Franco Gattuso's Drogheria Fine

On this mild December morning on my way to Vito's butcher shop on Fairmount West, I spotted a funky new business, la Drogheria Fine, which does not mean fine drugs or fine hardware supplies. Instead, the tiny 12-by-12 foot shop specializes in the sale of unprocessed olive oil and tomato sauce. Owner Franco Gattuso professes to make the sauce himself. However, the sauce is called La Salsa della Nonna or Granny's Sauce...I was tempted to say, "My Granny what big teeth you have," but it could well be just granny's recipe. Anyhoo.

Franco imports the unprocessed olive oil from Oliveto in the Calabria region of Italy, also the birth place of his mother. He then bottles the oil in recycled glass water bottles. You can still see the sediment in the bottom. (I'm dying to know what it tastes like.) The tomato sauce comes in three sizes of mason jars, and the smallest costs $5.00.

"These are all natural ingredients, so it's only good for six weeks," said Gattuso.

In other words, there are no preservatives to extend the shelf life. I spied the best-before date on the jar in a young girl's handwriting, Jan. 15, 2011.

Unfortunately, the shop doesn't accept interact or credit, which warranted a trip to the bank. But the trip was worth it. We just had the tomato sauce for lunch, and it was indeed delicious.

Notice the espresso machine in the background. This will be for serving customers in the near future. The shop is certainly worth the visit, but be prepared to crowd in close to your neighbours. When I returned from my jaunt to the bank, there were five adults and a golden retriever in the store, all with very pressing questions.

Drogheria Fine, 68 Fairmount West, Mile End.


Other Mile End-related posts
St-Viateur: the Polish Bazaar
The Mile End Buzz Around Beekeeping
For the Love of Vinyl
Airing Our Dirty Laundry
Filming on St-Viateur

1 comments:

play | July 18, 2019 at 3:36 PM

Wow, cool post. I'd like to write like this too - taking time and real hard work to make a great article... but I put things off too much and never seem to get started. Thanks though. stivaletti francesco milano

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