Upwardly mobile pizzeria

James Biello earned a close second place in the first Canadian Pizza Chef of the Year competition held in Montreal in April.

Biello also is celebrating the 10th anniversary of La Cucina di Ietta, his thriving mobile pizza business operated out of Laval and named to honour his grandmother, Antonietta Ruccolo Biello.

“My grandmother was a mom for me as my mom left when 10 months old,” Biello says. He has fond memories of two things she cooked: pizza and lasagna. “To this day, nothing else comes close – it’s a very simple red sauce pizza,” he says. “Her mentality was always that you can never get better food than what you make at home. If you make things with your own hands, it’s always going to be better than anything you buy.” To honour that spirit, his menu features scratch-made pizzas, pastas and Italian dishes.

Biello was born in Canada, but his family came to Canada in 1952 from Casacalenda, a small, mountainside village some 25 kilometres northeast of Campobasso in Italy’s Molise region. 

He and wife Kiwi Phan have two boys, Matteo, 9, and Luca, 7. 

Antonietta died before they were born and La Cucina has been a way to put them in touch with their family history, Biello says. “They know so much about her because of the business.”

The pizza catering season is ramping up. With children’s birthdays, weddings and other occasions, the 12-16 available weekends will get filled up pretty fast. 

“My weekend starts on Wednesday, start planning list of ingredients and making my purchases,” says Biello, who also works full time for Immigration Canada. “Thursday is prep, on Friday I proof and refrigerate my dough, and Saturday is checklists: checking that I have full tanks of propane, checking my itinerary and choosing the best route. I try to arrive 30 minutes to an hour before client wants me to start.”

Two jobs per weekend is the sweet spot for summer bookings. Three would be pushing it in terms of having space in the refrigerator. Working multiple gigs involves a lot of coordination and timing, he says. “I think this has made me a better pizzaiolo.”

Biello put Roman-style and Napoletana pizza on the menu in 2018. He took classes at ITHQ through the School of Italian Pizza. He studied the different styles, trained and consulted with professionals from Italy. To gain experience, he started at Bottega the same day. He and his wife had a newborn and a lot going on. “My wife allowed me to do this work at minimum wage in addition to my full-time job. I really appreciate that she helped me follow my passion.”

How did his pizza get the judges’ attention? Biello says, “I think it was deceptively simple, with three classic Italian ingredients: stracchiatella, mortadella and pistachio. I substituted lemon zest for pistachio, knowing some people are allergic.

“Sometimes less is more. Sometimes just one or two ingredient combinations can blow you away. I came into the competition with that mindset.”

The hardworking chef is getting serious about his dream of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant.  

Sounds like the time is ripe for making the dream a reality.