Lost Tables: Yacovelli's

Yacovelli's

John Yacovelli was born Giovanni Yacovelli in Casalduni, Italy in 1897. He came to St. Louis in 1911 and worked as a busboy and a waiter at Victor Massa's saloon at 6117 Easton.

In 1919, after serving in World War I, Yacovelli opened his own restaurant at 3908 Laclede Avenue. While Yacovelli would give subsequent restaurants his surname, he named his first after the avenue on which it was located. He operated the Laclede Restaurant for ten years as John Velli, anglicizing his name, as was common for immigrants starting a business to deter discrimination.

BANDIT GETS $122 FROM MAN TRYING TO HIDE HIS CASH
Restaurant Proprietor Suspects Customer, but is Surprised by Holdup Man in Kitchen.

John Velli, proprietor of a restaurant at 3908 Laclede avenue, did not like the looks of a customer who came in at 8 o'clock last night and ordered a cup of coffee. So he removed $37 from the cash register and placed it, with $85 he had in his pockets, on a table in the kitchen. However, the man entered the kitchen, held up Velli, and got the money.
St. Louis Star and Times, Nov 16, 1920


John Yacovelli, circa 1919	3908 Laclede Avenue, 2019

Yacovelli returned briefly to Italy in 1923 to marry and again in 1924 to bring his wife, Filomena, and newborn son, Dewey, back to St. Louis. They lived at 3906A Laclede, above their restaurant, where their daughter, Mary Ann, was born in 1928.

By 1930, Yacovelli had moved his restaurant to 4301 Lafayette Avenue, at the northwest corner of Lafayette and Tower Grove. He had lived a block away at 4406 Lafayette in 1922, the year before he was married.

Yacovelli family lore has the restaurant moving to Lindbergh and Lemay Ferry in 1932. However, Gould's St. Louis City Directory still lists the restaurant at 4301 Lafayette in both 1932 and 1933, with a second location opening at 3935 South Grand in 1933. Both restaurants likely operated until 1935, when Yacovelli closed them and moved to 1515 South Grand. In 1936, he moved again to 1506 South Grand, just south of Park.

In 1941, the Yacovelli Cafe moved across the street to 1466 South Grand, at the northeast corner of Grand and Park. It remained there until 1944.

Yacovelli Cafe, 1466 South Grand, circa 1942

In 1944, John Yacovelli moved his restaurant to the County. He opened Yacovelli Restaurant on May 4, 1944 at 375 North Big Bend in University City, at the northwest corner of Big Bend and Millbrook.

Yacovelli Restaurant, 375 North Big Bend, 1944
(click image to enlarge)

The new restaurant was strategically located across from Washington University and was frequented by students and faculty members. It featured a large dining room, with table and booth seating, and a horseshoe-shaped bar. On the lower level. the "Bear Pit" could seat 100 revelers for private gatherings, while bears watched from murals adorning the walls.

The June 1947 issue of the Washington University Eliot magazine gave Yacovelli's a mixed review.

Fine place in a mighty convenient location – as most of the university has discovered. A remodeling job has just been completed, adding much to the interior attractiveness. A partition now separates the bar and the eating part for fastidious who prefer to enjoy their food without observing the inebriated. Pretty good food, although the prices are a bit steep. Drink is abundant and the service is okay – the waitresses are nice and able to take a joke.

Yacovelli Restaurant Dining Room, 1944
(click image to enlarge)

Yacovelli Restaurant Bear Pit, 1944
(click image to enlarge)

In 1951, John Yacovelli's son, Dewey, and Dewey's wife, Marie, opened a new Yacovelli's Restaurant at 717 East Big Bend in Oakland, sandwiched between Webster Groves and Kirkwood. A few months later, John Yacovelli closed his restaurant in University City and retired.


John & Filomena Yacovelli	Dewey & Marie Yacovelli

By 1964, Dewey and Marie Yacovelli's 48 seat restaurant had grown to a capacity of 350. Besides the main dining room, there was a small private dining room upstairs seating 25 and the East Wing, designed for banquet service, usually booked well in advance.

Yac’s Side Door – an intimate cocktail lounge boasting a private side entrance – was added in 1962. It featured authentic early American antiques and a log-burning fireplace.

The Yacovellis were early pioneers of the self-service salad bar, adding it to their menu of seafood, steaks and Italian dishes in 1953.

Yacovelli's Salad Bar, circa 1953
Marie Yacovelli on left



Yacovelli's Menu, circa 1964 (click image to enlarge)

In 1965, Dewey and Marie Yacovelli sold their restaurant on Big Bend. The new owners were allowed to keep the name Yacovelli's – and prevent Dewey and Marie from using it – until the restaurant closed in 1977.

The Yacovellis opened the Camelot Restaurant in July of 1965 in the Quality Courts motel at Graham Road and Highway 270, in Hazelwood. After operating it for a little over a year, they let the motel take over the restaurant in September of 1966.

In early 1967, Dewey and Marie opened Mr. Yac's at 427 Dunn Road, at Interstate 270 and Graham Road in Florissant.

Mr. Yac's, 427 Dunn Road

In his October 6, 1976 St. Louis Post-Dispatch review, restaurant critic Joe Pollack found Mr. Yac's "pleasant" – except for the Worcestershire sauce.

I like Worcestershire sauce. I don't like it quite as much as garlic, but I find it a flavorful addition to a number of dishes and glasses. Sometimes I use too much, and my Bloody Mary turns brown, but I enjoy it on French fried potatoes as an acceptable substitute for vinegar, which I really like on French fried potatoes, in the English manner.
I've also found that a dash of Worcestershire added to some melted butter and a squeezed clove or two of garlic helps a steak when it is brushed on before broiling.
The tangy sauce also is an integral part of steak Diane, which brings us closer to the point of the tale which is that while a dash of Worcestershire is a pleasant touch, too much is a ruination.
That was the fate of the steak Diane at a recent visit to Mr. Yac's Restaurant, but the killing overdose of Worcestershire was the only destructive note in two dinners, which provided pleasant experiences in the range of $12 per person.
The Florissant restaurant, at 427 Dunn Road, just north of 1-270, is a roomy, comfortable one, with nice service, a warm feeling to the room and a menu that can best be described as general, with an emphasis on beef.
Toasted ravioli ($2.75), shrimp cocktail ($3.25) and soup du jour (90 cents), are the appetizers. The toasted ravioli, described as homemade, appeared to be, and though the filling was extremely pleasant, the crust was soggy and thick, as if it had been toasted a long time ago and left too long in a warming pan.
Dinner includes a trip to the salad bar, and the choices are prime rib ($5.25, $6.75 or $7.95), filet mignon ($7.50 and $10.95), sirloin steak ($7.25), rib eye ($5.25), teriyaki minute steak ($5.25), minute steak ($5.25), steak Diane ($7.25), steak Parmesan ($4.95), fried chicken ($3.95), catfish ($4.25), special fried shrimp ($6.95), king crab legs ($6.95), lobster tails without price, a filet and crab leg combination ($8.50) and a combination of steak tips, lobster, crab legs and shrimp ($7.95).
The salad bar, even for one who traditionally doesn't care for the operation, was a good one. The plates were large enough to hold a satisfactory portion, and the selection was interesting. There were different items on the two nights we circled it, but the salad greens were fresh and crisp, and the other items showed considerable imagination.
For example, there were pickled pigs' knuckles on it one night, and caviar, and even though the latter was not the best Beluga, it was nice to find it on hand.
Other offerings, not necessarily the same both trips, were smoked oysters, sardines, chopped liver (a trip abroad makes one want to say "liver pate"), ham salad, chick peas, olives, watermelon pickles and many other taste-tempters.
With the exception of the steak Diane, which was a good piece of beef and a shame to be so inedibly drowned in Worcestershire, the main courses were quite good.
The special shrimp, for example, was unusual and very tasty. The shrimp is stuffed with cream cheese, then battered and fried, and the effect was a pleasant surprise. Actually, the cheese added enough flavor of its own that the side dish of sauce wasn't needed.
Prime rib was of nice size, cooked to the requested moment and flavor and tenderness were highly proper. Fried chicken also was good. The batter was light, and the chicken had been fried to a crunchy crispness.
Another winner was the catfish. The batter was good, the cooking just right and the fish itself boasted all the rich flavor that a good catfish possesses.
Crab legs were large and filled with lots of tender, juicy meat, and the baked potatoes and French fries that came alongside were adequate, if not spectacular.
Dinner at Mr. Yac's was a pleasant way to pass an evening. Portions are large, and simple fare, well-prepared, still makes for an enjoyable dinner, even if there was considerable proof that what's sauce for the Bloody Mary isn't necessarily sauce for the steak Diane.

John Yacovelli died on October 3, 1972 at the age of 75.

In 1977, Dewey and Marie Yacovelli turned over the operation and ownership of Mr. Yac's to their son, Jack, and his wife, Jan.

In April of 1985, Jack and Jan Yacovelli moved their restaurant to the building next door at 407 Dunn Road. The new space could seat as many as 600 persons in larger dining rooms and banquet facilities. With the move, the restaurant returned to its original family name – Yacovelli's.

Florissant Mayor James Eagan (center) cuts ribbon to mark opening of new Yacovelli's.
Also participating (from left) Marie, Jan, Jack and Dewey Yacovelli.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 28, 1985

In spite of the ownership change, Dewey Yacovelli still tested new menu items and he and Marie both worked in the office. Jack Yacovelli respected the continuity.

Family members give you that little bit extra that is needed in running any kind of business. They've got a stake in the business, too.
And you'll always find a Yacovelli in this restaurant from early in the morning to late at night. And I think people expect that. We are an institution and for that, we have to do a little bit extra. Our customers expect it. Many people have been customers since my grandfather was in business.

Jan and Jack Yacovelli in the dining room of Yacovelli's
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan 16, 1986

Jack and Jan Yacovelli operated their restaurant into the the twenty-first century. In his May 27, 2004 review, St. Louis Post-Dispatch restaurant critic Joe Bonwich noted that much had stayed the same.

In many ways, Yacovelli’s is indeed a throwback: a white-tablecloth restaurant with fresh red carnations on every table and unjacketed, black-tie waiters, but also institution-quality side vegetables, ridiculously salty beef soup and something called "fresh buttery taste spread" for the bread. These shortcomings, however, were very easily swept aside by hearing servers calling diners twice and three times their age "my dear," and by our own memories — no doubt similar to those of thousands of locals — of proms, wedding receptions and other life milestones that had taken place in the restaurant or adjoining banquet room.

Yacovelli's Dining Room


Yacovelli's Menu, 1994 (click image to enlarge)

Yacovelli's Restaurant, 407 Dunn Road

In September of 2014, Jack and Jan Yacovelli announced they would close their restaurant at the end of the year.

"We’re tired, we want to have more time," Jan said. "We both have our health. It’s time to enjoy life. We’ve worked really hard our whole life."

"We've missed so much," Jack said. "My grandson plays select baseball, I've only been to one game. My granddaughters play select soccer, and I've seen just two games. We're looking forward to it."

Jack and Jan Yacovelli, 2014

The Yacovellis threw a "Last Dance, Last Chance" party on Dec. 26 to celebrate their nine-plus decades in business. The ticket only event included a special menu featuring the restaurant’s signature Prime Rib buffet, specialty desserts, and a DJ.

On December 31, 2014, the 95-year-old family business came to an end.