By Peek Hames – Originally published in the 2009 Founder’s Review
Kathryn Funk was born into an Irish/German family in an Italian neighborhood on Long Island, NY, where her love for Italian cuisine began. In 1989, she and her family moved to Belleview. Her first job in Florida was at Nero’s Italian restaurant in the Paddock Mall, Ocala. That is where she met Paul D’Alto. Two short years later, she was asked to move to Gainesville and began managing different Italian restaurants for Mr. D’Alto. While in Gainesville, she became an ardent Gator fan and says some of her best experiences were being able to cater “Family Days” for Jerry and Steve Spurrier and the Gator coaching staff, which also included Bobby Stoops at the time.
She came back to Belleview in 1999 to manage Pasta Faire for Mr. D’Alto and eight years later became the owner/manager. After some extensive remodeling and beautification, she has made Pasta Faire one of the nicest-looking and best family restaurants in our area. She is a very busy lady who continually works on ways to improve her business and create a place that brings people to Belleview. “I want to create a nice destination for people to come and eat,” she said. Chef Ricardo, Mike Geroulis (manager), and Kathy are continually working together as a team to provide consistently good food and service. Besides the popular regular menu, there are also daily specials, as well as steak, chicken, and seafood dinners, and sometimes lobster tails.
As you enter the popular Italian restaurant, you will find Ruffino, the pizza chef, cooking up a variety of items in the only wood-burning oven in the county. Ruffino has been at Pasta Faire since it originally opened in 1991. Besides the bread, pizzas, and calzones he bakes, he also tends to 40 to 45 chickens on the rotisserie grill each day. The restaurant seats 150 people and has 40 employees. There are 27 servers and 13 food preparers who serve over 2500 guests each week.
Always a favorite, the guests are first served with fresh-baked bread, made from scratch. Besides the salads and dinners, other popular items are the two-for-one pizzas on Wednesdays and the all-you-can-eat spaghetti on Thursdays.
Kathy and the Pasta Faire team are involved in the community. This past year they created a celebrity waiter night, which brought in over $1200 each for Shepherd’s Lighthouse and Hospice of Marion County. She was on the beautification committee, was a business partner with Belleview Elementary School, supports coupons for education, and many local events. They are planning a customer appreciation day and have an email address for comments and ideas.
If you could ever get this busy lady to sit and talk, you would find her to be someone with arms outstretched, embracing this area. Not just to have them come to her restaurant and eat, but because she is the salt that helps make good things happen.
