TORRANCE TRIBUNE June 19, 2014 Page 5 TRY OUR ARGENTINIAN EMPANADAS! select from: % OFF! 10 IN STORE PURCHASE ONLY. MINIMUM OF $20 OR MORE. Please Present Coupon to Cashier at either Lomita or Hawthorne Market Locations. TWO LOCATIONS! 25600 Narbonne Ave. (near PCH) hawthorne 12921 S. Prairie Ave. (near W. 129th St.) 310.676-5444 VALENTINO♥ S Pizza, Pasta & More 1 LARGE 16” PIZZA with one topping $1399 Plus Tax. Extra toppings additional cost. No substitutions, please. Please mention coupon when ordering. One per customer. Expires 7/03/14. Continental Gourmet Market Family Business in Empanada Heaven Continental Gourmet Market Founder and Family Patriarch Roberto Mortara (left) is pictured with his daughter-in-law Sandy and son Sergio who now run the day to day operations of the two store locations in Hawthorne and Lomita. Continental Gourmet Market is a destination for shoppers looking for hard-to-find products from Latin American countries such as Argentina, Peru and Guatemala as well as featuring specialty wines, cheeses, fresh-baked breads, cookies and pastries and their signature empanadas. Photo by Charlene Nishimura. lomita 310.530.3213 By Brian Simon In most instances, a successful longstanding business will also offer an interesting backstory— especially if the road to starting out was completely unexpected. Such was the case of Roberto Mortara, who has owned the Continental Gourmet Market in Hawthorne since 1980. A native Italian whose family moved to Argentina when he was a child to escape the ravages of World War II, Roberto eventually moved to the United States to make a better life for himself-- first in New York in the early ‘60s before ultimately settling in Los Angeles because he didn’t like The Big Apple. He chose engineering as his career path and his resume included a stint working on the Concorde SST, the supersonic jet of which only 20 were made. Another gig involved designing a wheelchair and Roberto ended up having an argument about how the rotation should go. “After that, he decided he was never going to work for anyone again,” said Sergio Mortara, Roberto’s son. So did Roberto go on to start his own engineering firm? Not quite. Instead, he bought a pizzeria in Los Angeles on Hobart and 3rd because “the price seemed right.” Realizing he had zero experience in the restaurant business and no crew to boot, he flew back to Argentina and spent a month soaking up every bit of information and advice he could muster from six successful pizzeria owners. The trip proved fruitful. Flash forward five years and Roberto had launched another seven locations. He then opened La Traviata in Hermosa Beach and during this period heard about an opportunity to purchase a rundown little grocery store on Prairie in nearby Hawthorne. Thirty-four years later, Continental Gourmet Market is a community landmark and a destination for shoppers looking for hard-to-find products from Latin American countries such as Argentina, Peru and Guatemala. Now in his eighties, Roberto only works at the store part-time--though he is still very involved with the business. The day-to-day operations of the place now fall under the steady hand of Sergio, who has run Continental Gourmet Market with his wife Sandy since 2004 and taken it to the next level. An eight-year community resident married with two young children, Sergio Mortara was elected to the Hawthorne School Board in 2013. “My son [now three years old and he also has a nine-month-old daughter] will be going to school across the street from us, so I wanted to get a head start,” Sergio explained of his desire to serve. “PTA is wonderful and has some voice, but it’s not the same as being a decision-maker.” At the market, Sergio still runs every decision by his dad—and can usually expect to encounter a roadblock. “He is my worst critic and even after multiple attempts at tweaking a recipe, he still says it needs to be better,” Sergio said. “But that’s actually a good thing.” Though it wasn’t that way in the early years, Roberto eventually transformed Continental Gourmet Market into a destination for specialty and nostalgic products from Central and South America. The deli counter features hard-to-find, labor-intensive delicacies such as Matambra (an Argentinean meatloaf). The butcher section has just about every specialty cut from Argentina you can imagine—from vacio (flap meat) to tiras de asado (three-bone short ribs), Catering Available as well as the popular chorizo and morcilla (blood sausage). “We’re very selective with our meats and only carry choice or prime,” Sergio noted. Pricing is also unusually reasonable considering the quality. For instance, a recent display showed some tempting T-bone steak at just $6.29 a pound. The market also carries an interesting selection of Argentinean and Chilean wines, cheeses, fresh-baked breads, cookies and pastries, plus Peruvian ice cream, among other selections. Of course, one can also shop for “regular” household sundries and groceries as well as fresh produce. As small as the place is, it’s surprisingly well-stocked. But the item that has truly put the market on the map is its signature empanada. A stuffed pastry that is a staple in Argentina, empanadas are made by folding dough around a filling that usually consists of some type of meat, cheese or vegetable. Baked daily on the premises, Continental’s empanadas have earned acclaim across the region with customers as far away as New Jersey—not to mention the Marine son of a Herald Publications sales representative who takes home a box to his Camp Pendleton buddies every Monday. The empanadas even drew the attention of Food Network star Alton Brown, who stopped by in late 2012 to sample the goods for his show. “The empanadas took off in 2010/11 after we decided to focus on them,” Sergio said. “A lot of items we have you can find at other Latin specialty markets, but not empanadas.” While staying mostly true to his dad’s original recipes, Sergio does like to make tweaks to the specific blend of flour and spices and See Family Business, page 9 bakery – imported groceries italy – argentina – mexico – peru & other latin countries BEEF (ONION, OLIVES, EGG, BELL PEPPERS) SPICY BEEF (ONION, BELL PEPPERS, CHILE HABANERO) CHICKEN (ONION, BELL PEPPERS) SPINACH (ONION, MOZZARELLA CHEESE, BECHAMEL SAUCE) POMO (TOMATO, BASIL, MOZZARELLA CHEESE) PEPPERONI (PEPPERONI, MARINARA SAUCE, MOZZARELLA CHEESE) CONTINENTALGOURMETMARKET.COM “A Taste of Brooklyn” EL SEGUNDO 150 S Sepulveda Blvd. 310-426-9494 MANHATTAN BEACH 976 Aviation Blvd. 310-318-5959 Now Open Sundays Ample Seating DELIVERY IN LIMITED AREA AT BOTH LOCATIONS
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