L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2015 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 7 DeNicola's Italian Restaurant: Serving Family Recipes Since 1978 O p e n i n g t h e d o o r i n t o DeNicola's Italian Restaurant is like opening the door into your grandmother's kitchen. You are welcomed with a smile, invited to sit down, surrounded by loud conversation and laughter, and there are all those wonderful Italian aromas – baking egg- plant in sauce and cheese, sim- mering pasta and gnocchi, sea- soned meatballs and sausage, baking bread – you can almost taste the air. D e N i c o l a ' s i s a P o r t l a n d landmark. Opened in 1978 by Giovanni and Rosa DeNicola, it quickly became a favorite in the community. It is still a destina- tion for families, Italian clubs a n d l o n g - t i m e f r i e n d s , w h o come to savor the old DeNicola family recipes and talk the night away snuggled into a booth or c r o w d e d a r o u n d o n e o f t h e tables. There is a true family feeling at DeNicola's that is hard to find in most restaurants today. The DeNicola's didn't start out in the restaurant business. Giovanni and Rosa both immi- grated from Pietragalla, in the province of Potenza, around 1953 but didn't meet until they were in the States. After they married, the family followed Giovanni's construction career as he moved from one project site to another. They lived in New York, Toronto, Flagstaff, a n d e v e n i n l i t t l e W a s c o , Oregon - where he worked on t h e J o h n D a y D a m o n t h e Columbia River – before they finally settled in Portland. While Giovanni worked in construction, Rosa went to work for the Lido and Monte Carlo restaurants. She was a natural in the kitchen and a true Italian chef – she never measured any- thing. Even without any formal training, her dishes were fabu- lous, delicious and consistent. S h e a l s o h a d a s t r o n g w o r k ethic, putting in hour after hour. Giovanni often joined her in the kitchen at the restaurants after his normal work shift was done, helping with prep work. " M y d a d a l w a y s h a d t w o jobs," says Donna DeNicola Barrett. "He and my mom were work horses." Deciding to open a restaurant of their own, the DeNicola's partnered with two other cou- p l e s a n d o p e n e d G i o v a n n i ' s Italian Restaurant in Beaverton. The business was a huge suc- c e s s w i t h l i n e s o u t t h e d o o r e v e r y e v e n i n g . R o s a a n d Giovanni slept in the kitchen every night while they ran the r e s t a u r a n t ; G i o v a n n i w o u l d m a k e t h e t r i p t o L o n g v i e w every morning to work his regu- lar shift before returning to the restaurant to wash dishes all night. Donna remembers how hard the whole family worked; she and her sister went to school during the day and then worked in the restaurant in the evenings. Donna did the payroll for her parents when she was in high school. "It just got so busy so fast. We didn't even have a busboy! None of us had ever gone out to dinner. We weren't business people. But what we had was the food and the loca- tion." D i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n t h e partners led the DeNicola's to leave Giovanni's and look for space to open another restau- rant. This time they settled on a building in southeast Portland o n P o w e l l B o u l e v a r d . DeNicola's opened in May of 1978 and Rosa and Giovanni slept in the kitchen again for a n o t h e r t w o y e a r s w h i l e t h e business took off. Eventually, the DeNicola's owned five dif- f e r e n t r e s t a u r a n t l o c a t i o n s . Today only the original location remains. Rosa and Giovanni believed in serving high quality food in the southern Italian tradition. Rosa would spend hours per- fecting a dish before it made it to the menu. Pasta was always al dente, sauces and soups were fresh every day. Cheese was fresh grated and the pizza dough was rolled by hand. Today Donna's sons, Patrick and Johnny help run the restau- rant. Johnny has inherited his grandmother's cooking skill and attention to detail. The pasta is still perfectly al dente; soups and sauces are fresh and home- m a d e . T h e m e n u i n c l u d e s g l u t e n - f r e e a n d v e g e t a r i a n options. Donna's brother Nick has been making the restaurant's trademark pizzas for several years. "You have to love this busi- ness," Donna says. "Every day I c o m e t o w o r k , I l i k e t h a t a s much as every day that I have off. There is so much more to learn all the time." W h e n a s k e d w h a t h e r favorite item is on the menu, Donna takes a very long pause. "The Eggplant Parm. My mom perfected it. We still make it using her recipe and in the same way." Rosa and Giovanni passed away in 2003 but they are still a large presence in the restaurant. Photos and portraits hang on the restaurant walls; friends and customers still share stories of Rosa and Giovanni. Family is a dominate theme at DeNicola's. "My dad had a way of saying KERRY-LYNNE DEMARINIS BROWN things. He really liked people and was very witty," Donna r e m e m b e r s . " M y m o m w a s v e r y h a r d w o r k i n g ; s h e d i d e v e r y t h i n g , e v e n a f t e r s h e retired. She had a kitchen in her garage and every day the garage door would go up, the m u s i c w o u l d g o o n a n d s h e would cook all day." Donna is proud that DeNicola's still features the family's traditional southern Italian recipes on their menu Three generations of DeNicola's - Donna and sons Patrick and Johnny carry on the recipes and traditions started by Rosa and Giovanni Mar. 5, Thurs. – Amici d'Italia monthly meeting at 7:30pm in Carvlin Hall, St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, SE 16th and Division in Portland. Author Pauline Smarrella Lane is guest speaker. For more information, contact Kerry-Lynne Demarinis Brown at difamiglia@aol.com Mar. 8, Sun. – Italian Hour on KBOO 90.7 FM from 9:00 to 10:00am. Contemporary and classic Italian music, featuring news of the local Italian community. Also listen online at www.kboo.fm Mar. 10, Tues. – Italian Business Club of Portland monthly mee- ting at 7:00pm, Nicoletta's Table and Marketplace, 333 South State Street in Lake Oswego. For information, contact Guido LaCesa at oaktreelo@aol.com Mar. 13, Fri. – Winter Social with Portland Bologna Sister City Association at 5:30pm in the Portland Art Museum's Stephens Room. Wine, antipasti and tour of Italian Fashion Exhibit. Tickets $30. Purchase tickets by March 9 at www.portland-bologna.org

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