Episode 19: Magnotti’s

March 2, 2023

Narration

Today Irene shares the story of when she and Joe bought a restaurant – which was not doing well when they bought it. 

And how they turned the business around. 

Quick note before we start – when you hear me refer to “Far” in this episode, that’s what I called my grandfather Joe.

Irene and Joe had learned that an Italian restaurant called Magnotti’s was up for sale. It was on Staten Island not far from where they lived. 

They went one night to go check out Magnotti’s to see if they were interested.

Bessa: It’s run down. The business is not there. It’s not clean, but the location is perfect. They have a parking lot. I said, Joe, let’s think about this. Get in touch with the owner. Next day, he called the owner and he told us to come down to see him.

Frank Magnotti, when he interviewed us, he said to Joe, There is no business. I don’t know how you’re gonna do it. And I certainly wouldn’t stick to the name.

So Joe said to him, We are going to stick to the name. It’s going to be called Magnotti’s and we’re gonna make a go of it, and Frank just smiled. He was so happy because it had been – he had been there for 30 years. 

So Joe said, Okay, now we got it. What do you wanna do with it, Irene? I said, Close it, close it down. And let’s clean it up. Closed for a whole week. And we put a sign – “Closed for a week.” And we tore that place apart. Cleaned it up, got new linen in and flowers and candles and scrubbed and scrubbed and talked to the kitchen help and the floor help. 

Kristen: How did you, um, how did you organize that whole process?

Bessa: I don’t know.

Kristen: Did you just, I mean, did you plan it out? Did Far plan it out?

Bessa: We just, we worked together and we saw what was needed and we worked like two dogs and we had help.

Narration

Irene and Joe worked to clean up the restaurant. They also made some changes.

Bessa: And they also sold pizza. They had a big pizza oven when Frank had it. And it was the first thing we did took out the oven, scratched the pizza, scratched all the sandwiches and all the heroes off the menu. We didn’t wanna bother it with stuff like that. We upscaled the menu. For  people to come and dine. Not to have a sandwich. So we took all that off the menu and nobody missed it. They can go someplace else and get a slice of pizza.

And we kept the prices low – low enough so that people could, you know, at least come once a week.

Kristen: Did you know how to cook Italian?

Bessa: I knew how to make a sauce and I knew how to make Italian soups. And I knew, I knew how Italian foods should taste. Did I know how to make it? No, but I also knew that I would get a chef in there. Bobby came with the place.

Narration

After a week of getting ready, it was time for their opening night. 

Bessa: We were very nervous. I had enough help and people, the expression on their faces when they walked in – because they had been going there for years and here’s this place we had put up new paneled walls, different paintings, snow white tablecloths, beautiful flowers and candles and everything lit, soft music. And they walked in: Wow!

Kristen: Was it the old regulars that would come in?

Bessa: Yes. And we never lost them. They stayed with us forever. 

Kristen: So, how did you come up with the first menu?

Bessa: Well, we took over the menu that was there. And then we had a special insert, our specials, that we put in.

Well, we started out with strogonoff and fresh ham, roast beef, corned beef, all American dishes that was not on that menu.

Um, oh, and I put in, rice pudding. And I was told, Don’t bother with rice pudding. We tried that here. It didn’t go. Well I got news for you. That rice pudding pot never stopped. The rice pudding became one of the biggest sellers on the menu.

All the soups were made by me. I made all the soups and the sauce. Rice pudding – there was something else. Caramel pudding. Unbelievable when I think about it.

Kristen: Did you know right away, how you would divide up your roles and Far’s roles?

Bessa: Yes. We both knew without even saying it because Joe could not do what I could do. Yeah. And I could not do what he could do. He would handle the ordering, receiving, the telephones, paying bills, checking everything, all that was his, yeah.

I hired and fired in the front. I had ads in the paper and for waitresses that came in and I would interview them. 

Kristen: What did you look for when you were hiring?

Bessa: Experience and cleanliness. I said, If you work here, you have to have snow white shoes and you have to have matching uniforms and they will be black and white in the winter, and they will be red and white in the summer. And that’s what they did.

Kristen: Red apron?

Bessa: Red apron, white uniform. It worked.

Kristen: Yeah. It seems like the jobs that you had and the jobs that FA had before then were the perfect. It is like the perfect experience.

Bessa: Exactly. We had experience enough to take that place over and make it go.

Kristen: Was that like for you and Far –  um, getting along really well or was it stressful?

Bessa: No, it wasn’t stressful. Oh, there were times it was stressful and we were tired, but we got along so good. No, we were some team.

Everybody said that we were really a good team.

And Sunday he was kind of slow to get up out of work. And we opened at one on Sunday and I would say to him, Well, you come in later, I’ll just take the train in. I would go in at 10 and get the soup on, and clean up. And then Joe would drive in and be there for one o’clock opening. But then I had already, everything was all set.

And he was slow on Sundays. Not only on Sundays, but Sunday was the worst, but he was a smart man. He knew who to deal with. And the best thing with him, he insisted on top quality.

And if they didn’t send top, top quality, it went back.

Kristen: For the food?

Bessa: Yep. We had a bread man, Italian bread. He delivered every day and an Italian butcher, Italian vegetable man. We got our garlic in a case like this.

Kristen: Wow.

Bessa: Wow. And we used a case a week.

Kristen: I guess you were in the right place. Did a lot of Italians go there?

Bessa: Oh yeah. We were right in the middle of Dongen Hills. That’s a hundred percent Italians. And most of them could walk down.

Bessa: And then we came up with this idea. Joe said to me, What do you think? Should we do this? And give a cordial, a free cordial after dinner.

He says, I mean, it can’t cost us this much, you know, just a little one, but I think it’ll be nice. I said, Okay, we’ll try. And boy, if you forgot that tray, they would ask for it.

Kristen: Is that like, that’s a liquor?

Bessa: Yeah. We would have cream de minthe, the green and cream mint, the white. And we had apricot brandy and, and creme de coco. And there was something else too, maybe blackberry brandy. So I made a nice colorful tray. And then, oh, of course anisette. That’s Italian – clear anisette.

And if there were real good customers, we would put the sambuca bottle on the type of, cause they always ordered, um, Italian coffee espressoo and then they would pour the anisette or sambuca in there. That’s Italian. Yeah. So they felt very special when the bottle came on the table.

Kristen: So your business did well from the beginning?

Bessa: From day one. As a matter of fact, the accountant came, went over the books with Joe at time, said, You’re going to do real well here. He saw it right away. So we did good there.

Took some chances, but if you’re not afraid of hard work, anything can be done. And it’s true. I always said that to my kids.

Narration

My grandmother told me about the different people who worked at their restaurant. Many worked there for years. I could tell that they were very special to her.

Irene’s kids also worked at Magnotti’s. Sometimes my mom waitressed.

Her son Thor became a cook and worked there quite a bit, as did her youngest, Inger.

Bessa: And if Joe and I took a week off to go to the islands or to Florida, the kids took over. Thor and Inger worked like a clock.

But remember we had very good help. They were wonderful. All of them.

Narration

While Irene and Joe worked at Magnotti’s, the kids grew up. 

Carol went to college, and got married. 

Thor went to college, and got married. 

Inger also graduated from high school and started college.

Irene became a grandmother while she had Magnotti’s.

I have memories of having dinner there, and of just being there with my grandmother. It felt cozy, and warm.