For almost a century, the love of food has run through Rocco Fuda’s family and today, he adds a new experience to the Barrielicious food festival.
His second restaurant, 147, opens just in time for Barrielicious at the corner of Dunlop and Mulcaster streets, with a view of Kempenfelt Bay but also a modern interpretation of classic Italian food.
Like many of the more than 50 restaurants participating in the festival that runs to Feb. 5, 147 is presenting a menu designed to introduce diners and whet their appetite for their full menu, to discover their hospitality and discover the talents of their chefs.
“We’re (featuring) a nice veal mignon, a tenderloin and an arctic char. The arctic char is fresh, not frozen. We’re connected with the food business and know which suppliers to call,” said Fuda, who in his career in the industry explored the world for the best ingredients, sold them to restaurants and fed American soldiers far and near.
“What I contribute is knowledge, the knowledge of your food to make it and keep it a high level of quality. To me, it’s like a good glass of wine – a good piece of meat is important.”
Although as you walk into the restaurant his son Vince is running, you see an incredible wine cabinet, the focus is not on the wine but the food.
And that’s why Fuda is highlighting the arctic char with lemon butter and the mature veal in a sherry sauce for Barrielicous, although they do carry a $5 surcharge above the $25 three-course dinner menu option that Barrielicous presents.
“Barrielicous gives people an opportunity to come in because of the prices are so low. People who couldn’t afford it can see the products you have. It gives you an opportunity to experience your food, your style and your place.”
Barrie residents – along with those from outside the city, even northbound cottagers – know the Fudas well. The Italian Bakery feeds 1,000 people on an average day.
Some come in for the daily-baked deserts, while others opt for a hot nutritious lunch, the options which include a fish, pastas, hearty sandwiches and pizza.
“We have a reason and a purpose for people to come to us,” he said, adding a similar restaurant the family ran back for 26 years on Highway 11 which attracted people from throughout Simcoe County. He chose to leave retail in the recession of the early 90s and focus instead on supporting others as a supplier who offered value and quality.
He learned that first from his grandfather, who would be 115 years old if he were alive today. Fuda watched him choose the finest ingredients and combine them creatively to appeal to their neighbours who became loyal customers.
“Southern Italian peasant food is one of the richest and best foods for you on earth. We have olive trees and olive oil is one of the best things for you. Everything was organic. We were on the farm. I remember picking olives and using a press to make oil. It was a horse and stone,” recalled Fuda, who came to Canada when he was six years old.
His father opened an Italian grocery store when they settled in Toronto a year and a half after immigrating to Canada, a venture that grew to four stores. The Barrie entrepreneur continued to watch, learn and work as his family made its living in the food industry, an industry in which many hope, set out yet fail.
“It’s in our blood. It’s what we know. You put in your passion, your heart and your soul.”
In the past 10 years, the Fudas have built the Italian Bakery, a building they decided to buy from Weston Bakeries in 2006. They didn’t plan on offering an Italian lunch counter with not only pizza, pastas and stuffed peppers, but hot sandwiches and fish entrees.
Fuda, at the time, was working in the supply area of the food industry, an area that had him feeding the American military and exploring the globe sourcing top-quality seafood for fine restaurants,
“You have that chemistry (for fine, healthy food) inside of you,” he said, but one day after church, he and his wife saw the former Crissa Bakery complex – then owned by Weston Bakeries – was for sale. They loved the location, purchased the building but then rented it out. They saw others try and fail in the space they leased to them and opened the Italian Bakery.
Over the past decade, they grew it from 1,200 square feet to 12,000 square feet, with a hot lunch counter, a pizza and focaccia station, the bakery counter and an Italian grocery retail area with frozen foods, deli and an array of imported goods.
Fuda is considering adding to that, too, with high-quality meats that discriminating local chefs would serve to their guests, just as 147 will do.
“We have a reason and a purpose for people to come to us. I like people and speak from the heart,” he said.
