A Stitch in Time
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| Center Harbor's Italian Centerpiece |
Center Harbor is a small town on the shores of gigantic Lake Winnipesaukee. Twenty-one miles across, 1 to 9 miles wide, and a footprint of 71 square miles, make this lake no small puddle. In fact, it is the largest lake in the State of New Hampshire (NH) which ranges from the Atlantic seacoast to the windy peak of Mount Washington in the foothills of the White Mountains. It has enough islands to keep busy visiting a different one each day for an entire year. The name, Winnipesaukee, is a Native American word from the local Abenaki tribe that translates to "Smile of the Great Spirit," while others claim it means "Beautiful water in a high place." In either instance, looking across its “beautiful water” will bring on the wrinkle of a pleasant “smile.”
Center Harbor, one of many small townships along this lake's 200-mile shoreline, was once a
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| "Winni" - Lake of 365 Islands |
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| MS Mount Washington Steamer Cruising Lake Winnipesaukee |
The part that caught my eye went as follows:
“Elena and Nick – We
met in a train in Florence. Nick was
crocheting (really unusual in Italy). We
started to laugh and here we are!”
I’d once seen a movie where a guy used a dog in a park to pick up women. Was this some new twist on that theme? Talk about using your feminine side crocheting to pick up girls on a train …, or was he? I was intrigued and had to learn more. When I saw the rocket (arugula) sprouting from panini sandwiches, along with my favorite “Blood of Jove” wine, Sangiovese, on the rack in a straw-wrapped bottle just waiting when drained to be repurposed with a candle, I knew we were on to something. I got the feeling this was not your typical restaurant. It had energy, atmosphere, a spark of innovation, and a
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| Ordering & Pick-up at a Typical "Autogrill" Counter |
kitchen team that concocted authentic Italian cuisine.
We took a table and as we settled in, took a moment to look around. It is not a large place, limited to about 30 seats around tables of three to six. An extensive picture window front offered a clear view across the street onto the Abenaki’s “beautiful water” of the lake. To the side of a display case full of yummy-looking pastries, a takeout counter serviced walk-ins looking for a quick espresso and tantalizing sweet treat
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| Tempting Treats for the Sweetest Time of Day |
Decorations completed the room, adding to that feeling of Italy I miss so much. The walls were hung with framed prints of the “old country” while family photos and decorative tchotchkes added personality. Large to small containers of olive oil, dried pasta, a rack full of wines, biscotti, even hand-made plates ornate with majolica designs, were also on offer. If inclined, as you sipped your latte and mused about Italy, coffee table photo books provided a further outlet for the appreciative Italophile. Even a floor covered in terra-cotta-like squares added to the illusion. Could we possibly be in some out-of-the-way Florentine café? But what topped it for me, finished it off as it were, like the kibosh
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| The Gusto Café Market |
atop an Italian ice, were the soothing sounds of Italian music wafting through the place. At times, there can be so many customers at table that talk overcomes the music. Far from a Gordon Ramsay type, full of advice, I’ve no complaint here. This is as it should be. I appreciate music like this whether the particular ethnicity is Italian, Mexican, Chinese, or some parrot-heads wearing Hawaiian shirts swaying to the sounds of Jimmy Buffett in some beachy café. It simply adds a touch of atmosphere, dripping with mood, that puts you in a special place surprisingly closer to
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| The Victor Talking Machine Company's "Victrola" |
la bella paese still a world away. Being in an Italian atmosphere makes a big difference. In apparent standby, there was an old-fashioned Victrola crank record player (anyone remember those?) complete with an Al Jolson Decca record of Ma’Blushin Rose. With any luck, I may be able to find an Enrico Caruso replacement somewhere. It would be a tiny investment in a place bristling with energy, atmosphere, the creative spark of innovation, and a kitchen team that creates authentic Italian cuisine likely commonplace at home in Italy but so rare by a lake in northern NH. “That’s what happened here,” Elena would later say. The very name of the café, Gusto, reflects their approach toward life, and as we’d learn, their menu did too.
The owners entertained reservations themselves on whether the local community would embrace an Italian breakfast nearly unaltered from the breakfasts served in Elena’s native city of
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| Tuscan Countryside |
Arezzo, located about 50 miles southeast of Florence and seven miles north of Cortona. This is the heart of Tuscany, that essential embodiment of Italian culture and cuisine. It possessed history and the epitome of imagery where winding roads lined with cypress trees led to solitary villas shaded by umbrella pines, harbored little towns like Greve in Chianti where Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European to set eyes on New York Harbor originated, and where rebirth in the form of the Renaissance took hold. Why would anyone want to leave? Yet they had.
Nick and Elena Gagliardi opened the door to Gusto Café on Dec 26, 2019. This was a most unfortunate time for it also saw the birth of COVID-19. Even with a gale headwind of such misfortune, they managed to survive. Opening an Italian café like theirs in a small New England town would be difficult in normal times. They
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| Gusto Owners Nick and Elena |
To overcome this anticipated hesitation, Elena drew on the Italian panini theme that over recent years has become familiar to Americans and merged it with the equally familiar, fast food concepts like
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| Mortadella, Grilled Pecorino Cheese and Truffle Mushroom Sauce Lunchtime Sandwich |
Moving beyond breakfast we found salads, soups, panini sandwiched between freshly made focaccia bread, quiche, and pasta also featured on their menu. A weekly pasta special complimented familiar standouts like Bolognese and Puttanesca, while their vegetarian pasta “Sorrentina” underscored mozzarella and basil. It was a bit early yet to try any, so instead,
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| Similar to Calitri's Cingul, this is Orecchie Pasta (Little Ears) |
They appeared to be special people on a mission
with more than it takes to survive the demanding fettered nature of the
restaurant business. After all, they had
just faced down the added adversity of a plague, when so many others had not
survived. Their energy compliments and
may be the underlying secret behind their success, for wherever they are,
whatever they do, they do it with GUSTO.
In English, gusto has a range of meanings from enjoyment, delight,
pleasure, enthusiasm, passion to zest.
In Italian, it simply translates to taste. Calling their eatery Gusto then seems
to fit in every sense, including a description of themselves.
I have to say Elena is so Italian. The shard remnants of her native Italian bella
lingua add a touch of allure to everything she says. It is much like Maria Elena’s fascination
listening to British English being spoken, whether it be the finery of
parliamentary speech or a My Fair Lady cockney brogue. Elena exudes that long-absent Italian flair
we so miss, an open friendliness with a smile that crowds her face. You can feel the warmth of her exciting smile
radiate in the attention she gives her customers. When an elderly patron arrived in a walker
and sat near us, we could overhear Elena when she came by to greet her and tell
her how she had recognized her car when she’d arrived and how happy she was to
see her. This is a much-imitated
quality. Here, however, was an instance
of candid sincerity. At our table, she
was incredibly welcoming and introduced her marito (husband), Nick, as
he put aside his broom from sweeping up, as “the guy who makes their fabulous
focaccia bread.” She can attribute her
gusto to an energized stock of entrepreneurs.
Her brother, Marco, operates “Casa Vacanze Fatucchi” along with
his wife, Linda, a ceramicist in the Tuscan town of Foiano della Chiana. In nearby Chiusi della Verna her sister, Lucia,
operates her own combination hotel-restaurant, Hotel Bellavista.
Nicholas Gagliardi calls nearby Gilford, NH home. It was from there in 2011 that he graduated
from Gilford High School. He continued
his education at Plymouth State University, some miles north of Center Harbor,
where he earned a degree in business administration. He related how back in 2019 he was thinking
back on those years while prepping to open Gusto. On his knees at the time, he was not
proposing but scraping glue off the tile floors. With plenty of time to think, he recalled how
one of his assignments concerned laying out the various aspects of a start-up
enterprise beginning with a description of his hypothetical business. He’d chosen a lakeshore Italian restaurant
with optional boat tours. While he did
well on the assignment, Elena was quick to add that he should have received a
lower grade because he was missing one critical ingredient for success, an
Italian wife! Funny how things fall into
place, how dreams can be achieved. His
lineage also has Italian roots in the Apulia region where his great grandfather,
Savino, lived in Canosa di Puglia. When
we learned this, we were reminded just how small the world has become for we
have good friends there. Following
college, in keeping with the mid-17th century tradition of the “Grand Tour,” he
and a friend decided to take a few months to explore Europe which explained his
presence on that train headed for Rome, the next stop on their European
odyssey.
But how they met and how they’d arrived in
Center Harbor had to be more than a just-so story. Their story, like crocheting, is handmade but
generated a click of the clock at a time.
That earlier blackboard scrawl, “We met in a train in Florence. Nick was crocheting…” still held my
attention. Its story still eluded me …
he with his instruction booklet holding a miniature harpoon-like crochet hook;
her with an injured knee returning from Brazil to her home in Rome where she
had lived since 2006. Could the
crocheting have been a technique to lower anxiety and relax, an inexpensive
hobby, or something to keep your brain active, like Sudoku? It had me guessing. Was theirs love at first sight or just my
desire to be anecdotal? In any case, it
was a curious enough scene for 28-year-old Elena Minelli to laugh and begin a
conversation that hasn’t ceased since. In
Rome, she studied acting, worked in a restaurant, and DJ’ed on the radio. All this “what do you do” small talk crossed
the aisle along with her phone number before they arrived at the main Rome
terminal fittingly named at the end of a journey, Termini. Thankfully for Center Harbor, it would prove
not a termination of something, rather a beginning.
Talking with them, I gradually learned more about this choo-choo train boy meets girl love story. Something obviously clicked beyond the clatter of the rails beneath that Trenitalia coach. Nick didn’t hesitate and contacted Elena in Rome where together they not only delighted in the sights of Rome but found each other. Their relationship had grown serious when later she joined him in Paris. A back and forth, transatlantic, year-long, lovesickness ensued. While I don’t crochet or knit for that
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| Boston's North End |
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
And it has. His had clearly been a stitch in the
“nick” of time, for Nick had boarded the right train and met the right girl;
She had initiated a conversation that conveyed a lasting message beyond a phone
number. Call it what you will, — destiny,
chance, fate, even passionate gusto.
Elena remains an ocean away from her beloved Arezzo, from her mother, Dina, and Anna her nonna. Together, reinforced by generations before them, they instilled in her a passion for cooking. Though distant, thoughts of them certainly return with each ball of dough she kneads, with each test taste of the sauce, with each drying nest of fresh pasta set aside, and each greeting of a new arrival at her open door. Today, her former Arezzo kitchen table, serving ancient Tuscan cuisine, has greatly expanded with those around the table symbolizing an ever-growing, extended American family. That slate board had said it all:
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| Homemade Nests of Gusto Pasta |
“Our goal is to make Gusto a place where you can relax, learn about
Italy, and feel like you are at home in Tuscany.”
They are a binary star, in each other’s influence, already a long way
toward achieving the goals expressed in this simple mission statement: a place
to relax, learn about Italy, and feel Tuscan hospitality. The Gagliardi’s have finally found their home
where their story can really begin. May
it continue and remain how every fairy tale story ends, happily ever after.
Paolo
