In 1956, Tony’s mother boarded the Andrea Doria docked on the shores of Napoli and sailed toward North America. She was thirteen years old. She had been born in the city of Marigliano, Italy and like many young men and women, made the month-and-a-half long voyage to the States in hopes of a better life.
She arrived on the shores of Chicago and settled on the corner of Taylor and Lumas streets until she was eighteen. She moved to Cicero after getting married and had her second son, Tony, at the young age of twenty. She would have two more sons and a daughter to complete her family.
Even as a child, Tony was always interested in cooking and helped his mother make dinners for the family. In 7th and 8th grade, Tony took Home Economics classes where he learned about cooking. He enjoyed it very much and not only because he was the only boy in the class. His first assignment, he recalls, was to make enchiladas.
His interest in cooking propelled him to work at a restaurant as a bus boy for two years and later at Houlihan’s for two and a half years as a line cook. The line cook duties included food preparation, vegetable cutting, knife handling, making soup stocks, making base sauces like hollandaise, prepping his own station to be ready for lunch and dinner rushes and preparing and making his own hamburgers. He learned proper safety, storage and food handling. He enjoyed the pressure of the restaurant industry and later enrolled in culinary classes at the local community college to gain more perspective on the business aspects of the service industry.
Although his passion remained in food, soon the pressures of life and responsibility took their own measure on Tony’s life and he set aside his dream of owning a restaurant someday for a more responsible and mainstream career in printing sales. During that time Tony had two sons and some years later advanced to a position that had him travelling back and forth to Rome regularly. Even though he was exceptionally successful selling printing, his one dream stayed with him until he realized that he was in a position to finally make it come true.
In 2003, he opened Devil Dog with a partner and stayed for three years until an ideal spot in Bartlett, IL opened up in 2006 and he jumped on it immediately. The restaurant is a fast food place that sells Hot Dogs, Italian Beef, Gyros, Burgers and more. Tony immerses himself within the community and holds fundraisers and events on a regular basis. His restaurant is known throughout the Northwest Suburbs and there is scarcely a day when Tony doesn’t run into someone who recognizes the name “Dogfather” or someone who has eaten at the restaurant. See it for yourself here: Dogfather Hot Dogs and we hope to see you there! If you’re interested in holding a fundraiser contact Tony by filling out the form on the side or call him at (847) 529-dogs (3647). You can also email him directly atcatering@www.dogfathercatering.com