The Original Vince's Spaghetti is one of my Go-To's for great Italian food!
Here is a little history of one of the best Italian restaurants in the heart of Ontario California.
It all started with a French Dip.
If Frank Cuccia's uncle hadn't eaten that plate of Grandmother
Rose's spaghetti in front of the customers, Vince's Restaurant might still be a
French Dip Stand. Cuccia, the owner and operator of Vince's Spaghetti
restaurant said his mother and father, Uncle George and Vince and his Aunt
Louise started as a French Dip and orange juice stand over 50 years ago.
The Cuccias arrived from Chicago as WWII was ending.
Once in California, the
Cuccias opened a family sandwich stand in late Summer 1945. Frank Cuccia's father,
John, was still in Europe in the Army when theCuccia uncles and aunt opened the
stand. Two months later Cuccia says, one of those uncles happened to be eating
a plate of his mother's spaghetti when a customer spied it and asked if the
plate of pasta and meatballs was on the menu. It wasn't, but anything for a
good customer and a plate of spaghetti was brought in from the family's home.
The rest is history.
The sandwich stand didn't have a kitchen at that time, but one
was built soon after as it became ever more difficult to lug the spaghetti from
Rose's kitchen at home over to the stand. So what began as something of a fluke
soon grew into the 425-seat restaurant currently on Holt.
In mid-1946, the menu boasted a plate of "real spaghetti and
meatballs" for 65 cents or 40cents for a "medium order" for those with smaller
stomachs. Toasted garlic bread or the restaurant's cheese bread cost an extra
15 cents at the time.
Vince's soon attracted a large and loyal following, particularly
among families, a tradition that continues to this day, Cuccia says.
"We're open only until 9pm and we don't serve alcohol without food,"
he says. "So it lends itself easily to families. We've been here so long,
we have patrons who used to be children bringing in not only their children but
their grandchildren as well."
Cuccia's parents' legacy lives on. Frank Cuccia says he intends to be
making the sauce for many years to come - at 66, retirement is not in his near
future. "Oh no," he says. "I love the restaurant business. You
can touch a lot of people. I like being involved in my community."
Excerpts from "It all started with French Dip," by Jean
Henshaw of the Inland Valley Bulletin
Courtesy of : http://vincesspaghettirestaurant.com/
