious and sweet as I remember from my childhood." She harvests the seeds, pro- viding them to Butler Green Farms on Bainbridge Island, the restaurant's produce provider. Whatever is in season helps in- form the daily menu. Community service is an im- portant part of The Pink Door's DNA. In 2016, when a huge earthquake devastated the central Italian town of Amatrice, Roberts reprised a signature dish from her 1981 menu, bucatini all'Amatri- ciana. For more than two weeks, she donated 100 percent of the proceeds from those who ordered that dish to the Croce Rossa Ital- iana (Italian Red Cross) for earth- quake relief. from southern Italy. (The family name was once Di Roberto). Roberts grew up near Rochester, N.Y., where her father maintained a huge garden and en- joyed cooking family dinner on Sundays. Her uncles raised goats, chickens and a pig called Mr. Ed, and her grandfather grew grapes. "My grandmother emigrated to the U.S. from a town outside Naples when she was 16 or 17 years old," said Roberts. "She was so happy to be in what she called a land of plenty. When I went to southern Italy many years later, I saw lots of people with thick dark eyebrows like mine and many of the same facial fea- tures. It felt so familiar to me." Roberts moved to Seattle in 1975 when it was next-to-impos- sible to get authentic Italian prod- ucts or certain vegetables and herbs. "You couldn't find good prosciutto anywhere," she said. "The U.S. was not importing it. I had to buy my prosciutto in Canada. There was no fennel or fresh basil. People just didn't know what they were." In 1977, Roberts opened Trat- toria Mitchelli with her then- boyfriend Dany Mitchell. The couple altered Mitchell's Irish surname to give the restaurant a more Italian feel. She later cooked at Rosellini's 910 restau- rant and worked with a catering company before she struck out on her own, opening The Pink Door in 1981. A pioneer in local food sourc- ing, Roberts is passionate about fresh simple ingredients, picked in season and used in uncompli- cated ways. She's a regular at Pike Place Market: Its vegetable stalls remind her of the markets she grew up with in upstate New York. Over the years, she made friends with many of the vendors. One memory still stands out: greengrocer Pasquelina Verdi who sold vegetables at the market for 36 years. "I had this 1977 gold Vespa with a big basket on the back," said Roberts. "I'd be in my heels and skirt and off I'd go to see Pasquelina at the market. She was one of the first vendors in town to sell sweet basil and arugula." The Pink Door occupies a his- toric space that once housed a vi- olin shop. The milky-pink color was inspired by a trip to Italy and the tiles of the Duomo in Flo- rence. Her beloved Vespa, now painted the same shade of pink, is perched on a high shelf inside, nestled amid ornate chandeliers and exposed red-brick walls. Just as distinctive as the door color is the restaurant's entertain- ment. Every night, The Pink Door hosts different musical, Cabaret singers and live music are part of the evening entertainment at The Pink Door. (The Pink Door) The Pink Door, a historic building that once housed a violin shop, sports orna- te chandeliers and brick walls under 20-foot ceilings. (The Pink Door) At The Pink Door, Jackie Roberts wants to give diners a unique experience that mixes quality entertainment with delicious food. (The Pink Door) SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY Cabaret approach adds pizazz to The Pink Door

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