ROME, N.Y. — Jim DiCastro says he has seen it all in his 40 years of driving up and down the East Coast as an excavating contractor. “I’ve been everywhere; it’s hard to name all the cities,” DiCastro says with a chuckle. As he weaved in and out of states, the one thing he noticed […]
ROME, N.Y. — Jim DiCastro says he has seen it all in his 40 years of driving up and down the East Coast as an excavating contractor.
“I’ve been everywhere; it’s hard to name all the cities,” DiCastro says with a chuckle.
As he weaved in and out of states, the one thing he noticed lacking were restaurants with a wood-fired pizza oven.
But with no wood-fire pizza restaurants in his home area or surrounding areas, he decided to start his own eatery, DiCastro’s Brick Oven Restaurant in 2010.
Born and raised in Rome, N.Y., DiCastro coincidentally also has family in Rome, Italy. He says his family and their traditions of cooking were always important to him.
“I remember watching my grandmother use the old crank machine to make pasta,” says DiCastro. He remembers last visiting Rome, Italy when he was probably 13 or 14 years old.
Now, DiCastro makes 18 different kinds of pasta and makes his own salad dressings at his restaurant. DiCastro’s Brick Oven Restaurant also features a gluten-free menu that has six different kinds of gluten-free pasta. DiCastro’s signature item is its Neapolitan-style pizza that cooks at an even 600 degrees and is ready in under three minutes.
“It’s about family legacy,” DiCastro says of the restaurant and its menu.
In 1912, DiCastro’s grandfather immigrated from Rome, Italy to the United States. DiCastro says his grandfather began working on the railroads before opening a small business and eventually opening up a popular nightclub, DiCastro’s at Sylvan Beach.
“If you talk to anyone who was a teenager during the 40s, 50s, and into the 60s and asked them where they went, they would say DiCastro’s at Sylvan Beach,” the restaurant owner says. “It was a huge nightclub for the younger generation. They used to dance and do swing, jitterbug,” says DiCastro.
Entrepreneurship runs in the family. He says that everyone in his family has eventually started a business of their own and that it’s sort of a “family passion”.
With a warm, rustic, comfortable Roman vibe, DiCastro’s Brick Oven Restaurant occupies about 1,500 square feet at 615 Erie Blvd. West in Rome. Recently, the restaurant was named “Member of the Week” by the Rome Area Chamber of Commerce.
DiCastro has been running the restaurant with his wife, Lisa DiCastro, since November 2010. He says he saw the vacant property for 10 years before deciding to purchase and transform it into a restaurant; it took one year for renovations to be complete.
With a wide array of pastas and homemade salad dressings, DiCastro says seeing customers’ reactions is what keeps him motivated.
“The satisfaction of people commenting on how good the food is or trying something they’ve never had is always amazing,” says DiCastro.
He says that a fan favorite is the homemade lasagna, and it’s one of his personal favorites, too.
DiCastro says that he gets all of his ingredients locally produced and his flour from Italy.
“They’re the heart of pasta, so why not get the basics from there?,” says DiCastro.
Despite being open two fewer days of the week and facing COVID-19 restrictions, business has been bouncing back at the restaurant, which employs 13 people, says DiCastro.
For 10 weeks, the business had to completely shut down and furlough all employees. Despite the hardship, DiCastro says the quarantine time allowed him to update and change machinery. He has been able to rehire a lot of his previous staff, while some went on to college.
Before the pandemic, DiCastro’s Brick Oven Restaurant was open seven days a week from 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., but now is open Thursday through Monday, from
4-9 p.m., while being closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Your gross revenue at the end of the week is definitely off [from where] it was before,” says DiCastro, “but the profit is probably the same if I looked at per hour of opening.”
DiCastro says that he has seen an increase in takeout orders and adds that outdoor seating has helped attract business while complying with state restrictions.
Despite the new way of life that everyone is getting used to, DiCastro says he is happy to be open and serving pasta and pizza.