Markeshia Ricks Photo
Recco, Toma, Anthony, and Jennifer D’Amato from left to right, front row with the kitchen crew Timothy Davidovich, Adam Kelshall, Vivian Kledaras and Deborah Appleby. Below: The Combo #1.
For the first time in 85 years of feeding New Haveners fresh fried seafood, the D’Amatos have invited them to sit down.
The fifth-generation family business — D’Amato’s Seafood at 423 Whalley Ave. — has expanded its operations at the corner of Ellsworth and Whalley avenues to include a separate new dine-in restaurant next door.
Husband and wife Toma and Jennifer D’Amato, who have taken the reins of the family business, said they had been hoping to buy the building that has been home to the takeout business since 2005. They’ve both worked in the business since it was over on Grand Avenue and Toma’s father, Anthony, was running it. Toma is the fifth-generation family owner.
The D’Amato family first opened the fresh seafood business in 1933 over in Savin Rock in West Haven. Anthony’s parents were among the family members to run the business. It eventually morphed into a cooked seafood business, moving to Grand Avenue in 1971. Family members started looking for new digs for the takeout business when the Ferry Street Bridge closed in 2002 for safety reasons and severely impacted their business.
D’Amato’s dine-in space next door to the takeout location; new awnings and signs are coming too.
When they asked their customers to suggest where they could move, it came down to Whalley and Dixwell avenues. Whalley Avenue won.
“We ended up over here, and it was very successful right from the start,” Jennifer said. “We’re very lucky our following that my father in law had for years came. We let them know for quite a while that this is where we’d be so that worked out well for us.”
But in the last few years, the D’Amatos said, the landlord wasn’t maintaining the building well. They were thinking they could do a better job if they owned it.
“It was getting really run down,” Jennifer said of the Whalley Avenue building.
“The landlord wasn’t really taking care of it anymore and we were paying out of pocket to do stuff,” Toma added.
A picture of the original D’Amato’s at Savin Rock.
If they were ever to buy it, Jennifer said, they wanted to add a place where people could sit down and eat all year round. They got to see the potential of such an addition to the business when they added picnic tables out front, which was a big hit with customers. But that worked only on the days when it wasn’t brutally hot or ice cold.
“In this state, you don’t have too many months of the perfect outdoor weather,” Jennifer quipped.
“And it’s nice to eat [the food] when it’s hot out of the fryer,” Anthony added.
Three years ago, the opportunity to buy the building presented itself. The D’Amatos seized that opportunity and put their expansion plans in motion.
“There was a little restaurant next to us here,” Jennifer said. “A little soul food spot. They’re still in business. They moved down the street about a half a mile toward Westville.”
Jennifer said she likes to let people know that that business, which is now Joyce & Da’Vina’s Good ‘N Plenty Soul Food, is still around.
“They are good people but the new location worked for them because they were looking for something a little smaller and more manageable,” she said.
The new dining room’s dock- inspired concept.
Renovations to the new D’Amato’s dining space got underway about a year ago. Toma said it was a complete gut renovation. Workers took out a wall so that staff can pass from the takeout side kitchen where all the food is still prepared. The new space has a full kitchen with fryers and prep space but Toma said it likely won’t be used unless customer demand warrants it.
The new dine-in area, which seats up to 50 people, invokes a water connection with its walls that resemble the planks of a weathered dock and its accents of turquoise seating. And that was by design — his design, Toma said.
“I wanted it to be more like a dock,” he said. “We did most of the finishing work ourselves.”
He said the old place was in rough shape and needed a lot of work. He said he hopes the restaurant now has “a cool place for people to hang out and eat.”
Jennifer announced the opening of the new space on Facebook on Jan. 2. A formal grand opening is planned for some time in February.
“Hopefully, we can get the mayor out here,” Anthony said.
Anthony D’Amato: Proud of what the next generation has done with the family business.
Right now a temporary sign out front draws attention to the new dine-in space. Toma said eventually there will be new signage and an awning that lets people know that it’s the same D’Amato’s with a little something extra. He also is on the hunt for sturdier outdoor picnic-table umbrellas that are harder to blow away or steal.
Jennifer said her big hope is that the takeout business stays strong as ever because “that’s what we’ve been forever.” She also said she hopes it encourages regulars to come by a little more often, rather than having to eat in their car at lunchtime.
“We’d also like to attract more people to come into New Haven and come down to this area,” she said. “That’s why we decided to put our money back in here because we believe that it can still be a great area. People shouldn’t forget about it.”
“We’re still the same family from Grand Avenue,” she added. “I want [people] to know that and that we still do things the same way.”
A sketch of Anthony’s face, the official logo for the restaurant.
Anthony, who is the face of D’Amato’s — a sketch of his face with his signature phrase “Hook it up!!!” is the restaurant’s logo — pointed out that the new dine-in space allows the restaurant to offer a few new menu items like desserts, and more grilled items, which are best eaten immediately.
“The menu’s the same,” Anthony said. “Actually, it’s even better now. They got it down to a science.”
I am pretty sure this family had a sit-down, very casual restaurant in Branford, where the Post Road crosses the Branford River.