Opinion | Michael Vendome: 'I understand that during this crisis everyone needs help, but if the government is going to call something a 'small-business loan,' then it needs to make sure it actually goes to small businesses.' - NBCNewsTHINK
I grew up in the restaurant business: My family launched their first restaurant, Nino's, in the heart of midtown Manhattan in the early 1980s, and the summers I spent in their restaurants, as well as the after-school lunches I cooked with my grandma, molded my love for food. My parents often worked late, so I spent a lot of time with my Nonna — and every day she would teach me a different recipe. Sometimes we would cook a light frittata; others she would teach me how to make cavatelli.
As I got older, I decided that I wanted to learn more about the business side of the restaurant, so I enrolled in St John's University and pursued a degree in hospitality. My older brother, Franco — who was already running that first midtown restaurant — decided to enroll in the French Culinary Institute.
We finally did so in January 2019, launching Nino's AQ, a contemporary Italian restaurant in Astoria — the Queens neighborhood where we grew up. Nino's AQ on a busy night long before the shutdowns, as seen from Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens.Operating a restaurant in New York City had become a difficult juggling act over the last few years, though, even before the pandemic. Restaurants' profits have been squeezed from every side — from high rents to rising food and liquor costs to taxes — and the margins have evaporated faster than the water in my pasta cooker.
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