'Boosting Bethel' YouTube Channel A Boon For Eateries

BETHEL, CT — Dino Zaccagno lost his delicatessen in Bethel when the economy crashed in 2008. Of course, that economic collapse was Amateur Night in Dixie compared to how the new coronavirus virus is savaging businesses 12 years later.

Although Zaccagno got out of the food business over a decade ago, he says he still has close ties with a number of the other local restaurant owners. He feels their pain.

"It's heartbreaking," Zaccagno says, "because I know exactly what they're going through."

Right about the same time the new coronavirus hit town, Zaccagno's son Nicky had started his own YouTube channel, titled "Nicky Will Eat It." The 4th grader at R.M.T. Johnson Elementary who goes by the nom de 'net Nicky Zooks, eats everything — "liver, you name it" — according to his dad, and the channel was created to showcase that superpower.

But after posting a few videos where he chowed down on a rabbit and the heart of a cow, Nicky shifted gears. He hit upon the idea of using his YouTube food channel to promote local restaurants whose businesses were hit hard by the virus lockdown restrictions. The format of each "mini-commercial" would be simple: place a take-out order for one of his favorite dishes, and describe how delicious it was in the hopes those watching might pick up the phone as well. "Boosting Bethel" was born.

So far, the blueberry pancakes from O'Neil's Sandwich and Coffee Bar, the bourbon maple bacon wings from J Lawrence, the chicken teriyaki from House of Yoshida and a large cheese pie from Capri's Pizzeria have gotten the full Nicky Zooks treatment. The elder Zaccagno says he and his son can knock out a couple of videos a day.

"Maybe it'll get out, and help them." Zacagno said.