Joseph Monastero, ebullient owner of Northwest Side namesake restaurant

Joseph Monastero opened and helped run his namesake Northwest Side Italian restaurant for 55 years, complementing the Italian fare with live music and an annual grape-stomping competition.

“Joe was just always a welcoming and great guy, and he just made everybody feel like it was one big family there all the time,” said former Democratic state Rep. John D’Amico. “It was just always our go-to place.”

Monastero, 93, died of complications from dementia on Sept. 7 at his home, said his son, Joseph. He had been a Lincolnwood resident for 45 years.

Born in Philadelphia, Monastero’s family moved to Italy when he was about 2 years old. He grew up in the Sicilian town of Caccamo and attended college in Palermo, Italy, and he later returned to school to earn a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University in 1976. Monastero returned to the U.S. in 1952 and moved to be near some distant relatives in Kankakee, where he then took a job at the local armory, his son said.

In 1954, Monastero joined the Army, working as a high-speed radio operator and stationed at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, his son said. After being discharged in 1956, he joined his family in Chicago, where he first worked in a wholesale fruit and vegetable supply business.

In 1962, Monastero, his sister, Gina, and his brother, Salvy, bought a Northwest Side pizzeria, La Canopy. Five years later, they built and opened Monastero’s Ristorante in a nearby space at 3935 W. Devon Ave.

Over the years, the popularity of the restaurant and its Sicilian fare allowed it to expand several times. In 1969, the restaurant opened a garden courtyard with a trellis.

“Dad, his brother and his sister always were ahead of the times, and al fresco seating didn’t catch on until more recently, but back then, they gave it a shot, installing grape arbors and real grapes,” Monastero’s son said.

In 1981, the restaurant expanded with the opening of its first banquet hall, named after 15th-century Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. That banquet hall could hold a wedding of up to 300 guests. In 1990, the restaurant opened a second banquet hall, named in honor of Monastero’s sister, Gina, who died later that year. “Gina’s Room” could hold a wedding of up to 200 guests.

“We wanted one location to have everything in it,” Monastero’s son said.

Bonnie Shanahan, a longtime friend and patron, called Monastero “a true gentleman” who made all customers feel special.

“You felt like you were walking into his home,” she said. “You were warmly greeted and the food was wonderful — as was the music, too. Joe was just such a wonderful gentleman and was so loving and so kind.”

In 1969, the restaurant began an annual grape-stomping competition that lasted for decades.

“We cannot stop doing it. I’ve tried several times,” Monastero said jokingly to the Tribune in 1999.

The Monastero family also had a tremendous fondness for opera music, and the restaurant blended song and food. One way it did so was through annual opera competitions, which started in 1974 and were held by the Bel Canto Foundation, of which Monastero was president. Monastero also was known for starting off the evening with a few Neapolitan folk songs, delivered in his tenor voice.

“I don’t worry if I don’t hit all the high notes,” he told the Tribune in 1980. “I just keep going.”

He was quick to yield the stage at the restaurant to other singers — those with training and those without.

“This is a joy to do,” he told the Tribune in 1980. “You fulfill yourself in the fine arts. You would be surprised how many people of means haven’t been exposed to opera; there’s a tremendous audience to be reached. Also, we present it in an informal, unpretentious way — by the people and for the people.”

Singers included Monastero’s wife, Martha, who won the competition in 1976 and then married Monastero in 1978.

The restaurant closed in 2017 after the Monastero family accepted an offer from a Romanian Pentecostal church to buy the property and convert it to a church and religious community center.

Monastero enjoyed gardening and singing in a church choir with his late brother. He also was involved in civic and philanthropic activities, including volunteering on a polio vaccine initiative, participating in the Rotary Club of Glenview-Sunrise and working with the Catering Executives Club of America “to support the next generation of hospitality work force to come into our industry,” his son said.

In 1995, the Italian government recognized him for his work in promoting Italian culture abroad by awarding him the title of Cavaliere Ufficiale, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, his son said.

His son recalled that on Mondays, when the restaurant was closed, the family would gather for dinners at Monastero’s house or at his brother’s house.

“We were all together growing up and to this day are all very close,” Monastero’s son said. “It was a beautiful thing to see three siblings come into the U.S., follow that American Dream and accomplish so much.”

In addition to his wife and son, Monastero is survived by two daughters, Maria Orszula and Elena Ryan; and five grandchildren.

Services were held.

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.