When Robert Antignano bought Angelo’s Civita Farnese in Providence in 1988, from his mother-in-law and her three sisters, he was buying a lot more than the business on Federal Hill. The whole family came with it.
“When I looked into taking over the restaurant, it wasn’t like taking over a restaurant,” Antignano recalled. “It was something special, because of all the family.”
The four sisters, daughters of the original Angelo, had all worked at the restaurant.
They all kept a careful eye on it. They kept an eye on Antignano, too, rendering opinions without necessarily being asked about the 1994 expansion; the latest renovation, in 2006; and now, the national award the 84-year-old Italian restaurant has won.
The U.S. Small Business Administration announced in late March that Antignano, after taking the top state and regional prizes, had won the national 2008 Jeffrey H. Butland Family-Owned Business of the Year award. (READ MORE)
Antignano, along with 12 family members and friends, spent a week in Washington, D.C., during last month’s national small-business celebrations, visiting the White House and meeting President George W. Bush. “It was incredible to be recognized. I was humbled and honored that we were chosen,” he said. “I didn’t win this. My employees won this.”
“My father and mother would have been thrilled” with the national honor, said Vera Muoio, 91, a daughter of Angelo and Ann Mastrodicasa.
It was her late father, Angelo, who bought into the business in 1924 and soon took it over, lending his name to the popular eatery. He had worked in the cafeteria at the former Shepard’s department store in Providence, after coming to America from Abruzzi, a region in central Italy, along the Adriatic Coast. “My father was a saint, anyone could step all over him,” Vera recalled. “My mother was tough.”
With the help of his four daughters, their spouses and their children, Angelo and his wife ran the restaurant from 1924 until the mid-1960s. Then, Vera and her sisters took over. Mary, the oldest, worked in the kitchen; Lena became the cashier stationed at the register; Ida, who was Vera’s twin helped out wherever needed; and Vera, she had the biggest job. She was the office manager, taking care of the accounting books, in charge of hiring and firing. Like her mother, she was the tough one. “I worked hard, but I loved it,” said Vera, who is still a smoker.
Robert Antignano joined the family when he married Rosalie, Ida’s daughter.
Although he had eaten at Angelo’s for a long time, he had no background running a restaurant when he took charge. “The agreement was [the four sisters] would stay with me at least for a year while I learned the business,” he recalled. He promised them would keep the restaurant going as their father had run it.
“This was going to be a continuation, which was a commitment I had to make to them. This business was so important to them, it was so engrained in their whole lives,” he said. “They wanted to see it continue the way it was – and it wasn’t easy.”
At that, Vera chimed in: “We keep tabs.”
Whenever he considered changes, he would think of the sisters. “I would say to myself: ‘Will they be proud of this?’” he recalled.
In 1994, he bought the building next door, knocked down walls and doubled the size of the restaurant, adding the lounge area. The sisters approved.
In 2006, he was really worried, he said, because he had renovation plans to bring Angelo’s main dining room “back to what it looked like in the 1930s,” exposing the original tin ceiling, using period lighting fixtures, adding black and white tiles to the floor, darkening the walls. He was worried that it would be too dark. But again, the sisters were pleased.
Today, the restaurant today features six of the original tables, topped with white glass marble, in place since 1924.
Antignano’s mother-in-law, Ida, has passed away, but Mary, Vera and Lena still have homes within hailing distance of Angelo’s. And, although they retired years ago, they’ve continued to keep watch over the family enterprise.
On a recent day, when Vera was asked for more details about what her father was like, she said: “Robert is a lot like him … his personality and his memory.” The compliment surprised Antignano.
“Angelo was the genius,” he said. “I just keep it going.”
Since Antignano took over 20 years ago, the number of employees at Angelo’s has more than doubled, to 36 workers. He estimates that as many as 200,000 customers come through the restaurant each year.
Two things in particular make Angelo’s special: the consistent quality of the food and the customers who keep coming back.
Under executive chef Joe Lopes, who was a 16-year-old high school student when Vera hired him in the 1970s, “we cut our own meats,” Antignano said. “We make our own sauce, we make our own lasagna, we make our own soups; everything is made here.”
Customers are treated like family because “most are regulars,” he said, “and you get to know them by name. I’ve seen customers grow up and now they bring their children in. It’s amazing to see the families, four generations, coming through the restaurant.”
Judges, governors and members of Congress have been regular customers, from the late John H. Chafee when he was governor to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed today.
“It’s a place with great food, wonderful service, very nice people,” said Reed, who estimated he has been going to Angelo’s for about 20 years and said he usually orders the chicken Parmesan.
M. Charles Bakst, political columnist for The Providence Journal, lunches at Angelo’s two or three times a week. “Aside from the food and atmosphere, the clientele is right up my alley,” Bakst said. “I actually get a lot of work done there – you know, column tips or quotes I can use.”
Three elderly gentlemen have been coming to Angelo’s since it opened in 1924. One of them, a musician called “Little Joe,” is 105 years old and comes in three times a week, Antignano said.
“He swears our food is why he’s still alive.” •
