Photos by Irene Yimmongkol
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Stefano Quaresima has a simple goal for his customers in the cafe that he’s opening at the heart of Fields Corner: “I want them to feel like this is a small corner of Italy and France.”
Quaresima, who owns Via Cannuccia several blocks south on Dorchester Avenue, plans to open Bottega Cannuccia in the former space of Home.stead Cafe by January. It will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week and operate in three phases – morning, midday and evening – to reflect the chef-owner’s upbringing in Rome and Paris.
Early mornings will focus on Italian breakfast goods, including breakfast-style pizza, and an Italian coffee brand, Caffè Kenon. Midday, the cafe will shift to a tea program using Mariage Frères – gourmet tea imported from Paris – including sweet and savory pastries. At night, it will turn into a wine bar with small plates and charcuterie.
Quaresima said he aims to have a cozy atmosphere with outdoor seating, greenery and a large display of fresh bread. In the 30-seat cafe, he said, he wants locals to be able to sit, read and work, to mirror what he saw in his youth. He added, “I had the old man outside eating [with] a little cigarette, a small coffee, and spent one hour playing cards with another friend and reading the news and gossiping around the city…my youth.”
The restaurant’s name pays tribute to Via della Cannuccia, the street in the coastal Italian town of Anzio where Quaresima grew up. During that time, he spent summers in Paris visiting his mother’s side of the family. Eating food in Rome and Paris igniting his passion for cooking.
In 2013, he moved to the United States, believing it offered a “better way to learn about food,” with different cuisines on every block. He eventually became the executive chef at Petit Robert Bistro in Boston’s South End and later attended the San Francisco Baking Institute aiming to perfect his profession.
He opened Via Cannuccia in April 2023 and later sought a second space to meet growing weekend demand for his pastries and also showcase his artisanal baking.
Quaresima said he wants his new cafe to “attract every kind of clientele,” using only authentic ingredients – Italian and French flours and butter – while still matching local prices. “My philosophy of a good cuisine is simplicity,” he said. “Simplicity, good food, not taking shortcuts, of course, and make it as tasty as possible.”
His landlord, the developer and Dorchester resident Travis Lee, said he wanted to maintain the “vibrant community-oriented space” that Home.stead provided. He envisions that the new cafe will serve Dorchester residents and also attract people from across Boston.
The neighborhood has limited late evening activities, with many businesses closing after 5 p.m., which pushes people away from Dorchester, Lee said. He said he believes Bottega Cannuccia will help fill the gap, creating a “positive atmosphere” in the evenings.
“There’s nothing in my mind that brings people from different backgrounds, languages, cultures, together like food,” Lee said. “We could bring together an intersection of cultures and peoples from the neighborhood.”
Stefano Quaresima. Photos by Irene Yimmongkol
Lin Flores, events coordinator for Just Bookish – the bookstore across the street from the cafe – said thatHome.stead left a “legacy” in the neighborhood reflecting Dorchester’s close-knit bond and creating a “warm,” familial space for locals. “There’s just a lot of life happening here, but when people think of this neighborhood, they don’t even think Dorchester is part of Boston,” she said.
Quaresima’s concept fits into the needs of the neighborhood, said Jackey West Devine, executive director of Fields Corner Main Street, one of 20 Main Street organizations established by the city to promote neighborhood business districts. As a fifth-generation Bostonian who has lived in Dorchester for more that 10 years, she described the area as one of “the most diverse zip codes in the United States” and a fitting home for Bottega Cannuccia.
Fields Corner is mischaracterized as a “low-income” neighborhood, Devine said. In reality, it features a plethora of backgrounds, and she said the new cafe will help reflect that diversity.
Home.stead transformed the corner into a safe space for locals to hang out, Devine said. “Stefano is going to be able to walk into and transform it into his own place, and that is really terrific,” she said.
For his part, Quaresima wants to be able to “call clients by name,” having locals see his cafe as another home and spot to enjoy Italian and French goods. “It’s in my roots,” he said. “I want to bring joy to people.”
This story is the product of a part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism’s Newsroom program.
