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Local Voices

The Grotto Restaurant to Host 75th Anniversary Ribbon Cutting 11 a.m. Sept. 11 with Pizza & Italian Cake

*Asking for donations for Waterbury Food Bank

This Wednesday, September 11, at 11 a.m., The Grotto Restaurant, will host a ribbon cutting ceremony followed by the serving of pizza and Italian cake to mark the 75th anniversary of this Waterbury dining landmark. The celebrate the opening of The Grotto restaurant in 1938, owners Joe and Bernadette Graziosa will offer daily three-course dinner specials for $19.38/person between September 11 and Saturday, September 14. Located at 634 Watertown Avenue in Waterbury, the restaurant also offers take-out and catering service, and is well-known throughout the region for serving fresh Italian pasta and sauces that are made on-site.

For their 75th anniversary, The Grotto will sell their homemade meatballs for 75 cents each. Their special three course anniversary dinners at $19.38 per person September 11 through the 14th will include soup or salad, entrée, dessert and a glass of wine. 

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Beginning at 11 a.m. on September 11 through the morning of September 14, the public is invited to enter their special 75th Anniversary Door Prize Contest. Purchase is not necessary to enter the contest and winners will be announced at 3 p.m. on September 14. Winners need not be present at the drawing to receive their prizes.

To help support local the local Waterbury food bank, The Grotto is asking attendees to bring in a non-perishable food item to the restaurant through September 14.

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The Grotto is well-known for creating home-made cheese and meat raviolis, cavatelli pasta, and fresh meatballs every day. Co-owner Joe Graziosa commented, “Customers love to smell the aromas of our bread baking and our popular spaghetti sauce simmering, and they appreciate our warm staff who greets everyone who enters.“ The Grotto’s home-made foods are also sold at LaBonne’s in Watertown, Woodbury and Southbury; Oliver’s Supermarket in Prospect; Town Plot IGA in Waterbury; Four Corners Market in Middlebury; and Walsh’s Market in Wolcott.

Walter DePesa from Massachusetts and Leo Marra from Waterbury created The Grotto Restaurant after DePesa visited Italy and recruited his friend Marra to start an Italian food service business, DeMar Foods, in Waterbury. They opened the first Grotto restaurant on Union Street, then moved directly across that street, then moved to Scovill Street, became a take-out only service on South Main Street, and the Graziosa family opened it at its current location in 1970 at 634 Watertown Avenue.

As second owners, the Graziosa’s bought a building on Watertown Avenue, Joe designed the interior and family members helped create the new restaurant. Bernadette Graziosa’s father, Daniel (known as Danny the Bricklayer) Coradazzi hand-crafted the entryway stone columns, the slate floors, and single-handedly put in 2,200 tiles one-by-one throughout the kitchen and entryway. Her sister, Dolores Gallagher and members of Dolores’ family created unique interior murals that depict storefronts of well-known businesses that were once in Waterbury.

In 1977 when the Graziosa family expanded the restaurant into two rooms, their family members, the Gallagher family, painted more murals including Jacques Burlesque Theatre which features murals of actual theatre performers including Billy Watson, Petite Marie, and Rosita and Her Doves. One mural depicts The Chocolate Shop, a favorite 1940’s ice cream parlor for after-movie-goers to Waterbury’s popular State Theater and the Palace. “My parents met there,” stated Joe Graziosa. “Mom was a waitress and an in-shop candy maker.” Other murals in today’s dining room include a painting of the Clock Shop window which features depictions of Ingersoll “Yankee” watches made at Ingersoll Rand on Cherry Street in Waterbury, and the popular Neopolitano Bakery.

With the expansion, Bernadette Graziosa began using her marketing and design skills to create gift baskets as a ‘second business’. Formerly a highly-successful banking associate for nineteen years, Bernadette turned her management and creative skills into creating gift baskets in 1989 stating she would “give it one month.” Within the first ten days, she sold 25 baskets between December 15 and 24 “just by putting them out on the counter.”

That was the beginning of what is now the well-known The Grotto and Mrs. G. For the past 24 years, Bernadette Graziosa’s gift basket designs have grown to notable success. She has a dedicated and creative staff that helps with the assembly, marketing and distribution of her designs. Additionally, she created a large in-restaurant gift shoppe, and she travels to food and gift shows each year in search of more distinctive and beautiful items for her extensive offerings. In 2014, Mrs. G’s Gift Basket was once again named by “The Waterbury Observer” monthly magazine as the “Best Gift Basket of Greater Waterbury” and the best gift basket for 16 years.

To learn more about The Grotto and Mrs. G’s, visit www.thegrottoandmrsg.com, on Facebook at TheGrottoRestaurantMrsG’sGiftBaskets, or call 203-754-0295. 

 

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