Tommy’s Restaurant on Coventry marks 50 years: ‘I wanted to make people happy’ (photos)

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Tommy’s on Coventry is as much an institution as it is a down-to-earth haven in Cleveland Heights.

of Wooster. And not long after he opened on his own, Rolling Stone voted it “Best Milkshake East of the Mississippi.”)

On Jan. 14, 1972, Fello – who had just turned 19 – became a businessman. And a restaurant career was born. “When I look at their sandwich and I see the name of their sandwich, I think of them back in the ‘70s,” Fello said. He was at the Euclid Heights location until 1977, when he lost the lease. In 1978, he opened next to Mac’s Backs in an L-shaped building. He built a balcony and had a dumb waiter to ferry dishes. Fire hit the building in 1988. From 1988 to 1992 he shared space with two other tenants. Merchants came together and fixed up the building he is in now. He took it over as sole occupant in 1993.

Word of mouth carried about the handmade sandals, and that grassroots marketing kept Hazelwood working long hours. The district runs from Mayfield Road to Euclid Heights Boulevard. More than 50 businesses and 17 property owners in the 1990s taxed themselves equally, Fello said. They pay into a collective pool, and the funds help all.

Brian Anderson, business development manager for Cleveland Heights, has spent 20 years in the area, between attending nearby John Carroll University, living in, and working for the city. He calls Tommy’s a “driving force” for the neighborhood. Early on, his mom would make the baba ghanouj at home by burning the eggplant. The family had a four-burner stove in the basement.Now, the restaurant has a massive preparation kitchen in the basement. And the wafting roasty aroma from the eggplant, which lay sliced open on trays, still permeates the kitchen. Falafel also is made from scratch; workers soak the beans daily. Salad dressings are homemade.

“I guess I must have had some sort of inkling, but I was clueless for a long time,” Fello said. “I should be out of business. Thank God people love my food.”Tommy Fello in 1977. “My first plan is: Have you ever seenOn a serious note, he keeps faith in his family to run the business.

 

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Proud to be among those who occupied those crummy orange Naugahyde seats at the original Tommy's. Still ordering the RJ & Jackson salad with Tahiti dressing, including every visit home during yrs I lived away. Congrats, Tommy--here's to the next 50! CoventryCleve Tommys4ever

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