Bruno Serato and the Plate of Pasta That Became Caterina's Club

Bruno Serato grew up in San Bonifacio, near Verona, Italy. He came to the United States with very little money, about $200 according to news accounts, and worked his way up through restaurant jobs from the bottom, with reports describing his start as a dishwasher or busboy.

In 1987 he took over the Anaheim White House, a restaurant housed in a 1909 building modeled on the White House in Washington and recognized as a historic landmark. Over the years it became a well known Italian steakhouse in Orange County, and Serato became its public face as chef and owner.

In 2005 Serato and his mother, Caterina, stopped by the Boys and Girls Club of Anaheim, not far from the restaurant. There they noticed a boy eating a bag of potato chips as his dinner.

Serato learned that many children at the club were what local workers called motel kids. Their families lived in budget motels because they could not gather the deposits and credit history needed to rent an apartment, even though many of the parents worked. Caterina's response, as her son has retold it, was simple: why not make the boy some pasta?

Serato did not wait for a program or a grant. He began cooking pasta in his own restaurant kitchen and delivering it to the club, feeding roughly 70 children five nights a week. The work took its name from the woman who prompted it: Caterina's Club.

It was a restaurant owner using the tools already in front of him, a kitchen, a staff, and the skill of making a hot meal for a crowd.

The work was not free, and it did not always come at a convenient time. During the recession that began in 2008, restaurant business fell, and Serato has been reported to have taken out a second mortgage to keep the meals going.

In February 2017 an early morning fire gutted the Anaheim White House. Investigators later ruled it accidental. About 60 employees lost their jobs for a time, and the building needed major rebuilding. Serato's first concern, as his staff described it, was how the children would eat that Monday. Two days after the fire he was serving pasta to Boys and Girls Club children at the Highway 39 Event Center, his catering venue, and other local kitchens, including Christ Cathedral's, were lent to keep the meals going. A fundraising campaign helped with rebuilding and with support for displaced staff. The restaurant reopened in April 2018.

Caterina's Club grew far beyond one kitchen. It now reports serving more than 5,000 children a meal each day at over 100 sites in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, and more than 11 million meals in total.

The organization also moved toward the deeper problem the motel kids faced. Its Welcome Home program helps motel families move into permanent housing, and it reports relocating about 280 families. Its Hospitality Academy trains teenagers for jobs in the restaurant and hospitality industry. Serato was named a CNN Hero in 2011, received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and was knighted by the Italian government. He continues to run the restaurant and the charity.