If anyone from the city thinks the West Island as more of a place to pass through, Cassy Teti would like a word.
She’s one of present-day co-owners of Deli La Trattoria (also known as La Tratt), the Italian deli-grocery-pizza operation that's been running out of a strip mall in Kirkland since 2004. Her father Mario opened it with his business partner Enrico Parziale at a time when the area didn't have much in the way of independent food businesses worth talking about.
"There really wasn't anything there," she says. So they built something.
It wasn't an easy start: The space had previously housed another deli that had soured its relationship with the neighbourhood, which meant Mario and Enrico were starting from zero in terms of community trust. The early years required degrees of commitment that extended beyond the menu, like staying open days a week, not taking a personal salary in order to reinvest in the business, and just generally grinding until people started coming back.
Earning a nickname
Mario's path to that strip mall in Kirkland was a long one. He was born in Abruzzo, moved to Switzerland as a child, then emigrated to Canada, eventually settling in the West Island. He came up through the food industry, working in meat distribution before co-owning a Cavallaro location on Saint-Charles.
When he and Enrico opened La Trattoria, they weren't copying what existed. They were building what they thought the neighbourhood deserved: fresh product, fair prices, and welcoming service. "A place can have the most amazing food in the world," Cassy says. "But if you're greeted with a bad attitude and no personality, you're not going to leave with a good feeling."
That philosophy held and the place grew. Cassy and her sister Leandra both started working there as teenagers, drifting away for a time before coming back with their husbands Lee and Marcus in tow. Mario is still around, still involved, though the next generation has taken on the day-to-day. The business now runs through five family members deep, with Cassy's mom handling the books. "It's a family business through and through," she says.
The nickname came naturally. Regulars had been calling it La Tratt for years before anyone made it official. Suppose that’s usually how the best nicknames work.
The drawcards
The biggest shift came when they expanded into the neighbouring unit and installed a wood-fired oven. The plan predated the pandemic—Mario had been thinking about it since late 2019—but when COVID arrived in March 2020, the decision became whether to proceed or wait. They proceeded.
Poursuivez « La Tratt, l’épicerie fine de référence de l’Ouest-de-l’Île »
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