Rossella Rago brings niche Italian flavors to Brooklyn

Tell us more about your platform.

My career began with the hosting of the program “Cooking with Nonna”“ in 2009, where I was one of the first creators to start cooking with Italian grandmothers. Since then, I have published three cookbooks of the same title and become an e-commerce entrepreneur.

What is your e-commerce business?

My e-commerce platform is called La Bottega della Nonna and it started because some of the ingredients I was cooking with were a little hard to come by, especially if you didn’t live in a large Italian enclave. So I had the idea to sell some of the specialty products from Italy that I was using in my recipes and from there it expanded into this e-commerce site where you can buy all things Italian-American like clothing, jewelry, and housewares. We currently have over 2,000 SKUs in our product catalog. I’m proud of that and I enjoy it.

You are identified as very Brooklyn. Can you share with us some of your Brooklyn bonafides?

I was born in Bensonhurst, and both of my parents emigrated from the same village in Puglia called Mola di Bari, where there are about 30,000 people now. In the 80s, when my parents came here, there were about 100,000 people from Mola di Bari living in South Brooklyn. Since then, people from my village have moved to Staten Island, to New Jersey, but there is still a very strong community there. I am a Brooklyn girl through and through. I was born in Brooklyn. I have lived in Brooklyn most of my life. I run a company based in Brooklyn. It is a big part of my identity.

How has the Brooklyn food scene changed over your lifetime?

The Brooklyn food scene has become so eclectic. It reflects the great melting pot that is Brooklyn. When I was growing up, Bensonhurst was 90% Italian-American and there was always great Italian food, and there’s still great Italian food, but now there’s great Middle Eastern food, and now there’s great sushi places, and now there’s great Chinese places to eat. So I think it’s cool to see all the different ethnicities represented in the borough’s food scene.

Can you name your five favorite Italian restaurants in Brooklyn?

My current favorite Italian and Italian-American restaurants in Brooklyn are: Michael’s of Brooklyn; Il Colosseo; Gargiulo’s, which has been in business for over 100 years; Ortobello’s, which survived a recent fire and has made a comeback; and Marco Polo in Carroll Gardens.

What places outside of Italy do you like the most?

There are a few non-Italian places that I really love. They’re a little newer because they’re more recent immigrants. I love the sushi at Fushimi. I love Blue Door and Meze for Greek food. There’s Sancho’s for Spanish food. And I’ve been going to Cebu for a long time. They have the best crispy rice.

How about Italian food specialty stores?

One of the best things about living in South Brooklyn is that you don’t have to go far to find high-quality ingredients imported from Italy. Some of my favorite places are ALC Italian Grocery, Passtosa Ravioli, and La Bella Marketplace. And the best bakery ever for me will always be Villabate Alba. You just can’t beat the ice cream, the pastries, the craftsmanship. I mean, they import sheep’s milk ricotta from Sicily. I don’t care where you go in this country; you can’t get sheep’s milk ricotta cannoli anywhere else. My favorite place for prosciutto bread is Il Fornaretto on 17th Avenue. Rimini Pastry Shoppe on Bay Parkway has the best Napoleon cake in the Tri-State area. I love this part of Brooklyn because you can have a favorite place for a variety of things. If you want a “wooley” for something, you can find it within a two-mile radius.

What makes your profile stand out from many Italian-American influencers?

What makes my profile stand out is that people who have been following me for a long time have kind of grown up with me and know that this is who I am. They know that I am a product of this community. And they know that I share the past, try to modernize it, and just move into the future.