The Sopranos (The Sopranos episode) Michael Santoro play Irina and Father Phil respectively. For future episodes, these roles were recast with Oksana Lada and Paul Schulze. Drea De Matteo was originally simply cast as a restaurant hostess for this one episode only. The filmmakers liked her performance, and her character was developed into the role of Adriana La Cerva in future episodes. The pork store used as a meeting place is Centanni's Meat Market, a real butcher shop in Elizabeth, New Jersey. However, because the shop had a steady business and because local business owners were annoyed with the incidental effects of having a television
Kaisha (The Sopranos) to hire to find Adriana and instead calls the roofing subcontractor. The Baccalieris, DeAngelis, and Moltisantis join the Sopranos at their home for Christmas Eve. A.J. arrives with Blanca and Hector and introduces them to his family. Hugh remarks on Blanca's necklace, which A.J. bought for her. In another room, Carmela and Tony discuss Blanca. Carmela does not approve of her age or race, but Tony seems more accepting. When Tony suggests to A.J. that he could have helped with the necklace because he "[has] a guy," A.J. assertively dismisses him by saying, "I have a job." Meadow calls her