Husband and wife restaurateurs honor family in everything, including the menu

Building and honoring family are important elements in the careers of chef Marco DeCotiis and his wife, Donnamarie, owners of Noir Restaurant & Bar in South Philadelphia since 2012 and Speranza Ristorante & Bar in Westville, N.J., since
last fall.

The first two family ties: Marco grew up in Montreal and moved to Philadelphia in 1999 at age 21 for what was supposed to be a summer cooking at LaStanza, his brother Frank’s now-closed restaurant. Donnamarie was working the front of house, and it was “love at first sight,” he recalled. “Just magical.” They wined and dined while he did research as a new chef. They married in 2017.

Two more: “What I love is that all my staff has been with us [at Noir] from the very beginning, and they became like a family,” Marco said. “They go out to dinner once a month and are very, very close.” They’re trying to re-create Noir’s family-friendly ambiance at Speranza, partly by moving some staff and partly by how they renovated the place, formerly Speranza Wood-Fired Italian Kitchen.

And then there are family names on the menus, including the spaghetti with clams named for Johanna, Donnamarie’s mother; the tonnarelli with seafood, named for Raffaela, Marco’s mother; the prosciutto sandwich and cocktail named for Donnamarie; the two cocktails named for Marco; and the pizzas named after their cat and their dog, Lola and Remi.

Marco’s parents immigrated to Canada from Panni, a village of not quite 700 in Apulia, and he grew up speaking Italian. The heritage for Donnamarie (née Motto) goes back to Calabria and Naples. Both are applying for Italian citizenship. In August, they plan to visit Italy for the first time together, enjoying family time, seeing the sites and perhaps developing a distribution deal for Easter breads and panettone with cousins of Marco who own a bakery.

“The whole Italian culture is just fabulous,” Marco said. “I didn’t appreciate it when I was growing up because I didn’t know any better, but now it’s just ‘wow!’ I wish I could sustain that culture.”

They had to cancel plans to visit Italy in 2023 after Marco had another in a series of surgeries to deal with a foot ulcer tied to his diabetes. “I’ve had diabetes since I was about 21, but I ignored it for 20 years, working long hours, sometimes six or seven days a week. But now, 20 years later, everything just broke down all at once,” he said. Although his doctor recommended a career change, he’s chosen instead to wear special boots as he works in the kitchen and takes breaks.

In their little free time, they like to dine out and also root for their favorite teams: the Montreal Canadiens and the Washington Nationals – formerly the Montreal Expos – for Marco and the Philadelphia Flyers and Phillies for Donnamarie. “I’m a Philly girl through and through,” she said.

Marco also likes to read cookbooks and watch cooking shows on TV. Donnamarie enjoys going out with her girlfriends, some dating back to St. Monica’s Catholic School in South Philadelphia.

Noir began as a gastropub, but as Marco felt more comfortable crafting dishes that he grew up with, the menu became “more true to ourselves,” meaning mostly Italian. Plus, there’s a Canadian accent, most notably with Montreal smoked meat (a brisket smoked in-house), a Montreal smash burger (yes, they’re smashed, with a spatula on the grill) and poutine (a mélange born in rural Quebec of fries, cheese curds and brown gravy).

About 70 percent of menu items are the same, but the much larger kitchen at Speranza allows them to make fresh pasta, feature pizza every day and serve as a commissary kitchen. The two restaurants are 4.8 miles apart, just 12 minutes in no traffic. Speranza has also boldly started offering milkshakes evoking the flavors of cannoli and tiramisù, with distilled spirits available as mixers.

At their South Philadelphia home, Donnamarie’s specialties include stuffed artichokes, spare ribs with bresaola on Sundays (“our red-sauce day,” Marco said), escarole soup and lots of delicious, nutritious vegetables. And Marco’s specialties there? “I’m not allowed to cook at home,” he said. “My wife does not allow me to dirty up her kitchen.”

Noir is 1909 E. Passyunk Ave., Philadelphia, and Speranza is at 158 Broadway, Westville. Details: www.noirrestaurantandbar.com and https://speranzaristorante.com.