The Fizz #24: Danielle Pattavina is creating queer spaces for wine lovers of all kinds
Danielle is a restaurant person's restaurant person. We talk about their industry history, how they envision growth, & how their values play into their work at Seaweed's.
For the 24th issue of The Fizz, I spoke to Danielle Pattavina, owner of Seaweed’s restaurant & wine bar on Martha’s Vineyard, and soon-to-be Momma’s Grocery and Wine in Cambridge, MA. Danielle has been in the industry for 20 years and has a progressive and important view on running a business. Danielle is part of the LGBTQ+ community, has a deep connection with their values and identity, and uses that connection to create a space they’d like to see in the wine business.
They’re a restaurant person’s restaurant person, and in this interview we spoke about what it meant to own a queer business, their dreams for co-operative business model, and how wine can reflect the values they try to live by. I’m constantly inspired by this hardworking, down to earth, and passionate person, and I’m excited to see their influence grow on our wine world.
Margot: You’ve been in the restaurant industry for quite a while. Can you give me a sense of that history?
Danielle: I usually say I’ve been in the industry for a casual 20 years. I’m 37 and my second job was in a restaurant. I waited tables at 16 this and before that I was working for a lobster pound in the kitchen. This was when you could smoke in the kitchen. I moved to NYC when I was 19 and worked in restaurants right away and loved it. I’ve always loved food and talking about food—it was a connection I had to my family. There’s this classic thing of “I’m only going to work in restaurants to put myself through school”. You feel like you can’t actually choose restaurants for a career because everyone asks you what your real career will be or what else you’re doing. I tried other things and ended up not liking them. At some point I decided—it’s restaurants. I want to be in restaurants.
I moved away to the Cape and was here in Martha’s Vineyard for a number of years. I moved to Cambridge to try and open a restaurant and just could not find a space. There’s only new construction and giant places—there’s never that cute little inexpensive spot in a well-kept business. So, I went back to Martha’s Vineyard and opened a restaurant during a pandemic. Now it’s the wine bar we kind of set up for it to be.
M: What fueled the opening of Seaweed’s for you?
D: The Vineyard is a familiar spot for me, I’ve worked out here for years. There was no movement in Cambridge for me—deals fell through, I’d get close to signing a lease and something would happen. The landlord would go with someone else, for example. It seemed like a solid decision to go back. I have a community out here, the food and farmers are incredible. There are queer farmers out here, non-white farmers out here. It’s a little utopic—I mean, it’s not what it could be still, but it’s enough for me to get engaged and excited about what’s going on here. There are people doing cool things here.
There’s no wine, really. Most things you get here are white tablecloth, filet mignon or shrimp from who-knows-where. There’s no-one really working with the kind of wine we’re featuring. There are a lot of folks willing to try and travel here for the summer—it’s pretty appealing to have a seasonal job. This year, our team is just so incredible—curious, professional, serious but know how to have fun, culturally conscious. It’s cool.
M: How do you choose which producers you work with?
D: I’m not just yet where I want to be with our list, but there is a balance. I’m really excited about working with people—Sophie from Violette, for example. She’s amazing and I love the way she’s running the business with her father. I work with her and trust her to do her research around which producers are in her portfolio. Of course, I do my own research on her producers, and other distributors I work with. I love our reps from Carolina and Olmstead. I try to keep a balance of what people want to drink. It has to be delicious, I try to only have producers where there’s a way to find out who they are, what they’re doing in the vineyard and winery, how they treat their employees.
My business model is one where waiters start at $15/hour—that’s almost $10 more than the going wage for servers. It’s a huge hit for the budget, but I want to work with people who care about the world around them. For example, no body talk is allowed in our restaurant—it’s in our employment contract. I want to pay people living wages and give them as many benefits as I can. I think that our wine list is kind of reflective of that. It would be disappointing if I discovered something about any of the producers we have on the list, but their wine would have to come off the list. I’m not a fan of cancel culture—people can make mistakes and change. It’s not “oh these people fucked up we’re not working with them again”, but I try to be aware of those things.
M: You’re trying to curate a list that reflects your values, and is exciting for both folks who are local and those just passing through.
D: Exactly. We’re the only queer restaurant/bar on Martha’s Vineyard, and I’m not sure there has been one before. It says that it’s a queer space on the front of our menu. The wine list is one that shows our point of view. It could be a bit esoteric, but that’s the fun of it. I hope people will trust us and leave feeling transformed. It’s a unique space on the Vineyard.
M: How does your team work with the wine? Do folks order together?
D: Seasonal restaurants are difficult—folks might work for a month, two months, whatever. We’re working with a lot of different schedules. That said, everyone is invited to taste with every rep that comes through. We have a stewarding program where pretty much the whole list is available. Folks buy the wines at cost, enjoy them, and share a little bit about them. We talk about all the wines. I give our employees our SevenFifty login so they can choose wines for us to order. It’s a very varied list—we can throw anything on there. We have price sensitive wines and more expensive wines. Anything can fit.
We have folks who are new to wine and learning—they may not be choosing wines from the list, but they’re taking advantage of stewarding and learning about the wines. During family meal, we can open pretty much anything on the list and anything goes as a tasting note, there’s no judgement. My hope would be that at some point in the future, people would be participating a lot more. I think it will come, but with a seasonal restaurant it can be tricky.
M: What does it mean to be a queer space?
D: It’s a safe space. We had some folks in here the other day and they told the server that they were trans and felt really good in the space. I was just so happy to hear that and to know that folks feel safe. We’re trying to defy the rules and try it a different way. Sometimes you make mistakes, and that sucks, but at least we tried. We have a policy around customers making feel anyone uncomfortable, they have to leave. If someone says anything homophobic, for example, they’re gone. There’s no three strikes and you’re out. No body talk—bodies are not up for discussion. Just leave it outside. Everything that makes folks feel safe is what makes a space queer. Also, we play disco [laughs].
M: You’re opening a new space in Cambridge called Momma’s. Why did you choose to open that?
D: Full disclosure, it’s less than a block from my house [laughs]. I can see it from the couch. It will be a queer space. It’s a cute space that has been a convenience store for like one hundred years. People are attached to it and the neighborhood loves it. I feel like a steward of the space—I’m cleaning it up, securing the windows. To be honest, working all of these years in the food industry, my body hurts a lot. An eight hour shift is really hard—at Seaweed’s we try to cap out at 7 hours and 32 hours is a full week. If I can work sitting on a stool, that’ll be really great. I have some co-op dreams for building a co-operatively owned business, and this convenience/wine store could be that. That’s really interesting to me—a way to collaborate with work and build something stronger.
M: That’s really exciting.
D: I’m really excited about it too! [sigh] Sometimes people ask me “how are you going to open a convenience store after you’ve opened a restaurant?” It kind of drives me crazy. Would you ask me that if I were a cis white man? What do you think I can’t do? I don’t know where that falls, but it’s incredibly frustrating.
M: I definitely know that feeling. Hello, I’m a capable human being!
D: [laughs] Yes exactly.
M: How does wine play into the story of Momma’s?
D: When I was going for the beer and wine license, I sent a letter out to folks in the neighborhood and asked them to reach out with thoughts. I got a lot of emails from people who said they wanted to be able to buy wine there. That ask was just everywhere. I’m excited to build a space where we can showcase wine that was made by real people—I can pull out my phone and say “this is your winemaker! She’s the one who does everything, literally glues the labels on”. There’s still a lot of mystery around wine, which feels ridiculous. A lot of people gatekeep wine. It’s just grapes! I think it’s cool to break down that barrier. Let me just sell you some wine and see if you like it.
Our restaurant sources as much food as we can from the island, and we love being able to tell our guests their stories. Being able to know the story behind wine and get people excited about it, it’s just a really cool thing and it’s hard to find.
M: How will Momma’s be different from your average convenience store?
D: Natural wine is kind of a problematic term for me, but it can at least put a giant circle around non-conventional wine. We’ll just by glance have a unique selection from other convenience stores. It’s definitely more of a wine store with a convenience store attached.
During the pandemic, a lot of industry people decided that they’re done with restaurants but still want to work tangentially. Maybe I’ll find those people and we can work together with a co-operative model. Having people working who are invested, and who know about the product will be inherently different than going to a convenience store and having to choose from a sea of wine with no information. That’s a huge goal for me.
M: As someone who has been in restaurants for 20 years, where do you hope to see the restaurant and wine industry moving forward?
D: More people making wine is a good thing. I’d love to see more queer people, Black people, Indigenous people making wine. The natural wine bubble can really help shine a light on different people because it does have this type of no-rules attitude. It’s not easy. People still need to have access to land, money, grapes, facilities. I’d love to see more wine collectives and co-operatives. People are doing cool things around this now—Wine Unify is a cool program for sommeliers. We need to do better at creating a pathway for people. Wine can be for anyone. Bringing vulnerability and forgiveness into this space is important to me as well. As a queer space with serious wine and serious food, I hope to say that we’re doing that and that we’re creating access.
M: Thanks for your time. I can’t wait to make it out to Seaweed’s this summer!
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You can support Danielle by following them on Instagram at Seaweed’s and Momma’s. Momma’s is soon to open, but Seaweed’s is ready for you—book a reservation here.
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I love mommas and came here specifically to fangirl !! Great interview 🖤🖤
On my way next week. Only thing missing in MV was Queer food and drink. Thank you Danielle!