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15 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,July 14,2022 w aterloochronicle.ca Cut out paying more Your only destination for more coupons, more flyers, more savings. #SavingWithSave Save $2.00 on Nestlé® Carnation® Simply Hot Chocolate Envelopes save.ca/couponsScan to get coupons In short time, downtown Kitchener's Eby Street Bo- dega has become known by its truncated, generic name: one might say, "Hon- ey, we need olives! I'm going to pop down to the Bodega." Co-owners Anna Stas- zewska and Dino Trtovac say early on they worried about the unfamiliar word, but no longer. "People had different ideas of what a bodega is," Staszewska says, explain- ing that depending on their cultural backgrounds, shoppers came looking for beer, wine and cigarettes. Or toilet paper. Think New York City with its myriad cultures side by side punctuated by thousands of unique, shelves-packed-to-the-raf- ters, corner stores. Here, Bodega is sui generis [unique], a Spanish word that just hasn't been used in the region. Staszewska and Trtovac have branded their bodega a neighbourhood spot with pantry ingredients, a cheese case, non-alcoholic beverages (LLBO licensing pending), oils, olives, tinned fish, a bit of produce and condiments. A few months ago, they started serving food for takeout and dine-in at a few inside tables or on the patio looking into the Kitchener Market. A scroll through their Instagram feed reveals, in- spiration for that food came from their love of simple, rustic old-world eating -- and COVID-19. "We're stocked with things we love to eat at home," Staszewska says. "We thought about serv- ing healthy foods, like fruit and vegetables, but it was the pandemic and we want- ed food that made us feel good." Cue the indulgent cheeses and meats and rich, unctuous olive oils that make the very best simple eating. Cucina pov- era [poor cuisine], if you like. Customers requested more prepared foods, so Bodega fashioned a few rustic dishes easily made in the small space. Cheese boxes, picnic boxes; there might be cream-filled Ro- man maritozzi, crunchy- chewy baguette from Gold- en Hearth Bakery around the corner stuffed with salty meats, cheese and pickles; or a rich, doughy flatbread topped with stracciatella, mortadella and crushed pistachios. Otherwise, it might be a Roman breakfast: pizza bianca with sliced meat or sardine conserva on grilled sour dough with olives. That's what I'm talking about. The owners have trav- elled extensively, and these dishes reflect their Europe- an excursions. The focac- cia is a good example -- and a recent favourite of mine. "We often ate it twice a day, and searched for and brought back pans from Bari," Staszewska says of the Apulian port city on the Adriatic Sea. Focaccia is a leavened pizzalike dough, dappled with the cook's finger im- pressions, which is allowed to rise before being baked at a high temperature. Bodega prepares a Ligu- rian version and the deli- cious focaccia Barese, a Saturday special, in its deep-dish, scalloped-edge pan. "It's our favourite," Stas- zewska says. "It's totally different." She's right when she says it's very oily -- but that's exactly why I like it -- with potato cooked into the dough. "It gives it a chewier yet softer texture." Cherry tomatoes, slightly dried, go on top along with a lot of very rich olive oil, spices like oregano and the now popular creamy-textured, bright-green Sicilian Cas- telvetrano olives. "We cook the focaccia at a very high temperature. So high that we have to turn off the smoke alarm," Stas- zewska says. The Barese is a Friday dish and if available there could be some on Saturday. I like that LTO aspect: get it while it's freshly made and before it's gone. In relatively short time, Bodega has carved out a niche and literally a name Staszweska says comple- ments the farmers market: people have "really re- sponded," she says. "They just say they're going to the Bodega on Sat- urday. They don't say the Eby Street Bodega. Just the Bodega. That's what we wanted from the begin- ning." Andrew Coppolino is a Kitchener-based food writ- er and broadcaster. Visit him at andrewcoppolino- .com. OPINION FOCACCIA BARESE A SPLENDID SATURDAY SPECIAL 'IT'S OUR FAVOURITE. IT'S TOTALLY DIFFERENT,' SAYS CO-OWNER OF DELICIOUS SPECIAL PREPPED IN A DEEP-DISH, SCALLOPED-EDGE PAN, WRITES ANDREW COPPOLINO ANDREW COPPOLINO Column Dino Trtovac and focaccia Barese with and without olives. Andrew Coppolino photo