Cafes

Ten years ago, Ambrocio Gonzalez took a look at the stone building with the church-shaped turret and thought it will never function as a Mexican restaurant.

He even considered covering the cream-colored stone with orange and green paint.

But he and his business partner moved into the building on the corner of West 25th and South Christiana in the Little Village neighborhood – and it wasn’t long before people lined up, sometimes for two hours, to drink the Mexican coffee. de Gonzalez and devour his chilaquiles.

Those eventful and happy days have returned to the popular La Catedral Cafe after months of agonizing worry and uncertainty during the pandemic.

“I feel like we’re getting back to normal now. So we are very, very happy and very blessed, ”Gonzalez said on Friday morning, shortly after Governor JB Pritzker, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other dignitaries used the restaurant as a backdrop to talk about the recovery. post-pandemic.

Gonzalez was on a dream vacation in Europe when the pandemic swept through. He cut the trip short and returned to Chicago in early March 2020. He was in quarantine for two weeks – but was watching footage from his restaurant’s security cameras. Almost no one came to his restaurant.

At worst, business has fallen by 75%, he said. Loans and grants helped, as did the demolition of the building next to the restaurant. This gave him space to pitch a huge tent for alfresco dining. He did not have to lay off any of his 17 employees, although he had to reduce their hours.

But the tent was $ 3,000 a week to rent and the heaters didn’t do much to protect against the cold, he said.

“We had fun, the employees had fun – because it was something new for them too,” Gonzalez said.

And now, with the reopening of the city, the lines are back in front of La Catedral. Inside on Friday, it was bustling – clinking plates, waiters scurrying from table to table between walls adorned with religious relics, some from Gonzalez’s hometown of Guadalajara.

“I love this place because it is so rich in culture. The staff are really friendly. The food, you can tell right away that they do it with love and it’s delicious, ”said Heidy Rivera, 26, who was eating with her sister, Josie Rivera, both making their second trip to the restaurant as well. days.

Business is going so well that Gonzalez plans to expand into another space at the adjacent corner of the intersection.

“I feel like a rock star when I see such a packed restaurant,” he said.

The restaurant attached to the Eaton Hotel along K Street NW has changed hands between two of DC’s most prominent chefs. After opening American Son shortly after the hotel’s debut in fall 2018, Tim Ma recently left the property to focus on a host of upcoming projects. Matt Baker, who oversees the tasting menus filled with French techniques and Chesapeake ingredients at Michelin-starred Gravitas, plans to launch a new project this fall.

Baker’s new restaurant, Michele’s, will have a Franco-American theme that incorporates influences from New Orleans and Houston. He named it after his late mother, a native of New Orleans who raised the chef in metropolitan Texas. The restaurant will have two main elements: a dining room where guests can order shared plates suitable for common meals, and a raw bar serving 18-course omakase-style dishes filled with dishes that can be finished in one or two bites.

In addition to Michele’s, Baker will replace Eaton’s cafe, Kintsugi, with a location for Baker’s Daughter, the gourmet market he introduced in response to the pandemic Last September. Washingtonian first reported details yesterday about Baker’s move into the hotel. The chef tells Eater that he has to open Baker’s Daughter at the hotel by August 1. A new location for the cafe in Chinatown – known for its global menu and huge sourdough sandwiches for breakfast – “wait for a piece of equipment to open,” said Baker.

Baker tells Eater he made plans for Michele even before opening Gravitas, which was beset by construction delays. “I had a plan of what the next 10 years would look like, and Michele’s was designed as the next step,” he says. “The hotplate I give people is it’s gonna be like Gravitas’ little sister. If Gravitas’ little sister made a trip to Paris and France and came back as a Francophile with a lot of panache and a lot of charisma, that’s what Michèle’s will be.

Baker is already testing dishes for Michele’s menu, including a one-on-one chicken that will undergo five days of prep before it’s finished in the hotel’s wood-fired oven. The plan of the plate includes a stuffing of chicken brioche with confit, a sabayon with chicken fat and a crispy panisse (chickpea fritters).

Tributes to Cajun and Creole cuisines could include tasting menu dishes of grilled oysters and barbecued shrimp. When it comes to cuisine in East Texas, Baker says he will take inspiration from the rich and diverse food scene in Houston. “I don’t think people really understand how serious the Vietnamese food is there, how serious the Chinese food is there, how the city’s middle eastern neighborhoods and the halal markets are. are serious, ”he said.

Ma, meanwhile, tackled several new projects at once. An Arlington location of Lucky Danger, the well received The American-Chinese take-out operation that he runs with chef Andrew Chiou is just weeks away from opening. Ma is a partner of ExPat Hospitality, a recently formed group which plans to build bars around sports betting. The chef tells Eater that the group has acquired a lease in the Penn 2000 development that houses the planned Western Market at Foggy Bottom, taking over the 8,000-square-foot space that was a pizza outpost from Bertucci. Ma says he’s also converting fundraising efforts from Chiefs End AAPI Hate in a 501 (c) (3) certified non-profit organization.

“With all of this, obviously I’m very busy,” Ma says.

Boca Helping Hands offers a six-week Virtual English Course for Speakers of Other Languages ​​(ESOL), called Intermediate ESOL Practice, every Wednesday starting July 21 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. In addition, the The organization has also set up a permanent virtual ‘conversation café’ as part of its professional development program to help clients improve their English skills. Both programs currently run via Zoom.

Almost 500 people have participated in the Boca Helping Hands ESOL program since its launch in 2014. The goal of the new ESOL Intermediate Practice Course is to develop fluency through spontaneous discussion. The class will view and discuss videos on everyday topics, participate in writing and vocabulary activities, and learn structure and grammar to improve their English proficiency.

“As a resource-based agency, it is imperative that we continue to find ways to adequately meet the needs of our community,” said Trina Chin Cheong, Director of Programs at BHH. “This course gives Boca Helping Hands another opportunity to meet those needs by providing engaging and meaningful English learning opportunities.”

This is the second iteration of the class, with the first starting in May with 17 students. “I would absolutely recommend this course, the teachers are very patient and it’s a good opportunity to learn and feel confident,” said Doris Fisher, a former student of the ESOL Intermediate Practice. “I feel more confident talking to people, it has helped me learn new words and my English has improved. “

The volunteer instructor for the next class is Lisa Talley, who is the president of a multimedia consulting agency geared towards nonprofit organizations in her professional life. Talley holds a master’s degree in communications and digital media as well as a TEFL (Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language) certification. She first discovered BHH programming while volunteering with the Rotary Club of Boca Raton, packing food in the BHH warehouse.
In May, Talley began following current volunteer instructor and ESOL course creator, Victoria Navaratte, to learn the ropes in preparation for the July course. Involved with Boca Helping Hands since 2019, Navarrete designed the Survival English (ESOL for Beginners) course which launched earlier this year and has compiled videos and lesson plans for the ESOL Practice Intermediate Course.

“This program will allow them to develop and practice these skills in a relaxed environment where they can experiment and make mistakes in English without negative consequences,” said Navarrete. “When they use their new language skills outside of the classroom, they will have confidence in their communication skills and will have strategies to deal with new situations that arise in these contexts. “

The Conversation Café is open to all levels and helps students practice English in a relaxed and conversational setting. People can participate as they please to further develop existing language skills through conversations with other students and BHH volunteers. The Conversation Café takes place twice a week on Tuesday from 5.15 p.m. to 6.15 p.m. and Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Participants must register at least 24 hours in advance to receive the Zoom link.

To register for the ESOL Practice Intermediate Course or the Conversation Café, please visit bocahelpinghands.org/ESOL. Individuals must reside in Palm Beach County and require a personal computer, Internet connection, and Zoom access.
For more information on Boca Helping Hands, visit bocahelpinghands.org.

by Kristina Rivera

As western Washington experiences a record-breaking heat wave this weekend, it’s important that we stay cool as best we can.

Why not stay cool with freshly squeezed juice which at the same time strengthens our immune system?

Hanan Hassan Diriye and Ambrosia Austin opened Melo Cafe, a juice and a coffee, in the central district in early 2021 to bring their passion for community, hospitality and health to the people around them.

Ambrosia said her ultimate goal is to grow and occupy space in the beverage industry as a black and female-owned business focused on nutrition and health.

“There is a disproportionate rate of unhealthy drinks as well as food items suitable for the black and brown community,” Ambrosia said. “One of our goals is to be able to sponsor lots so that we can send them to under-represented communities who may be facing a food desert, which [don’t] have funds to have Melo Juice, and things of that nature.

Melo Cafe is housed in the former space of Cortona Cafe – a 10-year, community-engaged Central District institution run by Isolynn “Ice” Dean who passed the torch to Ambrosia and Hanan.

“We are always grateful for [Isolynn’s] legacy, and we are also very excited to establish our own, ”said Ambrosia.

“When you find those places where you feel like people treat you like family or treat you like you belonged, you did, it’s nice to see you – that feeling is really important. “Hanan said. “And that’s a feeling that Isolynn definitely had all the time. We love it and we want to keep that same feeling.

Hanan said it was imperative to create a space in the Central District that is welcoming to everyone while building its own legacy as a black-owned business.

“It’s like we have the opportunity to interact with all types of people, but also to be a safe space from the start for anyone like us,” Hanan said. “It’s a beautiful thing because I have been through this, where I have been in neighborhoods where they have become gentrified and I have the impression that there is no place for someone like me can participate. “

Hanan and Ambrosia met years ago through mutual friends. They both lost their jobs before the pandemic, but that loss gave them an unexpected gift: space – space to think about what exactly they wanted to do next and how to do it.

“I felt like everything I had learned before, including working at Starbucks and working at another coffee shop – all of it had just served that, and it made a very interesting sense,” Hanan said.

Right at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Hanan started making her own juice because she has asthma and wanted to give her immune system a boost. Juicing made sense to her as she grew up with her mother making freshly squeezed concoctions with fruits and vegetables like papaya, watermelon and honeydew melon.

“It just felt like it was a great way to transfer my love of flavor and also health,” Hanan said.

Hanan loved making fresh juice so much that she started sharing it with her friends. When Ambrosia tasted, she immediately joined in and the duo began selling bundles of their conditioning drinks on Instagram as Melo Juice, including the signature Melo Original flavor of ginger, turmeric and echinacea.

“Hanan brought me juice and I loved it right away,” Ambrosia said. “I was really excited to be a part of his journey with the sale, and we expanded the operation and put in place a production system based on the resources we had.”

They chose the name Melo because watermelon juice was the very first flavor they started selling. Melo also reflected the feeling they wanted to evoke in people – a feeling relaxed, calm and inviting. They brought that feeling to the cafe by painting the walls an earthy yellow the same color as the Melo Original juice.

Ambrosia lived in the 25th and Union in the central district, so she befriended Isolynn from the Cortona Cafe. The duo shared a jar of Melo Juice with them, and Isolynn has become a frequent buyer and supporter.

When Isolynn told Ambrosia and Hanan that she was going to sell the Cortona Cafe and offered to sell them the space, Hanan and Ambrosia felt they were ready to take the next step with their business.

“It was something that we were willing to try and go ahead and make it known to the public because I have confidence in the product, Hanan has confidence in the product and we wanted to give it a home.” , said Ambrosia.

Opening a cafe during a pandemic was about as difficult as it sounds. Hanan and Ambrosia said many people were skeptical about the possibility of opening a successful business during COVID. But they remembered why they were opening a cafe and continued on.

“It was like we had to remember who we are and what we bring to the table,” Hanan said. “We know what we are bringing. We know that each of us is part of many communities. We know that we have ideas that we don’t see and that we are trying to bring to life.

“When it comes to success, you can fail in any climate, you can be successful in any climate,” Ambrosia said. “You just have to know how to take a step back, analyze the situation and act accordingly. “

Ambrosia added that openness during the pandemic set them up for success as they were able to adapt their business model to thrive under COVID conditions and easily shape what they wanted Melo Cafe to look like in a post-pandemic world.

Melo Cafe is a carefully organized space where Hanan and Ambrosia want everyone to feel welcome.

“Hanan and I talk about it all the time, about conserving a third space and the importance of opening your doors and making people feel at home between work and home,” Ambrosia said. “Hospitality is natural for us.

Ambrosia’s favorite item at Melo Cafe is the Belgian Praline Pecan Waffle with Added Fruit, and Hanan is addicted to the combination of carrots and oranges, so Melo Sunrise is his go-to drink. You can also find an okazu pan from Umami Kushi, Herkimer coffee, pastries and empanadas from Rapa Nui Foods on the menu at Melo Cafe.

As for Melo’s future, Ambrosia and Hanan want to make Melo Juice accessible to everyone, everywhere, while maintaining their unique sense of hospitality.

“Maintaining the integrity of our ingredients, our style and the way we treat people – and always strive to grow and reach the larger community – is my ultimate goal with Melo,” said Ambrosia.

Kristina rivera is the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Intentionalist. She graduated from Western Washington University with a journalism and public relations degree and has worked with organizations ranging from local nonprofits to global public relations firms..

📸 Featured image: A plate of Belgian fruit and cream waffles, bottles of Melo juice, pastries and coffee from the Melo Cafe in the central district. (Photo: Melo Café)

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The Eternal Sunshine Café, which serves innovative breakfasts and brunches in Leland and Wilmington, announced the closure of one of the locations on Friday.

According to a social media post, the decision was made to increase staff at the Wilmington site and offer better products and services – and support existing staff.

Friday was the last day of operations for the 117 Village Road NE cafe in Leland, until further notice.

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“Consolidating our staff at our Wilmington site will reduce workload stress, improve quality of life and allow for paid time off for our employees,” the post said.

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“We would like to thank all of our loyal and trusted regulars customers for all the continued support, especially in these difficult times,” the post read. “We appreciate all the love in Leland and hope you will always make the trip to the bridge to dine with us at our Wilmington facility.”

The Wilmington location at 420 Eastwood Road opened eight years ago and was the first for the restaurant which serves unique Egg Benedictine, mimosas, pancakes, entrees and desserts.

For the second time, Houston’s Los Cucos Mexican Cafe is taking over a vacant Mimi’s Cafe restaurant and has already started building an extension of its popular Mexican menu to the west.

Mimi’s Cafe at 1121 S. Fort Apache Road closed earlier this year near the Charleston Boulevard intersection, with its casual French and American-inspired breakfast menu served for 13 years. The chain’s two remaining branches in the Las Vegas area continue to serve Centennial and Henderson.

Work on the large, 6,672-square-foot freestanding building will include remodeling the exterior and altering the interior layout, but building permits do not mention any further structural improvements and suggest the new restaurant could open within six. next months.

Mexican cafe Los Cucos arrived from Texas in 2016, relocating to Spring Valley and occupying another Mimi location on Arroyo Crossing Parkway.

Operating more than a dozen locations, including a venue in Sandy, Utah, the extensive Mexican cafe menu in Las Vegas is available for lunch or dinner and includes seafood dishes, ceviche , lunch specials, fajitas, parrilladas, carnitas and happy hour. .

The parent company’s plans to open Vida Mariscos Seafood & Sports Bar on Flamingo Road currently appear to be at a standstill.

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Before we begin, let’s talk about the giant lemons in the room.

Debora Speer knows that the name of her new Merritt Island Cafe can be frowned upon. She was there for the sole purpose of leading a woman and expressing her distaste.

Speer knows Packing Mothers This may not appeal to everyone.

“I know it’s controversial,” she said. “But life is short and we are all having fun here.”

Learn the origin of the name and it makes sense. Scott, Speer’s husband, is planting an orchard of lemon and lime trees in his home on northern Merritt Island. He started calling his wrapper mom at home. They thought the name would be funny for the cafe.

Now back to business.

Opened about two months ago on the South Tropical Trail, just off the Merritt Island Causeway, Mother Packers is bright and eclectic with outdoor pet-friendly seating and a menu of fresh, simple breakfast items. and lunch. It is a beautiful place.

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Speer owned a cafe in Niagara Falls, NY. When she moved to Florida about six years ago, she vowed never to open another because it was too difficult.

She couldn’t resist. The space formerly occupied by Boli Mami Bakery is now available. There are many chain restaurants and eateries on Merritt Island. She wanted to bring something different to the community.

The menu includes smoothies, flatbreads, quesadillas, sandwiches and salads. Breakfast includes avocado toast, wraps, waffles, eggs, bacon, fruit, and yogurt.

Most of the dishes on the menu can be vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free.

Speer said he buys fresh ingredients from the cafe every day.

“I don’t have a can opener,” she said.

How would you like to eat with your favorite sidekick? The menu includes a section for children and a menu for puppies.

“I am very dog ​​friendly,” she said. “If I could get people to drop off the dog and bring food, I would go back and get the dog …”

When coffee is late, Speer can find him hanging out with his customers over a cold drink. She cooks everything and returns to the kitchen when an order arrives.

“Sometimes things are saved in the kitchen, so people have to be patient,” she said.

She takes pride in every dish she cooks, but wants people to see her wrapper mom as more than just a place to eat. She wants to build a community.

She got help from local artist Jennifer Garo. He painted adorable plump and cheerful lemons with his lips on the walls of the building, and since then has added a lot of artistic touch to the patio and indoor dining area.

The patio has a lending library and a place to unload and pick up egg cartons.

Did you get the cuttings from the plants you want to share? Leave them.

Do you think someone can take you to the door of death and revive the hanging figs you throw away? Take that home.

“Next door there is a small art gallery where people can leave small art objects and take pictures,” she said.

Speer recently added a piano to the patio. Guests are encouraged to play with the “Judge the audience by playing” warning.

It hosts an outdoor market for handmade recycling items on the second Sunday of each month from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Speer has a great time getting to know his customers and growing his business.

She wants people to put humor in the name of the cafe, but to be honest, those who don’t are not really her target audience.

“I want you to come here and have fun,” she said. “We are us and people seem to like it. “

Mother’s coffee 125S on Merritt Island. Located on the tropical trail. Call 321-848-0062 or visit the following website facebook.com/motherpuckerscafe.. The opening hours are Wednesday to Sunday 8 am to 2 pm.

Send an email to [email protected] ..

Facebook: @SuzyFlemingLeonard

Instagram: @SuzyLeonard

Support local Journalism: Find offers for new subscribers on floridatoday.com/subscribe..

A new all-day cafe is coming to the East End. Louie Cafe will open in late summer inside Giant Leap Coffee at The Plant, the redeveloped East End industrial site home to the famous How To Survive on Land and Sea wine bar.

The restaurant is the latest project of chef Angelo Emiliani, whose Angie’s Pizza pop-up was a resounding success. Emiliani will partner with his sister Lucianna – the restaurant’s namesake – on the project. She is a pastry chef who has worked for the famous Tartine bakery in San Francisco and locally at Tiny Boxwoods. Pastry chef Erica Valencia (Emiliani’s girlfriend) will also be there.

Initially, Tlauhuac, the Mexican concept of chef Nicholas Vera and pastry chef Stephanie Velasquez, had been planned for the space, but the duo are focusing on Papalo Mercado, their restaurant in the Finn Hall food court in downtown city. When the owner of Giant Leap approached him to reclaim the space, Emiliani says he jumped at the chance.

“I’ve always wanted to make a concept like this, an all day breakfast that’s super light and fun,” Emiliani told CultureMap. “It just happened to fall on my knees. It also gives me the opportunity to show my sister a little bit because she is really amazing.

The menu has been stocked with what Emiliani describes as “delicious” dishes made with locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. In the morning, Café Louie will serve freshly baked pastries such as viennoiseries (croissants and other puff pastry), morning rolls and kolaches as well as breakfast sandwiches. In the afternoon, look for dishes like candied lemon chicken with vadouvan rice, a poached egg and a salad of dried carrots and a white Sonoran roti with honeycomb, salted butter and canned roasted peaches, a dish he made while working at Emmer & Rye in Austin.

Other dishes on Emiliani’s tentative menu include croissant sandwiches, fresh corn polenta with marinated tomatoes and Portuguese sausage, and spiced roast chicken with fries inspired by a dish he ate at Dino’s in Los Angeles.

“I don’t mean to say it’s the best chicken on the market, but it’s pretty good,” says Emiliani. “As [James Beard Award-winning pizzaiolo Chris] Bianco would say, ‘as good as anyone.’ “

Overall, Emiliani’s time in Los Angeles shaped the direction of Cafe Louie. The chef cites restaurants such as Sqirl, the famous café known for its jams, toast and salads, as a major influence on Café Louie. Emiliani says he hasn’t found many similar restaurants in Houston and sees an opportunity to bring the concept here.

“I’ve been editing this menu for a while,” he says. “I can’t take things away because I want people to eat there. It had been a long time since I had been so excited about a menu.

As for the pizza, Emiliani says he’s put his oven away for now to focus on Café Louie. He has identified a space for a pizza place, but it probably won’t open for a year or more.

“I’m focusing on Café Louie from now on,” he says. “I hope it comes faster, but you never know.”

When Wolfgang Puck Catering took over the operations of the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art, it turned the North Texas restaurant world upside down by PaperCity first reported in March. Now we have it for the first time at the museum’s recently reopened restaurant of the same name, Cafe Modern.

It is now under the direction of Chef Jett Mora and open for lunch, brunch and bar service after a one-year COVID shutdown. Mora is a seasoned Wolfgang Puck Catering veteran and Roxanne Mclarry returns to Cafe Modern as General Manager.

A new modern cafe?

The restaurant’s famous setting, overlooking a spectacular reflective pool and modern landscape, would be intimidating to any newcomer. Tadao Ando’s spectacular architecture is as much a masterpiece as any of the works of art on display inside the museum. But after a recent weekend brunch at the reinvented restaurant, I can tell you that Jett Mora feels right at home.

Cafe Modern has made a name for itself with seasonal menus rooted in ingredients from Texas. So how does Mora marry his own Filipino heritage and his education and career in the Los Angeles restaurant world melting pot with Texas?

Mora tells PaperCity Fort Worth that learning about the land and building a network of suppliers, producers and manufacturers lend themselves to the production of local flavors. He has forged all of these relationships over the past few months since being appointed by Wolfgang Puck Catering to lead this prestigious position.

“I came here for the chance to work with our regional manager, Andrew Swanson,” says Mora. “We have worked hard on R&D.

Migas is served in layers with a folded omelet. (Photo by Courtney Dabney).

Here are the new birria beef migas. I couldn’t resist tasting the Mora take. Ever since the chef grew up in LA, I knew this would be the real deal. Served on a toasted corn tortilla rather than having the typical crisps mixed in and already soggy by the time they’re served, Mora’s birria beef migas retain a slightly crispy texture.

Rather than the standard egg scramble, Mora features a delicately folded omelet. The guajillo chili braised beef crumbles in its rich tomato salsa. The dish is garnished with cilantro, onion, avocado cream and queso fresco with pinto beans.

But this chef is just getting started.

Mora’s unique take on Eggs Benedict adds some truly southern notes. The base is fresh ciabatta bread, with its texture and collars absorbing soy caramel-glazed Berkshire pork belly protein. The whole thing is topped with a mixture of wilted collard greens and spinach, which gives an unexpected touch of bitterness. Then two pretty Timberview Farmstead Vacuum Eggs and a rich Hollandaise sauce with just a little lemon finish it off.

Mora’s unique take on Eggs Benedict speaks with a Southern accent and Berkshire pork belly. (Photo by Courtney Dabney).

Want more? Mora’s Five Ingredient Cookies are served as part of a Southern Fried Chicken Cookie Sandwich or as a side. These square-cut doughy cookies, with an almost cornbread-like texture, will defy the one-bite rule.

Five-ingredient pasty angel cookies. (Photo by Courtney Dabney).

“I’m surprised at how health conscious people are here,” says Mora. “I want to make a Keto plate and add more plant-based blue zone friendly menus to the mix.”

Mora was not aware of the Blue areas healthy lifestyle before coming to Fort Worth. But now he understands that many local diners are well trained to look for this designation next to menu items and he is very supportive.

Overnight oatmeal takes center stage. (Photo by Courtney Dabney).

A great veggie brunch dish at this new modern cafe is the Overnight Oat Bowl. It’s almost too pretty to dive into, edged with fresh berries and bringing all the appeal of a magnificent charcuterie board. You have to sit down for a minute to figure it all out. You’ll find a spoonful of spring berry jam, coconut chia pudding, and Turkish yogurt drizzled with Kelly Farms honey. A little coconut milk and crunchy cherry and nut granola complete the dish to divide.

“When I have dinner with my chef friends, we order 20 or more items and share them,” says Mora. “This is the mood I want to create.”

Modern coffee is getting there quickly. And now, dinner service will be back in the coming weeks. With a chef who cooks like at home.

Massimiliano Nigri took the rare Saturday night February 27th.

It was nearing the peak of the winter tourist season in Sarasota, and the city was teeming with locals desperate to escape COVID lockdowns and enjoy a restaurant meal.

As the owner of Café Amici in downtown Sarasota, Nigri had to be there. But he had a date that night.

Instead of making sure tourists were happy with their squid or osso Bucco, Nigri danced the night away with her 6-year-old daughter Viviana in a father-daughter dance hosted by her school, The Classical Academy of Sarasota.

“My phone was ringing constantly with phone calls and texts with people saying we needed a table,” Nigri said. “I realized I better turn off my phone or else I’ll go crazy.

“These are the days you will never forget for the rest of your life.”

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It’s a lesson Nigri is constantly learning, ever since he became a dad with the birth of Viviana in 2014, and he tries to balance running a business with raising a young girl. Nigri shares custody of Viviana with her mother, Lyndsay.

He had a lot of advisers – he started bringing Viviana to Café Amici when she was just a baby, and customers were quick to give advice to the new dad.

As these clients shared their wisdom, many of whom were retirees who had their own fathering experiences to ponder, they found a common theme: time is a gift.

Growing up in southern Italy, Nigri learned from his father that providing for the family is most important. Leave something for your children to hold on to, it is a sign of fatherly love.

But when Nigri became a father, he took on a different mindset. Yes, if Viviana wants to take over the business one day, he would like her to make it her own and have her legacy to build on.

But he’s not going to trade that for hours spent playing soccer on the beach, picking her up from school, or teaching her how to make homemade pasta. As she learns to tie her shoes, he learns to be a dad, and he said it simply, “You grow up together.”

“Sometimes when you are very involved in your business, sometimes you forget to spend quality time with your child and then you realize ‘Oh my God, where have all those years gone,’ said Nigri. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication – it means you just have to do the basics, like spending time with it, being there, not ignoring it.”

For Nigri, who runs a restaurant in the evenings and weekends when her daughter is at home, that means bringing her to restaurants as much as possible. She’s an integral part of Cafe Amici, and regulars got to see her growing from a baby learning to make homemade pasta in the kitchen, though Nigri said he hadn’t served it to any of his customers yet. .

These hours spent together are what Nigri cherishes most in fatherhood. And that’s an attitude he didn’t have before he became a father, when running a restaurant was his all-consuming passion.

Now, he sees evenings like father-daughter dancing as sweet moments that he wouldn’t trade for nothing, and he talks about them in the same way one might spend an unforgettable evening in the city.

“The music, the food, so many fathers there. It was different, a different feeling. I said I’m glad I took off today, ”he said.

“You make her dance, you spin her around and she just wants to do more spin and spin,” he said with a laugh. “It was very, very pleasant. “

Ryan McKinnon covers schools for the Herald-Tribune. Connect with him at [email protected] or on Twitter: @JRMcKinnon. Support the Sarasota Herald-Tribune by subscribing today.

A man and woman face mischief charges after an alleged racist incident at a Richmond cafe in March.

Part of the incident, which occurred on March 29 at Rocanini Coffee Roasters in Richmond, was captured on security video.

According to the cafe manager, the couple were seated at a table and chairs in an area where they were not allowed.

When she asked them to move, the situation worsened – with the man pouring coffee on the floor and the woman pouring coffee on the manager, she said.

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The couple then reportedly hurled anti-Asian slurs at the manager as they left.

A video shared with Global News appears to show a man pouring a drink on the cafe floor and a woman tossing a partially empty mug at an employee.

A cell phone video recorded by the manager outside the cafe shows a man saying “F—– Chinese” as he gets into his car to leave.

Richmond RCMP said Astrid Maria Secreve and Michel Jean-Jacque Berthaume now each face one charge of mischief.

The RCMP are asking anyone who has experienced or witnessed a hate incident to call 911 if the incident is still ongoing, or their local non-emergency police line if it is not.