The DiGiulio Brothers Story.
In 1910, Salvatore Di Giulio and his new bride Adriana Penaro welcomed their son Ferdinando Salvatore, born in Manhattan. Salvatore and Adriana had arrived at Ellis Island a couple of years before from Italy - he from Chieti and she from Pescara, both of Italy's Abruzzo region. Salvatore owned a deli in the Bronx which went out of business when the depression hit. Thereafter, Salvatore returned to Italy, while Adriana (aka Gramma) stayed with her children.
Distinguishing himself from his now-distant father, Ferdinando adopted an Americanized version of his name, Fred DiGiulio. Gramma years later would visit her son Fred and his wife Aline Sykes, a Mississippi girl he met while working in oil exploration, and her four grandsons, John, Bob, Fred, and Richard. Gramma was a wonderful cook. She made ravioli from scratch, which seemed like an all-day project to her hungry grandsons, as well as many other dishes from the old country. Her Mississippi daughter-in-law paid close attention and passed on those traditions to her boys.
Decades later, two of the grandsons, John and Fred, were talked into opening a small restaurant so that they could share their home-cooked meals with others. In 1987, John was a successful criminal defense attorney, and Fred was a skilled carpenter. They were joined by Fred’s fraternity brother and European history buff Richard Cole. All three loved to cook traditional Italian meals, and they embraced the challenge of turning a hobby into a family business. They incorporated and signed a lease at the present DiGiulio’s location, with an option to buy. None of the partners had any restaurant experience, but their other trades and the support of their friends and family turned a twinkle in their eyes into a reality. Fred undertook the renovations of the building, including adding a kitchen and building the bar; John experimented with old recipes and a refurbished pizza oven; and Richard set his sights on bookkeeping and enlisting vendors.
From its inception, DiGiulio Brothers has always been a family business, with every generation participating in its successful operation. John's teenaged twin daughters Ariel and Letty were the restaurant's first dishwashers, and Fred's son Juan was a busboy and, later, a long-term cook at the restaurant. John's oldest daughter Raina waited tables alongside Fred's stepdaughter Meagan and, later, Ariel. Working in the family business led to expansions of the family itself after Raina met her future husband and now DiGiulio's owner Mike Johnson, who had been hired as a bartender but quickly rose in the ranks thanks to his charismatic personality and natural entrepreneurialism. Ariel too met her future husband Dylan at the restaurant, where he was moonlighting as a bartender during law school.
Over the decades that followed and as a result of transfers of ownership within the family, DiGiulio's is now in the loving hands of Mike Johnson and Raina DiGiulio Johnson, who is also a busy realtor-broker. DiGiulio's continues to be a family-run business to this day, with Mike and Raina's daughters (Gramma's great-great-grandkids) Skylar and Aldyn greeting regulars and serving up new twists on the family's old favorites.
Most days (and nights), you will find Mike at the restaurant, keeping DiGiulio's running strong and greeting every customer that walks through the door like they’re family, and you will find John, now retired, sitting on the patio with his dog Saint, marveling at what an incredible adventure it has all been and continues to be for the DiGiulio (aka Di Giulio) family name.
Many great cooks and bartenders, kitchen workers, and servers have contributed to the restaurant’s survival and success. Some keys to its survival are its dedicated “regulars” and excellent location.
“Oh my. What a great experience! Everyone was so professional. First time customer, now a lifetime family member. 6 out of 5 stars, I'll see y'all again very soon. This is a hidden gem!”
“The atmosphere was great. We sat outside on their expansive patio since the weather was perfect. Good cocktails, great food, welcoming vibe. I could tell that the customers there were regulars and the sense of community was contagious.”
— YELP