Page 19 - Italian-American Herald - September 2024

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ITALIANS IN AMERICA - OUR IMMIGRANT STORIES
A humble Brooklyn pizza shop was the seed of a self-made restaurant empire
Luciano Lamberti, July 2024. (Photo Credit: Tanya Tecce)
Written by Tanya Tecce
From his humble beginnings in the impoverished seaside town of Monte di Procida, province of Naples, obstacles are nothing new to Luciano Lamberti, the youngest of Giuseppe and Rosa Lamberti’s five children. In fact, in authentic Italian immigrant style, he uses them to fuel his projects instead. His latest – Luciano Lamberti Restaurant and Sunset Marina in Margate, N.J.,
just south of Atlantic City – re-creates the feeling of dining in Positano or Sorrento.
The restaurant covers all the bases: the breathtaking view, amazing sunsets (I mean, really, you have to experience
this - photos do not do it justice), outstanding food (they still make the meatballs the way Luciano’s mama did), happy hours, DJs, dancing, catering, a venue for weddings and life events, meet-and-greets on the water and even free parking. The space is grand and gorgeous; and the feeling magnificent. It is the closest you’re going to get to the Amalfi coast at the Jersey Shore.
This achievement is made more remarkable considering all the challenges Luciano faced. Despite five years of delays, drama, doubters, shutdowns, and even cancer, the heart and vision that pulls Luciano is stronger than any of that. So he triumphed to create this breathtaking marina experience, his restaurant an ode to a ship sailing the seas. Luciano’s ship is a two-story one, with glass from ceiling to floor, so you can take in more of the beauty. And, like a true Italian renaissance man, Luciano is not only the owner – but the chef, designer, landscaper and more. Here Luciano is captain, just like his father before him was captain of the sailboats on the Mediterranean.
It’s not the Amalf i Coast, but the Jersey Shore. (Photo Credit: David Morrison)
Luciano’s father Giuseppe hadn’t seen his own dad since he was a toddler, so at 37 years old he came to America to look for him. They were reunited after 34 years in Brooklyn, N.Y. Luciano’s grandfather wanted his son Giuseppe to get his green card, become a legal U.S. citizen and bring his family here. So Giuseppe started learning how to complete that process while taking work as a dishwasher. One week when he was shorted on his pay, he decided to return to Italy instead and make the best of it there.
He set out for the travel agency, but God had other plans. Maybe it was a divine twist and maybe it was the way Brooklyn shops are built, but Giuseppe went through the door on the right instead of the left. The man inside was
a friend with a pizza parlor he wanted to sell for $5,000. With typical Italian audacity, Giuseppe agreed, “Yes, but for $2,000 cash and you have to teach me how to make pizzas.”
That pivotal moment shifted 4-year-old Luciano Lamberti’s legacy. Giuseppe was able to send for his family, and Luciano’s mama Rosa brought Luciano and his four siblings to America by boat. They all started working alongside their parents in the shop. Luciano remembers his oldest brother still needing to stand on the tomato crates
to reach the counter, and his mom in the back making zeppole. “When I’d watch my mom cooking in our kitchen on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, she would always tell me that there are people who would dream of having this food. She was able to make an outstanding entree out of nothing.”
The family lived upstairs from the shop in a two- bedroom apartment. Dad was strict about work, prioritizing it over socializing. “He taught us so well. We got a thing because of this.”Their work ethic is their passion.
The family moved to Bay Ridge in the 1970s when malls were the new thing. They partnered with many in
The sun sets in a glowing cloak of gold, as seen from Luciano Lamberti Restaurant and Sunset Marina. (Photo Credit: David Morrison)
Long Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, started the Scotto and Sbarro pizza chains, then branched off into restaurants. Like his dad before him, Luciano went to work in the kitchen washing dishes.
Luciano moved to Berlin, N.J., and started his first restaurant himself. His uncle gave him a hand financially to get started and Luciano did the rest. He did the construction, found the glass, did the lighting, cooked the food, washed the dishes – all of it, roots to roof.
“It’s important to know how to do all these things,” he says.
Each summer Luciano returns to visit where it all began, Monte di Procida. And every August the family harvests tomatoes (except this summer, because they have over 300 mason jars left from last time). The gravy/sauce debate continues, but since Luciano has a foot in each world, he understands it’s gravy because of what was lost in translation for us Italian Americans, and sauce with Italians.
For Luciano, the challenges he faced only drove him harder and inspired his determination. He’d stay in touch with his dream throughout it all – through the radiation, the world shutting down, all the doctor appointments, surgeons, second opinions, all the doubters, and the construction – by walking around the property and remembering his vision, what could be. What would be. What is, because of the qualities he shares with his father and many other Italians: his incredible courage, adventurous spirit, determination and will, passionate work ethic and fierce Italian heart.
Luciano Lamberti is owner and founder of several restaurants including Luce, Pasta Vino and the most recent revival of Luciano Lamberti’s Restaurant and Sunset Marina, all in New Jersey; as well as Maxi’s pizza bar and subs on Temple University’s campus for over 20 years.
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