The real Italian job
In the two weeks since it re-opened, there have been days when the only available seat was in the bathroom; even that vacancy was questionable.
Originally founded in 1974 by Brooklyn native George Clarks, The Italian Place has moved three times and switched owners once in the ensuing decades. The current owners of the restaurant – which specializes in fresh, from-scratch sandwiches – recently finished a long round of renovation that brought the infrastructure of the building (originally erected in 1910) up to code.
“We put enough infrastructure in the building that ourselves or somebody else could actually build two more stories above where we are now,” said co-owner John Harder.
Harder, who along with Peggy Chanson, bought The Italian Place from Clarks while attending Utah State University, said he is pleased with the restaurant’s current home at 48 Federal Avenue across the street from Caffé Ibis.
“[The area’s] a little like the Soho of New York,” he said. “You look at Caffé Ibis across the street and private club Mulligan’s across the street and it’s a little different. The most interesting thing about the area, I think, is the name of the two streets. I can sit at the corner of Federal and Church and it’s probably the only place that I know about where the church and the government come together.”
Though Chanson and Harder originally planned to close for only a few months to do some basic renovations and then finish the work later, prepping the building for remodeling took so long that they decided to take care of the whole project in one shot.
“We always were going to re-open, that was the plan,” Chanson said. “At first it was going to be a fast remodeling, you know get in get out, [but] it needed a lot of upgrades. It just turned into a huge thing and then we just got sick of it and walked away from it for a couple years. Then, finally, we just decided, OK, let’s get things up and running.”
Since its quiet opening, word of mouth has brought some new faces and many long-time customers returning to the place where Harder says people can get good conversation and some of the freshest, fastest-made from-scratch sandwiches anywhere in the world.
“You can’t get BS anywhere else,” he said. “You get people in plastic uniforms and rubber gloves and name tags and we don’t have any of that here. The restaurant reminds me a lot like “Cheers” early on – I have a ton of regulars and every one of them is interesting. Pretty authentic people.”
“We’ve been around and it’s kind of a different concept,” Chanson added. “If you get a green pepper, it’s just a green pepper, it hasn’t been processed – it’s just plain, simple, good, fresh food. That’s it.”
As an opening special, until it can fix prices based on costs, a sandwich and drink combo at The Italian Place costs $5.50 plus tax.
Customers view a list from which they pick meat, vegetables, type of bread, and sauces. Though there are plans to reintroduce soups and salads to the menu, the restaurant only sells sandwiches right now.
Although Harder isn’t sure he’ll return entirely to the old menu, in the past, many sandwiches had names reflecting the original theme of the restaurant which opened shortly after “The Godfather” came out.
“It had a lot of gang stuff like [signs that read] ‘protected by the mob,’ and little machine guns,” Chanson said.
“That’s why the sandwiches have names like New York and Manhattan. But it’s always been a sandwich shop.”
In addition to the main restaurant, which is currently open 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, Harder and Chanson run a catering business where they make any food for any occasion, Chanson said.
Though Harder appreciated the four years he had to take a look at his life and have a “quiet moment,” his enjoyment of intelligent people and good food brought him back to the skill he learned from his mother.
“If I missed anything, I missed the people and their ideas,” Harder said. “My customers aren’t like the regular customers.”
Harder, who said his customers got him elected to the city council where he served for four years, believes USU is one of the things that “makes Logan happen.”
“If you guys were not on the hill, Logan would be a pretty dull place to live.”
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu
John Harder prepares a manhattan, one of the many signature sandwiches available at The Italian Place. The Italian Place is located 48 Federal Ave. in Logan and has recently reopened after being closed for four years. (Photo by John Zsiray)