At Ristorante Marzitelli on Elgin Street, whoever shows up for New Year’s Eve Friday night and sticks it out till the end will indulge in a bit of make-believe.
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Last year, when the pandemic brought its hammer down on veteran Ottawa restaurateur Richard Valente’s businesses, he realized he had to switch to Plan C as in cannabis as quickly as he could.
The owner of Fratelli Kanata and Roberto Pizza on Preston Street knew he would one day open a marijuana shop. The ambition just didn’t seem as urgent until the novel coronavirus turned everything upside down.
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“We weren’t planning to open (the cannabis store). We were just going to sit on the licence,” Valente says. “We weren’t thinking about it (opening) until the pandemic hit.”