Ossie Pavao: Pavao

Kensington Market Dept: Some of his earliest memories took place right here in 1963, when his Portuguese immigrant father opened the Casa Acoreana caf and food shop on the corner of Baldwin St. and Augusta Ave. the heart of Kensington Market. Now 55, Pavao runs the family business, where shelves of jars line the walls, filled with all manner of nuts, herbs, spices, coffee and candy, according to The Star. But after a half-century in business, Pavao concedes the Casa days might be numbered. On Tuesday morning, he learned the owner of his building plans to jack up the rent, which could shunt aside Casa and four adjacent shops along Baldwin St., making room for one or more new, higher-paying tenants and coffee-sipping regulars, seekers of coriander and thyme, and candy-mad kids who speak with softened R s: Ossie Pavao chats with them all, smiling from behind the shop counter with a friendly flash in his warm brown eyes. It home, said Pavao, toque-clad and stubble-faced. We ve got the best customers in the world. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.