‘Chopped’ Chef Brings New Italian Market To Queen Street

Nick LaRosa PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS

After a brush with fame as a contestant on the cooking show ‘Chopped,’ chef Nick LaRosa moved home to Southington with his family and set up the restaurant Noto Americano, which is now a fixture of downtown Plantsville. Running a restaurant is a full-time job that requires long hours in the kitchen. Why add to his plate by opening a new Italian market in town?

“Because I’m a glutton for punishment,” he jokes. “I love what I do."

"My business partner, Frank LaRosa, has been wanting to do something like this for a while. We thought the town needed it, there was a niche, and when this place opened up,” he adds, referring to the former site of Tokyo Japanese Restaurant on Queen Street, “we fell right into it.”

The shelves of the Noto Americano market are stocked with Italian imports - brands of coffee, olive oil, canned fish, and sweets not generally available in chain supermarkets. In one corner stands a cooler for fresh produce, hand-made pasta, various salumi (including capicola or ‘gabagool'), and cheeses; in another, a selection of Italian and locally-made sodas. The idea is to offer patrons one-stop shopping so that they can pick up everything they need for a meal in one place.

New tariffs on imports have made the task of balancing quality and affordability a tricky one. Nevertheless, the LaRosas are confident their feel for the market will allow them to adjust. They plan to add more shelves and products over time, and monitor customer preferences – the check-out counter has a suggestion box – to adjust their inventory.

The market offers much more than groceries. When the Outsider visited Chef Nick, he was busy chopping up cucumbers to make pickles for Noto’s full-service deli. Customers can order to-go portions of lasagna and pasta, stuffed breads, various salads, and garlic bread. Pizza can be purchased by the slice for $5 – “big slices, like a quarter pizza,” Nick emphasized.

The deli will also carry club sandwiches and a wide variety of grinders made with locally baked bread and authentic Italian fillings. The market has six booths where patrons can stay to enjoy their purchases.

LaRosa’s sous chef is Gracie Stanley, who learned her craft at the upscale Millwright’s Restaurant in Simsbury. Stanley's specialty is baking; she will be responsible for Noto’s in-house pastry selection, which will include, among other things, cookies, eclairs, and cannoli.

Asked where he first learned how to cook Italian cuisine, Chef Nick cites his grandmother and extended family:

“It was definitely my nonna for sure. While growing up we had large parties and families. I was always the guy in the kitchen with my aunts and my uncles helping prep. I was a fat kid back then.”

Noto, the city in Sicily where the LaRosa family is from, provided the inspiration for the name Noto Americano, which means 'American Noto'. The wallpaper in the shop was designed by Plantsville-based Legendary Graphix to evoke the look of Italian street graffiti.

All of the market's recipes for prepared foods are Chef Nick’s own. As an exclusive for Outsider readers, he has shared his formula for 'No Nut Arugula Pesto':

garlic (minced) 3 tablespoons

basil (picked) 2 oz (use scale)

arugula (picked) 6 oz (use scale)

parmesan cheese 1 cup

salt 2 teaspoons

ground black pepper 1 teaspoon

extra-virgin olive oil 3/4 cup

"Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until incorporated, date, cover, and place in cooler."

Noto Americano is located at 172 Queen Street. It will be open 11 to 7 every day of the week except Mondays. Its first day of business will be Friday, September 12th.