Loved ones and tradition are important to owner/chef Michael D’Andrea, who opened Macaluso’s in Aiken previous thirty day period.
Equally are reflected in the Italian restaurant’s decor and the foods.
In the early 1970s, D’Andrea’s late parents, Anthony and Josephine, started out the Highway Residence cafe in Staten Island, New York, and it is nevertheless in small business.
Quite a few of the dishes at Macaluso’s are organized employing their recipes and individuals produced by D’Andrea’s other kinfolk in advance of them.
“Italians are so superstitious,” D’Andrea stated. “That’s definitely why we really do not want to adjust everything. We want to maintain every thing just the way we’ve been accomplishing it for 75 years.”

Black and white images of D’Andrea’s family members associates cling on the partitions in Macaluso’s dining space.
“I named the cafe right after my mother,” D’Andrea reported. “Macaluso was her maiden identify.”
D’Andrea moved to Aiken very last calendar year from Florida, where by the initially Macaluso’s was set up in Miami Seashore in 1999.
It remained there for roughly 20 decades, attracting a clientele that integrated singer-songwriter Billy Joel and Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula.
Then D’Andrea made the decision to go on and launch Macaluso’s & Co., an Italian-American marketplace and eatery, in South Miami.

It experienced a quick run ahead of D’Andrea grew drained of South Florida and weary of working with rents and landlords.
“Miami is a gorgeous city, but it just was not conducive any longer for my manufacturer,” D’Andrea claimed. “It became an exceptionally tourist-driven metropolis, and a good deal of families moved out.”
D’Andrea went on the net to search for a creating to invest in with no specific place in thoughts.
“I would have absent to the North Pole if I located a constructing that spoke to me through my intuition,” D’Andrea explained. “I finished up with about 14 sites to decide on from, and my thoughts held going again to 135 York St. (S.E.) in Aiken.”
That was the tackle of Linda’s Bistro, which belonged to Linda Rooney.
D’Andrea and his girlfriend, Tonya Sanchez, headed to Aiken for a check out. They met Linda and favored her a ton. They also fell in like with Aiken.
“It was like going to heaven,” D’Andrea stated. “It was just so wonderful, all the foliage and the roadways. The people ended up so sort and sweet.”
The offer to acquire the Linda’s Bistro site was accomplished past October.
D’Andrea’s only regret is that Rooney died just before the Aiken edition of Macaluso’s was up and running.
“She seriously required us listed here,” D’Andrea stated. “We heard soon after the fact that she turned down other individuals that have been attempting to buy the setting up mainly because she wished us.”
Macaluso’s running several hours are 6-11 p.m. Tuesday by means of Sunday. The kitchen closes at 10:30 just about every night time.

“I use the finest substances – the best imported olive oils and the very best tomatoes,” D’Andrea said. “I make my individual meatballs and my individual sausages. I cook with De Secco imported pastas. A gentleman out of Columbia tends to make ravioli by hand for me.”
Macaluso’s marinara sauce is do-it-yourself.
On the menu are a range of pizzas and dishes these kinds of as Grandma Lena’s Ravioli & Peas, Macaluso’s Staten Island Style Baked Rigatoni With Rooster Parm, Picante Hen With Rigatoni and Sausage & Broccoli Rabe With Imported Pasta.
D’Andrea ideas to open the Rose Bar, an upstairs lounge that will give signature cocktails and are living jazz new music, at Macaluso’s later this month.
For additional information, get in touch with 803-262-5334 or pay a visit to the Macaluso’s/Macaluso’s & Enterprise page on Facebook.