Veniero’s Pasticceria & Caffe
116 Years of Family Tradition
BY . ERIN LEVI
THE SUN HAS SET, WITH DUSK YIELDING TO THE RED AND GREEN LIT SIGN OF
VENIERO’S PASTICCERIA & CAFFE – AN ARTDECO ORIGINAL FROM THE 1930’S –
WHICH ILLUMINATES THE SWEET-TOOTHED CROWDS GATHERED ON MANHATTAN’S EAST 11TH STREET. BUT IT’S NOT QUITE BRIGHT ENOUGH. THREE MEN CLIMB UP THE FIRE ESCAPE ATOP THE BAKERY’S BRICK-RED AWNINGS TO ERECT TEMPORARY LIGHT FIXTURES– WHITE ROUND LANTERNS - JUST NEXT TO THE LANDMARK SIGN. CLAUDIA ATKINSON, A WESTON RESIDENT WHO OWNS VENIERO’S TOGETHER WITH HER THREE SIBLINGS, NERVOUSLY OBSERVES THE OPERATION FROM ACROSS THE STREET, AND SIGNALS TO HER BROTHER ROBERT, WHO IS SPORTING A BLACK HARLEYDAVIDSON SHIRT, TO MAKE SURE THEY’RE CAREFUL. “IF THEY DAMAGE THE SIGN IN ANY WAY, I’M NOT SURE WE’LL BE ABLE TO FIX IT. IT’S SO ANTIQUE.”
Down below, long loaves of bread fill the storefront window: different from the usual display of decadent cakes and treats (a minute selection of what is actually offered inside.) Veniero’s doesn’t even sell bread – it’s a pastry shop! Yet on this night, an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is being filmed, and Larry David needs to buy a baguette. The store is still open to customers, though. Friday is a busy night, says Claudia, so they didn’t want to close. (Hey, they’re even open on Christmas Day!) “We’re especially popular on weekends since we stay open until one a.m. People wait in line to have their after-dinner drinks and dessert at one of the tables inside the cafe or out on the sidewalk. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a marriage proposal this evening, as many couples come here on dates.”
And it is not an exaggeration. Beneath the vintage metal ceilings which add to Veniero’s romantic charm and old-world character, groups of twos, threes and fours flow in, some to sit down and eat, others just to buy goodies to go. Upon swinging through the vanilla-etched glass doors, a woman in a red floral dress gushes to her friend, “This is my favorite dessert place. I’m so excited to show it to you.” They pass the front counter, which is replete with cheesecakes, a variety of “regular” cakes, a vast display of Italian confections, as well as miniature versions of all of the above.
Most of the customers seated back Antonio, who roasted his own coffee beans in the 1920s and '30s, is even credited with introducing espresso to New York.
inside the cafe are oblivious to the filming that is happening in the front room (they’re more concerned with canoodling and their cannoli), while a few who are standing near the entrance stare in awe at Larry David’s signature bald head which keeps popping in and out of the yellow cab directly outside. One lucky couple is even chosen to be extras in the so-called “bread buying scene.”
People have been flocking to Veniero’s ever since 1894, when it opened as a pool emporium. At that time, the neighborhood was a bastion of Eastern European immigrants, compared with today’s trendy scene – which saw a transformation after years of being a gritty punk ‘hood. Antonio Veniero, who emigrated that year from Vico Equense, a small coastal town near Naples in Southern Italy, started serving coffee to the patrons as they waited to take their aim behind the cue stick. This not only added to Veniero’s popularity, but also established it as New York’s first and most prominent coffee bar. Step aside, Starbucks: Antonio, who roasted his own coffee beans in the 1920s and ‘30s, is even credited with introducing espresso to New York.
One can only have so many cups of coffee without a sweet accompaniment, and so Antonio decided to add cake to the menu. He wasn’t even a trained baker, but was so successful at this new-found trade that he shut down the billiards to open a full bakery, for which he won awards: a diploma from Bologna in 1933 in honor of “Antonio Veniero, per i suoi prodotti d’arte dolcaia,” in addition to a special acknowledgment from the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. You can view these accolades yourself as they are framed and hanging on the caf้ walls next to a plaque from the New York Fire Department thanking Veniero’s for its support after 9/11, and a few real works of art: 18th century oil paintings by the Venetian artist Francesco Guardi.
Not that you need a piece of paper to tell you Veniero’s pastries are special. One bite into a moist, creamy Italian cheesecake made with ricotta cheese is proof enough. If that doesn’t sway you, there’s the Torta di Mandorle — a Veniero’s original — made from homemade marzipan baked around a domeshaped yellow cake which is moistened with rum and layered with apricot preserves. And it would be a mafioso crime to miss tasting the tiramisu, cannoli (in all their glorious versions) or strawberry millefoglie - a house specialty that is a light, delicate pastry layer filled with Bavarian cream and topped with pow-dered sugar and strawberries. Not to mention the homemade gelati, sorbetti(made from fresh fruits) and New York’s favorite cheesecake (“We’reway better than Juniors,” beams Claudia.)
Over the last 116 years and counting, Veniero’s has been owned and operated by four generations of family, which is rather uncommon – and special - by today’s standards. After Antonio’s colorful reign (marked by petitions for electricity — he was the first to have it below 14th street; watermelon giveaways — the rind was more valuable than the red flesh as it could be candied and used for cake decoration; and an association with the “blackhand” — a man notorious for setting houses on fire was a friend of Antonio’s and was hired to keep the neighbors from stealing, essentially a modern-day bouncer), ownership went to his entrepreneurial son, Michael, one of six children, which was then passed on to Antonio’s nephew and Claudia’s father, Frank Zerilli. Since Frank’s passing soon after Veniero’s 100th anniversary in 1994, Claudia’s mother ran the business full-time alongside Robert. Claudia and her sister Linda would help part-time, but are more involved now that their mother issadly no longer with them.
In the case of Frank and Antonio’s families, children were never expected to work at the bakery. Instead, education was stressed. Most went off to pursue other careers (like Claudia who became a nurse and Linda who taught at an elementary school), but there was always one who had an interest in the business: for Antonio it was Michael, for Frank it was his son Robert, and for Robert it is his son Frankie.
Claudia, who grew up above the bakery with her parents and three siblings — presumably sharing a very aromatic childhood — remembers her father only joining the family for dinner on holidays such as Christmas and Easter. Every other night of the year, he was at a restaurant — dining as either a first timer or regular (like at Rao’s, where he, as well as Sinatra had tables) in order to build relationships with restaurant owners around the city. That made it easier to establish a wholesale business, which is still very successful today. In the 1980s and ‘90s, Frank physicallyexpanded the business by hiring more bakers (today there are a total of 18 in addition to 32 other employees) as well as by building another room in the caf้ to seat more clients.
Neither Frank nor his predecessors believed in spending money on advertising; their business was lucky enough to grow just by word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth can travel far these days, even as far as Japan, where Veniero's is surprisingly popular. Who would have imagined there's even
a Japanese comic book about the East Village pasticceria? Claudia Atkinson recounts the first time she heard about her business's strangefound fame abroad: “I was working out at the Weston Racquet Club with Scahyio Furukawa when she told me, 'Claudia, Veniero's was on Japanese TV today. They love it over there. They're so impressed with its longevity, family tradition and success.'”
Customers still come in today remembering stories of Frank, the face of Veniero's for over 50 years, and often described as a very generous person and good motivator (he was known to hand out $20 bills to workers who were doing a good job, which at the time was a lot of money) who occasionally would exhibit characteristics akin to the infamous “soup man” if someone didn't like his pastries.
Though the holiday season can be quite tiring - two-hourlong lines of people wrapped around the block waiting to pick up desserts their grandmothers ordered (Veniero's has become a part of many families' holiday traditions), Claudia especially enjoys working during this time because
it's when she hears the most stories about her father's days of running Veniero's. “Customers will tell us about things we never knew happened because we were never there working,” she says.
More than just a good bakery, “Veniero's is a place of opportunity,” explains Claudia. The establishment is composed of mainly immigrant workers: from a Bangladeshi barista to Turkish and Polish wait staff, a Maltese manager, and Mexican bakers (the head bakers have always been
Italian.) They are all given the chance to make a life here in America and pursue their dreams, from modeling to putting their children through school. The diversity of the staff is also a reflection of the multiculturalism of the neighborhood. “We have our own little U.N. here,” Claudia notes as she scans the room.
In the age of Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts - fast-food chains and corporate franchises, it is a wonderful anomaly that Veniero's is still alive, well, and family run: a good reason to not curb your enthusiasm, and keep your appetite.
Veniero's Pasticceria & Caff้, 342 E. 11th Street (between 1st and 2nd
Avenue) New York, NY. 212/674-7070 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 212/674-7070 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. Sunday - Thursday: 7am - midnight;
Friday - Saturday: 7 am - 1 am. www.venierospastry.com
Erin Levi lives and works in New York City where she celebrates
each and every meal with the joy of la gourmandise, never missing
an opportunity to try new food.
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