If he won the #DECAGems prize, Gerrard Spaghetti and Pizza‘s Vito would freshen up the joint. He’d redo the facade. Oh, and open up the front with big sliding doors, so people eating pizza could spill right out onto the sidewalk…. Lots of people have nominated Gerrard Pizza as a #DecaGem. That’s got Vito and his family very excited. They’ve put up signs all over their restaurant, located just west of Coxwell at 1528 Danforth. We visited this week to find out more about the place. It turns out to be a true family business. First, Vito’s great-uncle opened it in 1967. Back then, it was on Gerrard near Woodfield. In 1972, Vito’s dad Guissepe took it over. It moved here in 1976. Back then, there was a large Robertson Motors across the street, with about 100 employees — so the place was hopping, particularly on Saturday nights. Crossroads Tavern was thriving too. (Can you imagine?)  The local neighborhood was filled with Sicilians — many from the small town called Pachino. (I found it on a map. Here it is.) “It was like half the town transplanted itself here,” Vito says. Robertson Motors shut down, so did Crossroads, and most of the Pachino-transplants have retransplanted elsewhere  — making Gerrard Pizza a lot emptier than it was back then. But the Greco family is still running the place — Guiseppe and his wife Nancy run the kitchen, Vito serves customers, and his two sons, sister Elenor and nephew all help out on weekends. Kelly Food Mark is another family-run business. Owners Johnny and Ivy are high school sweethearts from Hong Kong.  Johhny came to Canada first, and then sponsored Ivy to come. Her brother-in-law owns the building at 1942 Danforth. He couldn’t find any tenants to rent it out ten years ago, so Johnny got it almost by default at a reduced rent and opened a fruit and vegetable store. At the time, his daughter Kelly was just three months old — hence the name. “The first year, I was so scared. There were no people walking on the street. No customers,” he says. “Now, there are more people walking because there are more businesses on the street.” What would he do with the #DECAgems prize? “I need a new sign,” he says. “The guy who did it, he made a mistake.” There is no Mark in the family. It was supposed to say: MART.

What about Face to Face Games, the gaming store and cafe that opened above the Pizza Pizza (2077a Danforth) at the end of last summer? It’s been nominated too. Owner Kelly Ackerman and general manager Anthony Cameron told DECA member Stephanie Nakitsas what they’d do with the prize, should they win. She caught it on video for you, here:  https://youtu.be/Im3Ktgovi9E

There’s just one week left to nominate your favorite local businesses for the DECA Hidden Gems competition. On May 7, the final four will be chosen — based on popularity, merit and need. So, keep nominating — even if your favorite spot has already had a shout-out! We are listening. To date, more than 80 businesses have received nominations. That’s huge.

In the run up to the final four, we decided to highlight some popular nominees for you — just to share the love. We even went to visit them all in our mission for information. This write-up comes from our friend and fellow #DECAgems organizer Niamh Hill:

Did you know El Sol (1448 Danforth) is both a North Mexican restaurant and a gallery?

Before owner Yolanda Paez started working in the kitchen, she studied art in Mexico.

That’s why there’s art on the walls, weighing down the shelves and even covering the ceilings. (All of it is for sale too — check out the  sun (sol) figurines, Mexican glass collections and  sombreros in the back that curious guests are encouraged to try on along with maracas. Ole!)

Even when cooking up some delicious soft or hard tacos, empanadas or guacamole, Yolanda always has art on her mind. She laughs as she thinks about cooking in the kitchen and creating a poem in her head at the same time.

‘I’ve seen children grow up’ she says as she describes her 19 years operating on the Danforth. ‘They come in with their parents when they’re little, and then they come in on their own.’

She runs the gallery/restaurant with her brother Gonzalo. 

The ingredients the family uses are mostly imported from Mexico (locally when it’s not the middle of winter!) and the meals are always prepared fresh and entirely from scratch. Each year Yolanda goes back to Mexico for two weeks and purchases the spices, heading straight to the  market in Mexico City from the airport.

As soon as the weather is warm enough Yolanda wants to start hosting gallery nights on Monday evenings to showcase Mexican art and music. Along with drinks they plan on serving up a special menu of finger foods for visitors. She’s especially excited to open up the patio this summer and to paint the fence a new color, perhaps blue or yellow – she can’t decide.

What would Yolanda do to El Sol if she wins the #DECAgems competition? Marketing. Right now, they rely mostly on word-of-mouth. El Sol has a website, but between the gallery and kitchen, Yolanda can’t find time to update it.

Our #DECAgems competition has been on for 1.5 weeks now. (If this is strangely the first you’ve heard about it, click here.)

The best thing about it, for me, is learning about places I’ve passed in our neighborhood, but never been into– for whatever reason.

We humans are funny. We settle into our habits fast.

I’ve also loved getting to know about some of people inside those places — the stories neighbors tell about them, the stories they tell themselves.

Take New Era Pharmacy. This place is right around the corner from my house. I remember when Monica painted the beautiful mural on its side. I started going there when I heard they delivered prescriptions to your door, and by God, they do! For free!

It has been nominated as a #DECAgem, so one of our volunteers Laurie Smith went in there to poke around.

She reports: “New Era Pharmacy is a family-run business at the south-west corner of Danforth and Cedarvale.

The name and strategy seems to have worked — Badi and Anis do no advertising, and have no website, and get their clients through word of mouth alone.

Biggest change Badi has seen over the past 10 years?  “There used to be people just hanging around the corners.  Now there are more families, people with strollers and dogs.  It’s a nice change.”

There are ten more days to nominate your favorite hidden gem in the hood. So, keep spreading the love. You can nominate it on Facebook (DanforthEastCommunityAssociation), Twitter (@decadiaries using the hashtag #DECAgems) or by e-mail at DECAgems@gmail.com.