I was offered the opportunity to go to Italy in the summers to study wine and food, and it became an instant love — I got the chance to work in vineyards, matching wines with foods. I got to travel most of Italy. When I graduated college, I moved to Italy for the better part of a year and continued until my father told me that it was time to come home and go to work in Boston.
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I was a salesman, calling initially on the North End, as well as the top hotels and restaurants in Boston, with the likes of Gordon Hamersley, Jasper White, Lydia Shire, and later, Todd English. All these different personalities were coming on the scene. We all lived in Charlestown and worked together and cooked and tasted wines together. It was a dream come true.
Were you told: “This is what you’re going to be doing someday?” What was the expectation?
My father had been running the company for as long as I can possibly remember. So our house was very much surrounded in Italian food and wine. My father was the real cook. My mother was a classic Yankee, and we looked for my father to come home and cook, especially cooking on the weekends, because he was a master.
And I was going to restaurants when I was very young, whether it was Locke-Ober or Schroder’s. And then the Italian restaurants were coming on slowly. We used to always go to The Amalfi over by Symphony Hall. I was always around food and wine, so it was something that was pretty natural. None of us were pressured to go right into the business. But I was the first one of my brothers. I went in immediately, and they came in shortly thereafter.
Canton-based, family-owned company Pastene is celebrating its 150th anniversary.Pastene
Take me through a typical day in the life.
As the president of the company, I’m overseeing just about everything that’s going on in our Canton office. We have another office in Montreal, so my day is pretty much following the trends in what’s going on as far as our purchasing, where product is moving, and keeping up with the sales and the needs of our many supermarket chains. … We have to keep them happy at all times.
What do people want these days? What’s different from when you started and what people want to eat now?
I’ve been working for the company now for 45 years, and you see different products emerging. When I was a little kid, fettuccine Alfredo was introduced in Boston at Stella’s restaurant [in the North End].
There are so many things that the Italians have specialized in and introduced to this country, which now we take for granted, whether it’s Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, which is everywhere now; balsamic vinegar is everywhere now; sun-dried tomatoes; pesto. [Trends] usually start in restaurants, and then they move to the consumer’s table, and we follow that very closely at all times.
What’s in and what’s out?
Vinegar peppers, which used to be an everyday thing, are more of a holiday item. … Now they’re more seasonal, just old-style items. We don’t see mackerel as much in a can. You don’t see the rolled anchovies; you just see the flat anchovies. We actually have a room in our office with some of the old products that we used to carry. We used to be very strong in coffee: We can’t really compete in coffee anymore. … And actually, believe it or not, we used to be in all sorts of canned vegetables, whether it’s beans or peas. We were in fruit cocktail, which nobody really buys in the can anymore.
Pastene specializes in Italian provisions, some of which never go out of style.Handout
Where do you like to eat now?
I had restaurants in Boston. I closed the last one during COVID, so I don’t go into the city as much. I prefer to cook at home and with friends, because we don’t dine out as much down here as I did when I was in the city. I had an Italian restaurant named Bel Ari on South Street, and a couple doors away, I owned a restaurant named Les Zygomates — a wine bar and jazz club.
The Financial District never really came back, or it’s finally coming back now. People stayed remote. Other than the few people going in and out of South Station, it just didn’t make sense. So, unfortunately, I closed, but it was a very fun place, where I could play with food and play with wine. My family has always been into music, so having a jazz club as well was the perfect experience for me.
Where else did you frequent back in the day?
I’ve got to say: My favorite restaurants were probably Gordon Hamersley’s and Todd English’s restaurants. And Toscano’s on Charles Street was a big deal for me.
There were so many good ones that have come and gone over the years. O Ya was across the street from me [at Les Zygomates], which was a very nice place to be able to sneak over. They’d say, “Mark, we have a table!” and I’d run across the street because it was so difficult to get in there.
My go-tos around here would be the Square Cafe in Hingham Center; my go-to Italian restaurant down here is a restaurant in Pembroke, Osteria Vivo. I go to North Quincy for Asian choices. I really like Winsor House, and I like Ming — those are the two I’m trying most often. The dim sum is outstanding.
Let’s talk about food pet peeves. What’s your restaurant pet peeve? Dining pet peeve? Food that you will never eat? What can’t you stand?
I think that too many restaurants take shortcuts these days, because everything’s gotten so expensive. I don’t trust that I’m always getting the real product. If I’m ordering a veal cutlet: Is that really veal?
It’s very hard to go out and get a great steak now without spending $85. I have an incredible butcher down the street; I can go get my own and serve it exactly the way I want it. Certain things are just out of a restaurant’s control with some pricing. … But there are certain things that make it very difficult for the everyday consumer to go to some of these better restaurants, when your ticket is $100 before tip.
Let’s talk about Italian food. What’s your favorite type of pasta?
Let’s see. I’d probably say bucatini and mafaldine.
What about sauce?
I personally make a fresh sauce. I use either my kitchen-ready tomatoes or my San Marzano D.O.P. tomatoes. I tend to make a quick sauce, something that I can serve by the time my pasta is cooked. I don’t do the simmering all day. I have relatives to go visit for that. But I prefer the fresh-tasting sauce; something that I can cook very quickly and serve right up. If I’m being really bad, it would be Gorgonzola sauce.
Any favorite wines?
Well, I’m spoiled. … If I was going to have the perfect glass of wine with a perfect bowl of pasta, it would be a Gaja Barbaresco that’s been decanted and had a chance to sit out, and I’d enjoy them both very slowly.
In your spare time, where will we find you?
My spare time is spent with my wife and my dogs most of the time, whether we’re hiking down here in the South Shore or walking the dogs on the beach. My wife is retired, and I’m not yet, but play a lot of pickleball and a lot of golf — and fortunately, I can work remotely most of the time as well.
What’s your favorite South Shore beach?
Let’s see. For walking, it would be Nantasket Beach, because at low tide you can walk forever. Otherwise, I prefer the beaches of Cohasset, because I can ride my bike.
Interview was edited and condensed.
Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Follow her @kcbaskin.
Dining and Cooking