Customers line up at delis and bakeries throughout Hoboken each day to sample traditional cooking from the city’s old Italian families. At the same time, young commuters march to and from public transit, heels clacking against the pavement and briefcases swishing against their suit pants.
As the mix of the city’s old and new crisscrosses Hoboken, the city’s ethnic cooking fills hungry mouths across the country as well.
Madelyn Alfano, a former Hoboken resident, is the owner of the Maria’s Italian Kitchen restaurant chain in California, named after her mother. She is also the president of the National Association of Women Business Owners-Los Angeles.
“The Hoboken of the past was all about knowing each other…truly a community.” –Madelyn Alfano
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Alfano understands that towns change, especially Hoboken. Through careful management and expansion, Alfano has brought Hoboken tradition to 10 California locations – and to countless palettes.
Each restaurant in the chain is a descendent of the take-out kitchen that her mother Maria opened in 1975 in Brentwood Village. And each carries on the Hoboken tradition of warmhearted service and fresh ingredients.
‘The Italian city’
“Tradition lives on,” Madelyn Alfano said last week, speaking about Maria’s Italian Kitchen. “It’s very unique and unusual for a restaurant, often. It really sticks to its roots. It doesn’t change integrity or quality.”
The Alfano family tradition started in Hoboken, which back then was known as “the Italian City” to locals. According to Madelyn Alfano, born in 1957 in St. Mary Hospital, “the Hoboken of the past was all about knowing each other…truly a community. Everybody lived and died in the same house.”
Her mother, Maria, was born at 601 Monroe St. Maria Alfano grew up in a Hoboken where, “wherever you lived, a real Italian restaurant was just next door,” her daughter said. From the Alfano family matriarch, Luisa, Maria learned the Napolitano family recipes that would be integral to the success of her brothers’ restaurant in 1963 and a few years later, her own.
Mother Maria’s roots
Of Luisa, Maria Alfano noted that although she did not know how to read or write, “…she could do it all. What she did in that kitchen I always refer to as ‘genius.’ What she could accomplish…so much from so little.”
In the early 1960s, Maria was called out to Los Angeles by her two brothers, Matty and Mikey, to help with their startup restaurant on Westwood Boulevard.
“Typical Italian men need Italian women,” Madelyn joked.
With Maria’s help, Luisa’s family recipes took root in Matteo’s Restaurant. Eight miles from Hollywood, the restaurant quickly became a hip hangout for celebrities, most notably the “Rat Pack” – a group including Hoboken’s own Frank Sinatra.
Hello, Hollywood
Maria fell in love with California and convinced her husband, Donald, to make the move across the country with Madelyn and her four siblings.
In Brentwood Village, they opened a little grocery that was frequented by celebrities such as Henry Fonda, Natalie Wood, Robert DeNiro, and Robert Wagner.
Behind the meat department, Maria would serve up classic Italian dishes for her family. The smell of Hoboken-style ravioli, eggplant parmigiana, and sausage and peppers wafted to the front of the store, attracting the attention of her customers, who clamored for a taste.
Maria’s Italian Kitchen soon became a staple in the area.
After graduating from UCLA in 1979, Madelyn went to work at her parents’ Brentwood grocery with a vision of opening a sit-down “trattoria” in the Italian custom. Five years after her first solo venture – a deli across the street from her parents’ grocery – Madelyn achieved her goal in 1980.
Madelyn opened the first table-service Maria’s Italian Kitchen in Sherman Oaks then adding more locations with a similar commitment to family and quality. Today, she owns and manages 10 separate locations, which include three different concepts and a catering department. Her most recent locations include Maria’s Downtown and Maria’s Express in Los Angeles.
A West Coast success story
Today Maria’s Italian Kitchen is among the leading privately owned restaurant chains in the state, and was named “One of the 50 Fastest Growing Private Companies in the San Fernando Valley.” Despite multiple locations and over 400 employees, Madelyn makes sure that, at its heart, Maria’s Italian Kitchen remains a family-run operation.
She still personally supervises the kitchens and oversees all the restaurants, ensuring that each stays true to its roots.
“We do everything from scratch. We cure our own garbanzo beans. We make all desserts from scratch…cannolis and their filling,” she said. “All desserts are made with real butter. We use the same tomatoes my grandmother used 60 years ago.”
With such a commitment to quality, it’s no surprise that Madelyn Alfano is regarded as one of California’s most successful restaurant owners. For the past eight years, she has been on the list of Top 50 Women Business Owners in Los Angeles. In 2004, she was chosen as one of the Top 25 Enterprising Women in Los Angeles and inducted into the National Association of Women Business Owners-Los Angeles. In 2007, the Los Angeles Business Journal named her Business Owner/CEO of the Year at its annual Women Making a Difference Award. She continues to serve on the boards of various charities and nonprofit organizations.
Braille menu
For Madelyn, tradition in no way means backward thinking. The Hoboken concept of community is clearly the backbone of her success. This entrepreneur has introduced a Braille menu for visually-impaired customers, environmentally-friendly practices, and health-conscious alternatives.
A resident of Encino with her husband, Dr. Jeffrey Tucker, and three children, Madelyn returns to Hoboken often, as does her mother, Maria. Maria spends about six months out of the year in Hoboken, visiting Madelyn’s godmother, Madelyn DiLorenzo, and other friends.
“Everyone is so loving – like the whole gang again,” Maria said of her visits back to Hoboken.
Madelyn agreed.
“We love Hoboken. In fact, we even thought about opening a Maria’s there,” she said. “If we were to find the right location, we’d be happy to entertain the possibility.”
Deanna Cullen may be reached at editorial@hudsonreporter.com.