Thirty-eight years ago, Louis and Felice Laico opened a neighborhood restaurant on Terhune Ave in Jersey City, where families shared a huge pizza pie, soda came in a pitcher and beer flowed from the tap. A humble family eatery serving delicious Italian cuisine to neighborhood regulars, professors at the local colleges and old-timers who shared colorful stories of Jersey City back in the day.

 Although Louis and Felice have since passed on, their son Louis Laico, Jr, who worked side-by-side with his mom and dad, took over the restaurant, keeping that warm, ‘welcome-to-the-family’ ambience that invites you in as soon as you enter the door. Laico family members wait tables and bartend – Louis’s brother-in-law Jimmy Wolowitz is bar manager and Louis’ wife Gloria sometimes fills in when they need a hostess.

 Laico’s dining room offers a warm ambience and the bar has been somewhat modernized with sexy light spilling from Italian glass fixtures and HD-TV on the wall. But the restaurant’s main ingredient and menu regulars like spicy calamari; and Speidini alla Romana appetizers are house favorites along with entrees including Paglia e Fieno with shrimp and lobster in vodka cream sauce; Orechietti with broccoli rabe and sausage; and filet mignon scaloppini Madeira with wild mushrooms. Louis complements these dishes with daily specials like pan-seared Diver scallops; fresh-grilled Bronzino filet with grilled asparagus; and pastas like rigatoni with pork ragout. (Laico’s appetizers range from $6.95- to- $12.95 and entrees from $14.95- to- $26.95.)
 
“Louis started out using old family recipes and now he makes up his own recipes,” Nancy Salerno, Louis’s sister-in-law, who handles Laico’s PR, says. “Over the years, the menu has become fresher and lighter. In the beginning it was heavy Northern Italian, chicken parmesan, lasagna, things like that. Louis still makes those classics but added wonderful robust-y dishes like pastas, pork loin and veal chops.”

Hearty dishes attract hearty eaters and many of Laico’s regulars are Giants and Jets professional football players. When a reporter from Forbes Business magazine was doing a story on the teams, several members mentioned Laico’s as one of their favorite places. The reporter called Louis and said, ‘your name keeps coming up’ and after a visit to the restaurant, she named Laico’s the best Italian restaurant in New York and New Jersey.
 
Laico’s is also vegetarian-friendly and Louis can reconstruct dishes on the menu with a vegetable broth base and other vegetarian specifications. All entrees are served with a family-style salad made with Laico’s famous secret dressing and homemade garlic bread and fresh Italian bread. The full bar offers classic and specialty drinks and a vast selection of wines by the glass and bottle, and everything on the menu is available for take-out. Laico’s can also cater any type of party, business luncheon, wedding reception – you name it.

More than just a neighborhood eatery, Laico’s has a solid reputation in the tri-state area as a fine Italian restaurant serving great food at reasonable prices. And you don’t have to worry about finding a parking space, either. Laico’s offers free valet parking.
“Over the years, the clientele has become so diverse,” Salerno says. “It started out as a neighborhood pizza place and bar and now we have customers from New York, Pennsylvania. I have friends who live out of state and the first thing they do when they come to New York is eat at Laico’s. Teachers from New Jersey City University come at lunchtime and bring their family back at night for dinner. Seats are close and people are always striking up conversations with the people sitting next to them.  It’s really good food – nice portions at a reasonable price and people come back because it’s worth it. The atmosphere and the people that are here, it’s a nice social place.”
 
Laico’s Restaurant
67 Terhune Ave, Jersey City

201-434-4115
Reservations accepted – walk-ins welcome

Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30 am-10 pm;

Fri, Sat 11:30 am-11 pm; Sun 1 pm-9 pm
Free Valet Parking
Photo of Laico’s Restauarant Yelp.com

The post Laico’s Restaurant Neighborhood Favorite for Over 30 Years first appeared on River View Observer.

Source: Truth Speaks- Icypeals Blogspot - Thanks Mimi

*Seeing the Three Stooges Live at the Stanley Theater *Live Acappella Shows at the State Theater * Hudson Boulevard had islands. *Ferris High School *Singing Doo-Wop under the tresstle on Monmouth Street *Hanging out at Coletta’s Bar * You knew how O’Hara’s got it’s name. * You knew all the troublemakers before they became cops. – Martin Luther King Drive was Jackson Avenue – Christopher Columbus Drive was Railroad Avenue – Luiz Munoz Marin Boulevard was Henderson Street -Manila Avenue was Grove Street – Roosevelt Lanes & Putney’s Pub – Annual Holy Name Parade – What Harvard on the Blvd. and St. Richards on the Hill are – The color scheme of the bus lines: … Brown: Central Avenue; Red: Montgomery/West Side, Green: Bergen/Lafayette, Orange: Bergen Avenue – Getting Sunday suits at Robert Hall – Bettingers on the Square – Uncle Milties/Bergen Point – The Skyline Cabana Club – You shopped in Woolworth on Journal Square and went to the Griddle or Driftwood after a movie. – The Hudson Mall was a strip mall – Instead of the Hudson Mall there was: Two Guys from Harrison; Great Eastern, and Valley Fair – Instead of the dollar stores there was Johns Bargain Stores – You could actually swim in the Reservoir (on the sneak) – The giant roach in the exterminators window on Westside Avenue – Floor shows at the Canton Tea Garden Chinese Restaurant – You’ve said “Youse” about 100 times in one day    – The best hot dogs at Boulevard Drinks – Orange Julius at the Square – Charcoal burgers at Tippys – The Tube Bar and Red the owner – The Concourse – The Oyster Bay, Murtaghs, the Alps, Robinsons Steak House, and the Blue Piano – The PATH train was .30 cents and before that they were called the Hudson Tubes – The Happy Birthday Truck from Schneider’s Bakery – You were part of the in crowd if you shopped at Danny Mack and Cara Carson (Marilyn on Central Avenue, Wetons on Bergen) – The Public Service Bus Terminal Concourse with 3 Guys Pizza, Universal, Horn & Hardardt – The chickens turning on the rotisserie at Universal – The shortcut through the escalators to Magnolia Avenue – Eating lunch at Liss Drug – Ice skating at Roosevelt Stadium – That St. Als Academy was known as snob hill or House on Whore Hill – The Bergen School – The CYO, OLM, St. Michaels, Mt. Carmel and Holy Family dances – Going through Lincoln Park to get to 440 – The CYO on Bergen Avenue – You remember go-carts on 440 and # 5 Park – You hung out at the VIP or The Colonette after a night of partying and before that the Colony – The football Giants practicing at Roosevelt Stadium – Drunks and derelicts donating blood for money at the blood bank next to McCrorys – Everyone lived in a parish – J.M. Fields – Brummers Ice Cream Parlor at the Junction(the sons opened parlors in Vermilion, OH and Westwood, NJ) – Schroeder’s and Myers Ice Cream Parlor on Central Avenue – Your neighborhood beat cops first name – The Captains Table Restaurant at Roosevelt Stadium – Fischer Beers – Drive-in movies at Roosevelt Stadium – You sat on the Buffalo at Mosquito Park and rode your sled in winter there – Nedicks and Bickford’;s Cafeteria on the Square – Monteleones, Five Corners and the Paris Bakeries – In grammar school you went home for lunch and your mom made it for you cause she was there – You lived in a house/apartment with at the least one cousin and/or grandparent on the same street – You lived within 1/2 mile of three catholic churches (with schools attached) – Track meets and boxing matches at Pershing Field – The pool at North Street Park (and never called it Washington Park) – Battle of the Bands – You know the You know the A. Harry Moore cheer > – You drank or ate at any of these >places: The Park Tavern, Frank’s Bar and Grill, the   Glenwood, the Showboat, Narrowbacks, >Soap Creek, or Guarini’;s * Dekay’s Diner HA! * Your dad would take the whole family >to the Roosevelt Drive-In, but if you were over 12, he’d hide you in the trunk > * You’ve eaten at Jule’s, IIvento’s, >or the Rodeo Steakhouse * You remember buying candy at Liss Drugs Store >and then going to the movies on the Square * You shopped at The Grove Shoppe, >State Gown, Wenton’s or Cara Carson, and Barney Stock for designer clothes >or accessories * You went to John’s Bargain Store >for clothes pins and underwear * You remember Mayor Smith and that >he once sparred with Muhammad Ali * You hung out at the Hilltop on Newark >& Baldwin Ave. after high school everyday * You went to the “City” >to get drunk at 15 * You ate zeppoles and took chances >for the 50/50 at the Mount Carmel feast * You knew Great Eastern before it >was found to be a toxic PCP dump. Ditto behind    Lincoln Park * You could see the Statue of Liberty >or the Empire State Building from your house and    never visited them. * KFC and Gino’s were the same >fast food restaurant * You watched “Cops” on TV >and recognize the streets * You played basketball or hockey in >Country Village * You had a coconut drink at the Canton > * You learned to drive in Roosevelt >Stadium or B ayonne Park and make out at 11 PM * You swam at Bayonne Pool and skated >at the roller rink next door] * You saw headliner rock groups and >fireworks in Roosevelt Stadium * The PIX didn’t show porn * There were three colleges in Jersey >City to choose from, Jersey City State,    St. Peter’;s, and Rutgers University * You delivered the Jersey Journal >door-to-door and no one worried you’d get kidnapped    by a neighbor * You could sneak into the back door >of the Stanley for a free movie before the Jehovah’s    Witnesses took it over * You remember going to the State and >Loew’s movie theaters at the Square * You and all your friends were born >in the best maternity hospital in the state, the    Margaret Hague (best on the East >coast!)  * You were proud that Jimmy Spanarkel >made it to the Blue Devils * You know someone who saw a UFO in >Mosquito Park * You went swimming in Newark Bay and >you drove to Bayonne to go to Uncle Miltie’s * Going to Palisade Park was a big >adventure * You knew which house on the Boulevard >was haunted * You went to the “Shore” >after the prom * Republican was a dirty word * You remember turf wars between Sterling, >Ocean, the Heights, West Side, and Marion * For $2.00 you could take the “Tubes” >to Greenwich Village, buy an Orange Julius and a    chili dog, and then take the “Tubes” >back, and still have change! * Who was better, WW III or Medusa? > * The Jumping Jack’s and Bobbie >Blue * Were the 2nd St Damato’s really >related to Sinatra? * Everyone knew Sam DiFeo * You knew what time the Mosquito truck >fogged the block with diapason so you could    run behind in the thick smoke * The water truck that soaked down >the dusty cobble stones * Lay-aways at Mo Finks! * Swimming in the Hudson, Bare Ass ;Beach and Big Time was the Colgate’s Clock * You knew who Mr. Fix It was * You went to school with kids from Gammon Town and Dog Patch * Every one spoke English * Country Village was for rich people * They arrest people from Jersey City in Bayonne * Cops would kick your butt if you >answered them back * You knew the corner bookie and could >play a number for 15c with a 10c combo Hanging out in Hamilton Park Making Scooters out of Milk crate, two by Four and and one roller skate *P.S. 35, P.S. 23 and Dickinson H.S. *White Castle & Blimpies on Journal Square *Why Journal Square is named Journal Square This is quite a nice blast from the past…….Maybe someone will make a list of what’s left now and what replaced the old memories with new ones.-Icypearl blogspot If you remember something about old Jersey City not mentioned on the list -add to the list: Â

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