Author Topic: A Solari no longer owns Solari's  (Read 5536 times)

Offline BLeafe

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A Solari no longer owns Solari's
« on: January 07, 2013, 11:24:53 AM »
Solari's, a Hackensack institution, sold after decades of family ownership

Monday, January 7, 2013    Last updated: Monday January 7, 2013, 10:09 AM
BY  KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER
The Record


After nearly 80 years of family ownership, Solari's — the Hackensack restaurant that has fed generations of Bergen County's judges, lawyers, politicians and businesspeople — has changed hands. Marco Solari, grandson of the founder, has sold the business to two Albanian immigrants.

One of them, 31-year-old Beni Karacica, got his start in the restaurant business as a busboy 11 years ago. As he sat with Solari in the restaurant Friday, awaiting the lunch rush, Karacica said he intends to keep the restaurant's name, staff and menu.

"Solari's is going to stay the same," Karacica said. "Solari's is Solari's."

Solari said he sold to Karacica because he's a hard worker who can do any job in a restaurant.

"He's not afraid to work," Solari said of Karacica. "That's 90 percent of the game."

"If I have to jump in the kitchen, I'll jump in the kitchen," Karacica said.

Karacica's immigrant story would resonate with Marco Solari's grandfather, also named Marco Solari. The Italian immigrant bought Hackensack's first liquor license after Prohibition ended and opened Solari's Silver Tavern in 1934. Solari's moved to its current River Street location in 1936, at first sharing the building with a gas station. The restaurant is steps from the Bergen County Courthouse.

Marco's son, John Solari, joined the business after fighting in World War II, expanding the lunch and dinner offerings and making it a magnet for the Bergen County establishment. John Solari handed off control in the late 1980s to his son, who remodeled the 4,000-square-foot space, added music several nights a week and built up the dinner and catering businesses.

In recent years, Solari's has made cameo appearances in TV's "The Sopranos" and in mysteries by Saddle River writer Mary Higgins Clark.

 
Easier commutes

After more than two decades of seven-day workweeks, Marco Solari, 46, says he's ready to work closer to Warwick, N.Y., where he lives with his wife and three young sons. He's not sure what he'll do next, but says he has several opportunities closer to home.

He sold the 15-employee restaurant — but not the building or the land it's on — to Karacica and his business partner, Jimmy Jashanica, who already run the Dautaj restaurant in Warwick. Neither Solari nor Karacica, who lives in Little Ferry, would reveal the sale price.

So while Solari gives up his Warwick-to-Bergen County commute, Karacica, who lives in Little Ferry, will give up his commute to Warwick.

Karacica, who is married and the father of two (with another on the way), arrived in the United States at age 20, unable to speak English. He started as a busboy at a cousin's Moonachie restaurant and bought Dautaj with partners in 2008.

"I saw opportunity in this country," Karacica said. He said financing for the Solari's purchase comes from family and friends, as well as the profits from Dautaj.

A regular customer, Ronald Squillace of Franklin Lakes, said he plans to keep visiting Solari's under its new ownership because he thinks the food and atmosphere will be preserved. A customer for at least 35 years, he didn't pause for a second when he was asked his favorite dish: "linguini with clam sauce."

"When you go to Solari's, it's like you're sitting in your living room," said Squillace, a retired construction and nursing home executive. "When you walk in, you usually know everybody who's there."

Email: lynn@northjersey.com



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Offline Editor

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Re: A Solari no longer owns Solari's
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2013, 02:56:50 PM »
Related Post: Obituary: John Solari

Offline Homer Jones

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Re: A Solari no longer owns Solari's
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2013, 04:59:13 PM »
Ol' Homer first stopped in Solari's around 1975 and for those 37 years, has considered it the best restaurant in Hackensack including Stony. There are people who own and operate restaurants and there are restaurateurs. John and Marco were the latter.

 

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