Ten Year's of Food at Joe's Italian Kitchen
By Jason Gilmer

Reminders of Joe Cafaro hometown and family are everywhere in his restaurant.

From the jazz coming out the overhead speakers, to the hallway and restrooms with cutout magazine photos of mobsters, Manhattan scenes and celebrities, to the 9/11 tribute at the front door.

That heritage isn't just found in photos that hang on walls at Joe's Italian Kitchen. The menu is full of it, too.

"We do traditional Italian food, not authentic. Anyone can read a recipe and create it," Cafaro said. "We do things because that's what our parents did and what our grandparents did and what their grandparents did. You get different Italian food here than you do at other Italian restaurants."

The restaurant, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in Boone on August 1, is a spot that High Country foodies have visited often over the years to enjoy a piece of tiramisu, Cafaro's father's meatballs or any of the other items on the menu.

Cafaro learned to cook from his parents in Brooklyn but didn't always have plans to own a restaurant. He moved to Charlotte in 1980, worked as a chef and as a computer engineer but found his way to the mountains as the Queen City grew.

He was teaching packed cooking classes in Valle Crucis when he was told over and over to start his own place.

"I guess I got tired of the food up here, so I started a restaurant," he said.

Growing up, Cafaro was immersed in the delis and luncheonettes in New York City. His uncle owned a shop around the corner from Macy's, and it was there where Cafaro first worked in the business.

"I was 6 years old, probably, working in a kitchen," he said. "Everybody in an Italian family cooks. You learn how to cook, probably as the first thin you do."

When Joe's Italian Kitchen opened at 190 Boone Heights Drive, there was a sign on the door that said 'food for the taking.' There were shelves of food and a bakery, with the idea that patrons would get their food and take it home to share.

Cafaro would go to New York City three times a year, he said, and buy $10,000 worth of groceries, including items straight from Italy, to sell. After three years, though, he saw this wasn't working and made the restaurant more eat-in friendly.

Now, he said, somewhere between 35 and 40 percent of his business is take-home orders.

The food's recipes come from Cafaro's family, but he isn't doing as much cooking anymore.

"My job is to keep the store running, take care of advertising, the bills, training and talking to the customers," he said. "On a busy night, I'll go back there and do dishes. I won't upset the crew; they've got their pattern. I'll go sauté if needed, or I will wait tables."

Those recipes may be written down, but he doesn't need them. He learned to make meatballs from watching his father and learned to make mozzarella from watching it done up North. He learned to make his Italian Combo by watching a guy named Three-Finger Louie make the sandwich at a small stand at a park where bocce and handball was played.

"It's my eyes, my hands, my touch, my senses," Cafaro said of his cooking style. "Our food is five generations. It's been handed down."

Even at 62, Cafaro doesn't plan to step away from the food business anytime soon.

"I probably will work the rest of my life. What else will I do?" he said. "I'd like to think that I'd come here less and stay at home more, but I really enjoy being here."

He enjoys talking to customers and recounting stories from his past.

Even as the economy has changed, Cafaro stands by what he does and what he sells.

"We use the best quality cheeses and meats that we can buy," he said. "Just because the economy has gone down doesn't mean we'll buy cheaper cheese to save a few pennies. We'll buy the same cheese and just take the loss. There is no compromising on tradition."

And tradition is a big part of the past 10 years for Joe's Italian Kitchen.