Taste the Love

By: Liv Stecker

  In 1989, Peter Karatzas and his family brought a global love affair with international cuisine to little Kettle Falls, Washington. Café Italiano opened for the first time on Meyer’s Street in down town Kettle Falls and was an instant success. Fans of Peter’s cooking came from all over the region and beyond for his original Italian dishes and were never disappointed. Mouth-watering pizzas and delectable sauces on pasta and meat dishes kept customers coming back again and again. Locals knew that the hardest part about a visit to Café Italiano would be narrowing down what to order. The tiny restaurant in the even smaller town was given a complimentary nod in Gourmet Magazine in 1992, and listed as one of the “places to go” in the northwest in a 1993 edition of Northwest Airlines Magazine, putting Kettle Falls on the culinary map. Peter’s passion for creating one of a kind, world-class international dishes is a rare treat in the northwest, let alone rural Stevens County.

 Born on a small island in Greece, Peter left his native land as a teenager and learned to cook on a resort island in the Bahamas as a young man. Training as a chef on cruise ships and in high-end hotels around the world, Peter picked up cooking skills from some of the greatest five-star chefs in the world, preparing all types of international foods. Eventually landing in Alaska, Peter worked at a restaurant in Anchorage for a while before he headed south to California, where he met his wife to be, Cherryl. They were married in 1977 and returned to Greece briefly where their first son Vagalie was born. A few more years of moving, cooking and a couple more babies, and the Karatzas stopped in Colville to visit Cherryl’s brother.

  Before long, they had moved to Stevens County, and after a little bit of encouragement from local fans, they opened Café Italiano to an immediate cult following. After 5 years, the business needed room to grow, and Peter and Cherryl turned down offers in Spokane and more urban areas to build their own restaurant in downtown Colville. The stuccoed building with Mediterranean archways and a breathtaking patio was home to Café Italiano until the family decided to test the waters in Spokane after much urging. The Café on the south hill did all right, receiving top reviews on Urban Spoon and several local awards, but the Karatzas missed their friends and neighbors from Colville, many of who came down to visit them in Spokane at their new location. One busy dinnertime, Peter recalls a local businessman who had been offering to franchise Café Italiano all over the United States. Peter had insisted that he wanted to stay small, and maybe go back home to Colville, and on the night in question, there were seven different families in the south hill location of Café Italiano who had travelled from the Colville area for Peter’s cooking. The big-city businessman conceded his loss and asked Peter what he was still doing in Spokane. Shortly afterward, Peter and Cherryl made their move back to Colville.

 Café Italiano was re-opened in February of 2015 in downtown Colville and the response was immediately overwhelming. “It’s a madhouse! Crazy! I’m too old for this!” Peter jokes about the busy restaurant. In the same breath he says how grateful he is to be home. “I love Colville,” he says. “I want to leave my bones here.” The new location, at 153 West 2^nd Avenue, is just a half a block off Main Street. The cozy setting is like stepping out of Stevens County into a little Italian eatery - easy to imagine a gondolier sailing by with a love song. The patrons coming into the café recognize Peter and he greets them all by name or with a pat on the shoulder. Café Italiano is definitely a family affair – Cherryl plays hostess and keeps the dining room flowing smoothly during mealtime rushes and their youngest son, Telly, helps prepare in the kitchen what is easily argued “the finest food in the world.” According to Peter, the dishes he prepares are “all one of a kind recipes.” He considers cooking his passion, and the love affair that he started so long ago has only expanded. Using exotic, world-class ingredients, including wild boar, fresh seafood, Greek saffron, and delectable international wines, nothing but the best will do for Peter’s recipes. “Colville is special. I am going to help keep it special.” He smiles.

The Karatzas love Colville, and Colville loves Café Italiano. Peter calls the café his life’s work, and is dedicated to making his customers happy. “I want all of our lives to be a little better,” he says, “I want to make your eyes roll back in your head from happiness.” And it’s a goal he isn’t far from achieving. With fantastic and creative poultry, veal and seafood dishes, always-surprising daily specials and of course, to-die-for pizza, Peter’s cooking brings about all the happiness you can handle in one sitting. “I have dedicated my whole life to this craft – it’s world class cooking, and I know – I’ve been all over the world.” For those of us who rarely make it out of Stevens County, it’s not hard to believe, but even local globe trotters have come back to Peter to let him know that his cooking stood the test of small Greek Delis, Italian Bistros and gourmet French Restaurants. For the Karatzas and their little café, it’s about a lot more than running a business. Coming back to friends and family in Colville is a move that the whole family is happy about. Cooking for the people that he cares about most is where Peter wants to stay. “There’s a pride in it,” according to Peter, “with no dollar value” that can be placed on the contentment of his customers. It’s about bringing joy to their community, and like Peter says: “This is beyond food. It’s an experience.”