Arriving at 6 a.m., the screen door was already propped open at The Enrico Biscotti Company. I pushed my way through the main doors where the pleasant aromas of the small Biscotti House awaited me: flour, fresh baked bread, and the sweet smell of biscotti, Italian cookies and pastries. I felt like family from the moment I walked through the doors.
The spotless red tile floor, the gleaming white tile walls and the well-worn antique looking furniture reminded me of being in my Grandma’s Kitchen. I made my way back outside, along a small concrete pathway into the café. I found Larry Lagattuta, the owner of The Enrico Biscotti Company, sitting in front of his laptop. The native Pittsburgher, who grew up in the Beechview area, was working not far from the old-fashioned wood burning brick oven, reminiscent of the ones that are used in Italy.
Enrico’s opened in The Strip District of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in 1995. “The Strip” is an area close to the downtown area, best known for retail produce, ethnic foods, restaurants, coffee shops, antiques, and other eclectic stores. Outdoor vendors sell flowers and novelty shirts during the warm months. Along with all of these shops, The Enrico Biscotti Company thrives along Penn Avenue in The Strip District.
There is also a second location for The Enrico’s Biscotti Company in Mt. Lebanon. Lagattuta wants more stores in other areas but he feels that it is hard to give up the control because he can’t be there all the time to oversee everything. The Enrico Biscotti Company not only has been seen on the Food Network, but it has been rated as one of America’s Top 10 Bakeries.
Before operating Enrico’s, Lagattuta worked for ATT for 13 years. In 1993 he left and opened The Biscotti Company. Lagattuta related a story of working with a baker who owned the bakery shop around the corner from where Enrico’s would open. One night Lagattuta helped the baker make focaccia bread, a flat oven baked bread, in his basement while his wife and children slept upstairs. The two baked bread all night. After, they cut and stuffed the focaccia with cheese and sat on his porch eating and watching the sunrise. “This is the way to have a life. It was nice,” Lagattuta said with a smile. Shortly after, he rented the building and established The Enrico Biscotti Company.
A typical day for Lagattuta, begins anywhere between 3 a.m. to 5 a.m., where he makes bread and puts it in the wood oven to bake. Then he tackles the specialty orders like cakes and tortas. Next, he works on wholesale items that are packed and delivered. The process of making his famous biscotti begins. This is the core of his business. There are about 38 varieties of biscotti, ranging from vanilla, anise and almond, chocolate, white chocolate macadamia nuts, cherry, orange almond nutmeg, cranberry pistachio, and others. At Enrico’s they use the methods that bakers have been using for hundreds of years, the biscotti loaves are hand shaped, baked, and hand cut. They are not the small thin type. They are large, thick, and simply delicious without preservatives or artificial flavorings. Everything is fresh. When asked which was his favorite, Lagattuta answered, “That is like being asked, ‘who is your favorite child.’ Right now it is fig pecan but it changes daily.”
After making biscotti, either Lagattuta, or the other chef, goes into the restaurant and makes lunch, which is served from 11-3. The menu varies and includes brick oven pizza, torta Rustica (quiches), beans and greens, homemade soups, big fat salads, and home made desserts like: cannoli, ricotta pies, chocolate macaroons, as well as a number of others. At 3:00, the dough is made for tomorrow’s bread and the store and restaurant are cleaned.
“Our business is biscotti, and we bake them seven days a week.” Around 1,200 pounds are cooked daily for purchase in the store or shipped all over the world. Christmas is the busiest season, where someone is always at Enrico’s working. The store is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Homemade bread is baked in the brick oven just like in Italy. This is a cyclical process that never stops. One day a fire is built to heat the bricks and oven. The next day the fire goes out, the bricks are hot enough to bake the bread. The importance of the brick oven in Italy was the only source of heat in the homes. It is fitting that it is the way of baking bread and pizza at Enrico’s. The amount of bread varies and depends on the day, “We can make as many as 100 – 130 loaves of bread,” said Lagattuta.
A few years ago, Lagattuta’s wife wrote a screenplay, which was made into a movie called The Bread My Sweet, starring Scott Baio. The movie is loosely based on Lagattuta’s life about leaving the corporate world and running The Biscotti Company. The delightful movie, encompassing a little bit of truth and fantasy is now sold as a DVD under the title A Wedding for Bella.
The biscotti and cookies are the recipes from his grandmother’s kitchen. The furniture throughout the store is from the family basement, along with the decorations surrounding the walls, like muffin, and bread tins.
While talking about his work, Lagattuta brought up how recipes have not been written down and the recipes are dying out. I have women coming into the store all the time and saying how it smells like their grandmother’s kitchen. They talk about their grandmothers or mothers cookie or biscotti recipes. Lagattuta asks, “Do you have the recipes written done?” Inevitably the response will be no, followed by but we need to get together, sit down, and write them out. He urges them to do this now before it is too late, or bring them to him where he will keep them, preserve them, make the cookies, and sell them.
Lagattuta, the husband and father of three, uses yoga and family to combat stress. He also owns a boat, which he takes out on the Chesapeake Bay and uses it as often as time permits.
Working at The Biscotti Company is like being part of a family. “I know my workers, I know the people that I get my products from,” said Lagattuta. “Working at Enrico’s is for me – it’s the best job,” asserted a comfortable owner, looking tired but relaxed in blue jeans and a blue sweatshirt lightly dusted with flour. “I know who provides the flour and the spices. An 85-year-old man walks down the street and delivers one of my spices. Even the workers have been here for years, like family. There are 16 employees who work at Enrico’s.
Enrico’s online sales according to Lagattuta are amazing. The products are shipped to places like Germany, Japan and Missouri. For many Italian Americans, there is a huge void in their lives. It is the void of the simple smell and taste that makes them happy. “We provide that,” added Lagattuta. There is even a chance to learn how to bake bread from Lagattuta on the last Sunday of every month. Come in for an enjoyable, hearty breakfast, learn the art of bread making from the Master, learn 900 tricks of the trade, and take your own loaf of bread home.
There is also the First Friday Dinner, which can accommodate 30 people. Bring your own bottle of wine, and eat what Lagattuta prepares. He has no set menu. At least two days before the meal, he shops for fresh items and creates a meal that will be a pleasant surprise for the diners. The food will be plenty, delicious, and all you have to do is sit at the table, eat, and enjoy. Lagattuta expressed amazement about the people coming to eat in the restaurant even when there was the lack of heat or air-conditioning. “They still came even when it was 90 degrees, and 30 degrees.” Reservations are required for the Friday night dinners.
Sitting in Ernrico’s Cafe, I was surrounded by items that came from Lagattuta’s family, that are old and have been used. The comfortable odors, and memorabilia surround the shop, and the feeling of family permeates the place, just like being in your own grandmother’s kitchen.
Afterwards, I made my way back to the store to buy a biscotti and take a little bit of Lagattuta’s and grandma’s kitchen along with me. Leaving Enrico’s at 6:40 a.m., I savored my biscotti, and knew how Lagattuta and the baker felt after making bread all night long and watching the sun rise over “The Strip.”
Published in Primo Magazine - Fall Issue, Nov.-Dec. 2008
