Brothers Luis and Johnson Rivas, owners of Cafe Mulino, recently added gourmet pizzas to their assortment of Italian cuisine.
Cafe Mulino in Ewing creates gourmet pizzas from fresh ingredients.
When the Rivas brothers — Luis and Johnson — opened Cafe Mulino, an Italian restaurant on Bear Tavern Road, in late 2008, they had no idea of the tough road that would lie ahead due to an economic climate that has been especially bad for restaurants.
Since opening, they have battled the slow economy by attracting customers with a menu featuring homemade pastas and deserts, southern and northern Italian cuisine, and fare that’s cooked from scratch using only the freshest ingredients.
In addition, about a year ago, the restaurant began offering gourmet pizza, featuring fresh ingredients and an assortment of toppings that customers won’t see at a run-of-the-mill pizza place, explains Luis, the older of the two brothers, who primarily runs the front of the house and business end of the restaurant.
“For example, we offer jalapeno pizza,” he said. “It’s very simple, just arugula, jalapenos and some cheese, but it’s something you don’t see at other pizza places. People really love it.”
Johnson, a long-time chef whose domain at Cafe Mulino is the kitchen, says he and his brother work together to craft the menu, experimenting with different combinations of ingredients in order to come up with tasty and unique fare.
“We just put things together and see how people like it,” Johnson said. “The economy is not the greatest, so you have to be different and unique. And we do that with all our food.”
“The bottom line is that we try to be very simple, using the best ingredients, and not using too many spices,”said Johnson. “People should be able to taste the main ingredient in the dish. Sometimes all you have to do is just use salt and pepper. Sometimes less is more.”
The philosophy guiding the food at Cafe Mulino is one that the brothers conceived as a result of many years of experience in the food industry.
Luis, 52, and Johnson, 47, were born in Ecuador in a small town in the Andes mountains. Their father worked as a cook in a hospital and was also involved in politics, and their mother was a businesswoman who owned a small deli and then a hardware store. The couple eventually sold the business and moved to the United States.
While in Ecuador, Luis earned a degree in industrial engineering and then came to the U.S. in 1988 planning to continue his studies. Instead, he wound up working with his four brothers, including Johnson, in the food business.
“When I came here, my brothers were working in Italian restaurants in New York City, and I went to work with them,” Luis said.
Johnson, meanwhile, came to the U.S. when he was 17 to work with his oldest brother at a restaurant in New York City. He started as a busboy and then a server, eventually making the transition to cook after a veteran Italian chef, a man in his 70s, took him under his wing.
After spending a few years in the U.S., Johnson went back to Ecuador, married, and then returned here with his wife in 1987 when he was 21.
There was not a lot of work in New York, Johnson explains, so he found a job as a cook at Francesco’s Italian restaurant in Chambersburg, a hot spot for Italian restaurants at the time. After working there for about six months, Johnson replaced the chef, who had left. He continued to work at Francesco’s until 1994, when the business was sold.
To this day though, former customers of Francesco’s remember Johnson as the chef there and frequent Cafe Mulino, where they will request that Johnson prepare their favorite meals from the former restaurant.
After Francesco’s, Johnson worked as a chef in a number of Italian restaurants in the area, and in 2001 visited Italy on a sort of working vacation.
“I had a chance to visit different restaurants, go into their kitchens and watch and learn how they do things. It was a great experience,” said Johnson.
The two brothers were involved with a third partner in owning a restaurant in Lawrenceville, which they don’t want to name, until they decided to sell their portion of the business and start another restaurant.
The brothers opened Cafe Mulino in late 2008 — unfortunately just in time for the economic downturn. The recession meant a whole new way of doing business for the brothers.
While each has his own area of expertise, they also both do each others jobs, as well as fill in at other positions, such as server and bartender. Both brothers also work at the pizza station because the restaurant doesn’t have a pizza cook.
“We both do a little bit of everything,” said Johnson.
Johnson said the brothers started selling pizza — available for eat-in and take-out — last year hoping to attract more customers.
“We were only fine dining, and the economy crashed,” said Johnson, explaining that because of the the tough economy customers came less frequently, sometime only limiting themselves to only special occasions.
“We got into the pizza business to help the restaurant survive,” said Luis, adding that they came up with a special pizza sauce and methods for cooking it that are different from many other restaurants.
For example, they use fresh parmesan and homemade mozzarella that is finely chopped and added to the pie after the pizza is done cooking. “When you put the cheese on the pizza and cook it in the oven, it makes it like rubber,” said Luis.
“We have (native) Italian customers and they go crazy for the pizza,” said Johnson. “They says it’s like they can get over in Italy.”
He adds that many Italian old-timers like coming to the restaurant because he knows how to make authentic Italian dishes, even ones that aren’t on the menu.
“We want our customers to be very happy,” said Luis. “Money is important, but what even more important is that customers are happy with what we do.”
Cafe Mulino is located at 938 Bear Tavern Road in Ewing. For more information call 609-883-5100.
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