After Jules Patry visited a brick oven pizzeria in Portland with a friend years ago, the friend half jokingly suggested Patry should open one in the Bates Mill.

Patry took the joke to heart and in 1996 opened the doors to DaVinci’s Eatery at 35 Canal St. in Lewiston, the first restaurant and one of the first retail businesses making a home in the Bates Mill complex.

The restaurant quickly became a favorite destination where friends and families alike came to enjoy Italian-American food and, not too long after opening, its signature garlic knots.

In 2007, Patry moved DaVinci’s to its current and larger location in the Bates Mill complex at the corner of Chestnut and Mill streets, enhancing its popularity. As with its original home, the exposed brickwork and wooden beams of the former Bates Mill gave patrons a unique dining experience.

With the move came the opportunity to offer patrons more room, outdoor dining, banquet facilities and more parking. The mill space is multifaceted, now housing DaVinci’s Eatery, its Storehouse Cafe, the pub 150 Mill, and its newest business adventure — a catering company.

“We have always catered to some extent, either on-premise in our function room, delivering to local businesses for lunch, or the occasional off-premise event,” said Cory Courtois, DaVinci’s marketing manager.

Courtois says that until recently, however, there was no focus on marketing and expanding the catering end of the business. “Last year’s hiring of a full-time marketing manager and additional experienced kitchen staff members, coupled with investments in technology, make now the perfect time to expand those operations.”

Although DaVinci’s is traditionally known for classic American-Italian fare, the explosion of food media over the years has increased the public’s desire and interest to try and experience new foods and cuisines, and DaVinci’s has responded, Courtois said.

“Because of the ever-changing interests, our menu has to constantly evolve or we’ll end up behind the culinary curve,” said Courtois.

Many of the restaurant’s most cherished menu items — including chicken parmigiana, Renaissance lasagna, its homemade alfredo sauce, its well-known and extensive dessert menu, and, of course, its garlic knots — continue to stand the test of time.

But the restaurant has also become known for taking predictable basics like pasta, seafood and beef, and transforming them into chic alternative entrees, such as sun-dried tomato and mushroom fettuccine, lobster mac n’ cheese, baked haddock with seafood cream sauce and herb-crusted prime rib.

Kitchen Manager Monica Nugent is the brains and engine wheel when it comes to creating new menu items. Nugent has been with DaVinci’s since Canal Street. “I feel some people are born with a love for good food, so when you cook it comes from your soul,” she said.

In the kitchen, Nugent said she is constantly working on balancing flavors and textures to create something that will leave her customers satisfied, such as her Baxter mussels. For this dish, she blends local favorite Baxter Brewing Co.’s pale ale with garlic, tomato, fresh basil and wild Maine mussels.

When deciding on new menu items, she will sometimes throw tradition to the wind and create dishes with little or no tie to Italian fare. “With every new menu addition and change, one thing will never change: We will always be DaVinci’s Eatery,” said Nugent.

Nugent’s favorite DaVinci’s offering? Pizza, for both taste and sentimental reasons. She says there is something about DaVinci’s New York-style crust — thin, crispy — that she feels goes well with any topping. In addition, pizza provides her with one of her favorite memories from the Canal Street location. “I used to start up the wood-fired brick oven. . . . I miss doing that, but we don’t miss going through 20 cords of wood a year!”

As the kitchen manager, Nugent will be overseeing kitchen operations for the new catering business. She said she hopes to bring DaVinci’s popular tastes and style to gatherings, corporate meetings and weddings.

Courtois agreed, adding, “Catering is an extension of what is already being done, and loved by our patrons.”

DaVinci’s Baxter mussels

1 pound wild Maine mussels

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 diced Roma tomato

1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

2 fluid ounces Baxter Brewing Pamola Xtra Pale Ale

Saute mussels, garlic, tomato and basil in butter until garlic is slightly golden in color. Add Baxter Pale Ale, cover and steam until mussels have opened. Discard unopened mussels and serve hot.

Serves 2.

DaVinci’s Eatery

150 Mill St., Lewiston

Phone: 782-2088

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday – Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday – Saturday

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