Triumph over tragedy

Walking through the doors of Cosimo”™s on Union Avenue in Newburgh the aroma of baking bread and roasting garlic envelopes a visitor. It might make you miss the quiet tribute to the restaurant”™s founder in the vestibule, a picture of a big, smiling man.
For those who knew the founder of one of the Hudson Valley”™s most popular restaurant chains or ever had the pleasure of having him personally serve you, it”™s a bittersweet reminder to the family and friends Cosimo DiBrizzi left behind. 
Like most who come to America, Italian-born DiBrizzi brought his ambitions: to have a wife, a family, a business and a home of his own. Those were the benchmarks on DiBrizzi”™s street of dreams. He accomplished them all; at the time of his death in 2004, Cosimo”™s Restaurant Group ( HYPERLINK “http://www.cosimosrestaurantgroup.com” cosimosrestaurantgroup.com) was estimated to be worth $25 million and was billed as one of the top 100 pizza chains in the United States. But DiBrizzi”™s life was cut short by an intruder in his Newburgh home. He and his son Nicholas never saw the shooter or knew what was coming, it happened that quickly. Nicholas survived; Cosimo did not.
There”™s a $100,000 reward waiting out there if a “person of interest” is named. And if by turn of events the shooter is brought to justice, would it bring son, husband, father, grandfather or friend back?  “We get through each day without my father,” Nicholas DiBrizzi said. “We get through it, but I don”™t think there is a minute that goes by that we stop thinking of him.”
When the news hit the airwaves, the self-made millionaire who never felt he was above working shoulder to shoulder with his employees became the focus of the media. Then, it was over. But just ask anyone affected by violent tragedy and they”™ll tell you ”” it is never over. Day follows day and months turn to years, but the pain never goes away. It just lies beneath the surface. Yes, life has gone on, says Nicholas, and life has gone on for his family, but “It will never be normal ”” I don”™t think it can ever be again.”
“My father”™s death somehow brought us closer. That may sound strange because so many people fall apart and take everything out on each other; they are just overwhelmed. We are overwhelmed too, but we have stayed together. I think it is because we have always been such a close-knit family. Dinner on Sunday is a fixture in our house ”¦ that hasn”™t changed. And working hard to keep the business a success is a tremendous source of strength and personal pride for us,” says Nicholas, now 29 and chief executive officer of Cosimo”™s Restaurant Group. “I know my dad would be proud to see what we”™ve been able to accomplish and how we”™ve tried to follow in his footsteps. But is it easy getting through the day? No, it”™s not. It is there every single day of our lives. We just get through it.”

GROWING SUCCESS
DiBrizzi”™s son was just a baby when his father worked the 16-hour days in Middletown”™s old Orange Plaza. Those were the city”™s heydays, when Route 211 was a booming strip, when Orange Plaza and its stores and restaurants like DiBrizzi”™s Mama Brava were familiar fixtures. And it was there, sweating behind the counter, that DiBrizzi mapped out his strategy to build his business.
“Cosimo rode the mall boom of the 1970s,” said nephew Nick Citera, who began working for his uncle as soon as he was old enough to get his working papers. Citera is now the chief operating officer for the multimillion-dollar organization. “My uncle placed one thing above all else, and that was taking care of his family. He was like a father to me. We all worked together, we all ate dinner together. As soon as we were old enough to work, there was a job waiting for us. That”™s how it was with Cosimo,” Citera said.
DiBrizzi and Joe Bonura, owner of Anthony”™s Pier 9 in New Windsor, became fast friends and business partners. It wasn”™t just a matter of heritage and family values or that they both were in the food industry. “They had the same work ethic,” Citera said. At a recent event at Bonura”™s new restaurant, Shadows on the Hudson in Poughkeepsie, he was running around the parking lot in his shirt-sleeves directing traffic in subzero weather ”” two minutes later, he was back in the kitchen, making sure the food was ready for the guests. “That sounds just like something my dad would do,” Nicholas said. “That”™s why he and Joe took to each other so well. They never felt they were above any kind of work, just get the job done and satisfy their customers, make sure people would be happy and want to come back again.”
Together, DiBrizzi and Bonura bought the crumbling Radisson Hotel in Poughkeepsie, turning it into the Poughkeepsie Grand in 1994. The Grand “is one of the success stories of the city”™s rebirth,” Poughkeepsie Chamber President Charlie North said. “It didn”™t happen overnight, but they began it. Both Cosimo and Joe had the drive to make something happen.”

While DiBrizzi continued building his successful pizzeria chain, he longed to be more than a renter.  “My uncle always had foresight ”” he saw the mall boom ending ”¦ he also saw that to truly be able to grow his business, he needed to own the property, not just lease a space. He also wanted to be able to try different things. When you are in a mall, that”™s it. They dictate the size, the hours and while my uncle got along with everyone, he wanted to be his own man.”
Buying a piece of property on Route 300 in Newburgh, DiBrizzi opened his first brick oven restaurant in 1993. A wood-fired oven was a novelty for the Hudson Valley, drawing the curious. The curious soon turned into a following and Cosimo”™s brick oven pizza soon became a local landmark.        

STILL GROWING
Poughkeepsie wasnӪt the only city on which DiBrizziӪs and BonuraӪs vision had an impact. Back on the other side of the Hudson, the pair took a leap of faith, opening an upscale American bistro-style restaurant on the Newburgh waterfront, Torches on the Hudson. With its 5,000-gallon aquarium and Manhattan-style d̩cor, it quickly became the place to go for the young and upscale of the Hudson Valley.
“Why pay rent when we can pay a mortgage?”™” was dad”™s philosophy when he bought the first property in Newburgh,” Nicholas said. “Going forward, that”™s been our objective,” Citerno said. “We try to locate as close to the local mall as possible.”Â  The family opened their latest restaurant in Central Valley, just outside the entrance to Woodbury Common. “Again, the reason we chose that spot was to be in close proximity to the mall,” Citerno said. “It”™s good business sense, we are property owners and also situated close enough to capture the shopping crowd. That”™s just what Cosimo would have done.”
The original Cosimo”™s on Union is much bigger than the small wood-fired oven pizza restaurant its founder first opened more than a decade ago. DiBrizzi and Citerno have expanded on the original: there”™s an extensive wine cellar, which has won Wine Spectator”™s Award of Excellence eight years in a row, along with a private dining room. “Dad would be so happy to see what we”™ve done to this place. When he opened it, it was half the size it is now,” his son said. And Citerno has picked up where Cosimo left off: walking the room, stopping by a table and asking the customers if everything”™s OK. DiBrizzi”™s nephew has learned well from his mentor.
Since their father”™s death, Nicholas and sister Elisa, who has also taken an active role in the company, are back at home with their mom. Despite the horrific tragedy that happened in their home, “There was never a question of selling the house. Our home is my father”™s dream,” Nicholas said. “Yes, it hurts to live with what happened there, but there are so many good memories, many more than just that one terrible event. Mom keeps busy ”” and she”™s my CEO,” Nicholas said. “My sister Serena is married, and there are grandchildren that bring a lot of joy to my mother, but like the rest of us, she gets through the day one day at a time. She goes home to visit her family in Italy each summer, 13 brothers and sisters. We have our grandmother, Immaculata, living in Poughkeepsie; she”™s still going strong despite what happened to us. Dad always told us, ”˜Keep going”™ and that”™s what we”™re doing. But I”™m not going to say that each day isn”™t hard to be without him.”

The family has set up a scholarship in Cosimo DiBrizzi”™s name through the Dutchess Community Foundation. If you aspire to become one of the Hudson Valley”™s next great chefs, contact the Foundation or  Poughkeepsie Area of Chamber of Commerce ( HYPERLINK “http://www.pokchamb.org” www.pokchamb.org)  to apply for the grant to the Culinary Arts Institute.
On April 19, Cosimo DiBrizzi Celebrity Servers Dinner will be hosting a benefit for the Cosimo DiBrizzi scholarship at Cosimo”™s Trattoria and Bar, 120 Delafield St., Poughkeepsie.