It’s been a rollercoaster of a ride since Cortese’s Italian Restaurant opened for business in downtown Aberdeen two years ago. Fawn Sharp, best known as president of the Quinault Indian Nation, has always been the majority owner in the restaurant, but as of the first of the year, she’s also taken over its management.
When the restaurant first opened, Sharp’s husband, Dan Malvini, was the face of the business, responsible for running the show.
“He is no longer in the picture,” said Sharp.
She took some time and consulted with a large number of experts as to what to do next: she could cut her losses and let the restaurant go, or dive in and make it into the type of restaurant she had envisioned. She chose to go for it.
She wasn’t satisfied with the management that came directly after Malvini.
Enter new executive chef Tena Arceo, who had decades of experience in opening and operating restaurants across the state and beyond. When Arceo returned to this area following the death of a family member, Sharp looked to her to help the restaurant out of its management doldrums.
“I came back here to help with the estate, and decided I was going to open a bed and breakfast,” she said, an idea she abandonded when she quickly realized she loved the privacy of the horse ranch where she lived. “Then I came to work with (Malvini) part time.” That was in November 2016; within a couple of months, Malvini was out of the picture, and Arceo became executive chef and runs the restaurant with Sharp.
“Tena and I share a lot of the same vision, the same traits,” said Sharp. The two went to work to address costs and staffing issues and decided it was time to expand the menu. Fresh handcut steaks were brought on board, and fresh seafood, including blueback salmon and shrimp from Quinault Pride Seafood in Taholah, are seasonal staples. And through her relationship with the Salish and Kootenai Indian Tribes in northwest Montana, Sharp expects to be serving buffalo steaks this fall. Next up? Shotberry pie.
Sharp explained a shotberry is what people outside the Quinault culture call red coastal huckleberries. They are plentiful around the Quinault, very sweet, “and addicting,” said Sharp. “I remember picking them with my grandmother as a kid after school. It was a tradition after Labor Day.” So look for Grandma Alice’s shotberry pie soon.
Interesting sidenote, Grandma Alice is featured in a 1937 Associated Press photo, standing in native garb looking with awe at President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who visited the Quinault area during his northwest trip that year. “I still have the dress she was wearing,” said Sharp, whose great-grandmother crafted the dress.
Sharp and Arceo said the menu will change seasonally and is based on the tastes of local residents. Sharp also said the fact that her young son Daniel comes from both Italian heritage and a Quinault bloodline makes it important to blend the two into what they serve at the restaurant.
The name Cortese’s (pronounced Cor-TEZ-eez) comes from Malvini’s grandmother. When Sharp looked it up, she said the name meant “courteous, kind, and polite,” the kind of atmosphere she strives to provide at the restaurant.
More about Arceo: She was educated at one of the Cordon Bleu Culinary Schools. She has served as the personal chef to elected officials. She and a former husband built the Mazatlan restaurants in Aberdeen, and expanded to include a chain east of the mountains. She was once executive chef at Jake’s at Midnight Star in Deadwood, a restaurant actor Kevin Costner owned until he sold it in 2016.
There are about 15 or so staff members at Cortese’s, and Arceo said they will likely soon expand. Anyone interested in applying for a server position is encouraged to come in to apply. However, they need to understand the type of employee the pair are looking for.
“No drama, no negativity,” said Sharp. Management has come up with a list of about 10 behaviors and actions that will not be tolerated by anyone on the staff.
Recently the restaurant hosted a murder mystery dinner and plans to have another one in October. The first of what Sharp hopes will be a good number of comedy shows was also held recently. She and Arceo also plan to have theme nights; an early choice is based on the movie “Titanic,” something Arceo has done before.
Contact Cortese’s at 360- 637-9380 or look them up on Facebook. The restaurant is located at 212 South I St. in Aberdeen, next to Boomtown Records and across the street from the D&R Theatre. Hours are Tuesday-Thursday 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
