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Stefano’s celebrates 20 delicious years

Central Avenue restaurant has expanded its menu and its space through the years

A plate of pasta with marinara sauce sits on a table at Stefano’s Italian Cafe on July 1 in Middletown. Stefano’s has been in business nearly 20 years.

Staff photo by Nick Graham A plate of pasta with marinara sauce sits on a table at Stefano’s Italian Cafe on July 1 in Middletown. Stefano’s has been in business nearly 20 years.

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer 1:39 AM Sunday, July 12, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — Maybe it’s just something about Italian cuisine that makes everybody family, or maybe it’s just Steve O’Neil.

The owner of Stefano’s, located at 2200 Central Ave., said a lifetime of socializing and sports and 20 years running the restaurant gives him a lot to talk about with the people of Middletown.

“In literally 20 years, people have come here with their children, and now I see those children come in with their children. I watch them meet and marry and all,” he said. “If they come in here I get to know them, or within five minutes I can put them together with someone else I know.”

It’s just one of the perks of business and the personality of the restaurant, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary today, July 12.

Stefano’s started out as a cold pasta salad and sandwich restaurant with occasional specials on other Italian cuisine. But what O’Neil quickly learned is that once people had a taste of something good, they wanted more.

“It’s all about customer demand. We would do specials, and if we didn’t run it the next week, people would ask for it, so we were forced to grow the menu,” he said.

That growth included items such as the popular Pasta Stefano, a dish he and his wife, Beth Amatulli, brought back from Little Italy and tweaked with a combination of shrimp, chicken, Italian sausage with pasta, peppers and onions.

It’s a dish customer Sarah Smith said is “divine” on a Friday night after a long week.

But Stefano’s growth didn’t stop at the menu.

In 1992, the restaurant was expanded to increase seating and in 2001 it grew again to accommodate more seating and a new bar.

Within the last year O’Neil has expanded the outdoor patio and ringed Stefano’s with fruit, vegetable and herb gardens, which are harvested and put straight into what’s simmering on that day’s menu. The wood from the trees he trimmed to make way for the gardens is also used to fuel the restaurant’s wood-burning pizza oven.

“I’d love to make it a fully-functioning garden that feeds the needs of the restaurants the whole four to five months of the growing season,” he said. “It’s a fun concept trying to use everything to the max.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843 or jheffner@coxohio.com.

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