The love for pasta and the family in the heart

By FERNANDA BECCAGLIA

La Palma

Friday, January 23, 2009

When passion and cuisine are merged into an ideology, dreams become true like Pasta Amore.

"I do everything with love," said Gabriel Daguerre, a Uruguayan from Montevideo, owner of Pasta Amore in North Palm Beach with his wife Maria. They share the space with Tom, owner of  Muzzio's Bakery.

"It is ideal because the baker's schedule and mine are different."

This pair of Uruguayans spent the weekend selling their freshly made pasta in different greenmarkets from the county, it is also distributed to various restaurants and private chefs in the area.

"The pasta that people buy is all fresh, nothing is old," says Daguerre. "Besides they all sale," he adds.

Monday is shopping day,Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday he rises at daybreak to get the new batch of fresh pasta made to sell at fairs on weekends and in the bakery, as well as taking orders .

The batch includes ravioli of different forms such as hearts, beet, egg and spinach papardelle, fettuccine and linguine (same flavors as papardelle) including squid ink, and dough for lasagna. Daguerre, 50, is proud that his pasta is much lighter than it usually is at commercial markets.

"However, competition is huge," he said.

In September, Pasta Amore will celebrate two years in business.

Just as original, the fillings are unique, like the combo of pears and Gorgonzola cheese and figs and provolone, among others.

"We like playing with different fillings," says Daguerre.

He adds that the most popular are the pear and Gorgonzola, and the crab and lobster.

"I don't do fillings with beef or chicken because  for that we need to go through another inspection. For now we work with agriculture.

"When customers need to find ways to come up with a meal plan for the week and do not know what to ask for, they tell him "give me $150 of whatever you recommend. "

He said that in a regular day of the West Palm Beach Green market  he sells 100 pounds of pasta.

"If I had three green markets per week like the West Palm Beach market, he would leave everything." Daguerre works as a waiter in the restaurant Sapori House and Stresa in West Palm Beach. Le Stresa sells his own production of homemade pasta.

"It is a delicate situation being an employee and also to do business with your boss, but I have no problems and they like the pasta (the customers)."

Daguerre finds his love and commitment for the pasta on a daily basis, but fell in love one day in 1998 when he lived in New Jersey working in the restaurant Eccola, leaning over the counter, he was fascinated by how they would make the pasta, then Daguerre got an epiphany, "I said, 'I can do this'. I knew that what I felt would be a fantasy for a while."

Service and restaurant are in the roots of Daguerre as much as his nationality.

"I have it in me, my family was always involved in the restaurant business."

Daguerre came only to Orange, New Jersey, in 1980 at the invitation of his uncle and aunt. His mother was already there.

"After six months I stayed and received amnesty under president Roland Reagan ."

To be surrounded by his family is what made a difference for Daguerre to migrate to the United States.

"If I say that it was difficult, I would be lying to you, being with family always simplified everything."

He adds that he came with the basics of English and that has not changed much today.

"I am very gaucho, and we all speak Spanish at home."

After two years Maria came. Between the two they have four daughters, Michelle, 25, Natalie, 22, Sofia,10 and Camila 8.

"In 1999 I got tired of  the snow and my mom had moved to Florida ,so we moved to Broward."

He adds that Florida, "has more of the atmosphere of Latin America. "

Meanwhile, Daguerre continued to work in restaurants and dreaming of making his own pasta.

In September 2005, Daguerre with an Argentinian and Uruguayan who moved from New Jersey to Florida, decided to buy a restaurant and among the ideas Daguerre proposal was to make homemade pasta.

Then the trio bought a machine to make the original Italian pasta. But the professional personalities were not compatible and after three years they separated, but Daguerre never separated from his Italian machine and he took it with him.

"Pasta Amore began because of my daughters ... the idea is to make it a family business that they can continue it."

That's right. According to Daguerre, not just Maria, "helps me in everything and always brings ideas to the kitchen", but "Michelle is my right hand and was the creator of the website," "they are all (girls) involved in the field of work. "

Working 14 hours a day in the high season, including the restaurants and Pasta Amore, Daguerre makes time for his family.

Daguerre says that the early stage of Pasta Amore had it's "ups and downs and some luck."

"But from the first day that we started at the Green market it went very well."

Daguerre said that everything comes around and that we must maintain a conservative mind and think more than twice before doing something so you don't have to regret it later.

As of today, Daguerre knows what he wants.

"I want to build something once and for all, just to stay with the pasta" and "three, five years I'd like to open a small restaurant with six, seven tables serving fresh pasta accompanied with beer or wine."

Photo by: Bruce R. Bennett