At Olneyville New York System this week, the news has been bittersweet.
The family that has owned these iconic Rhode Island restaurants for four generations announced they have agreed to sell the business to a restaurant group from Newport.
Greg Stevens and his sister Stephanie Stevens Turini are hoping to retire, and there’s no one in the next generation of the family that founded the restaurants in 1946 prepared to take over.
“It’ll be fine, this place will continue,” said George Saccoccio, who has worked at Olneyville New York System, off and on, since 1973. His brother Jimmy was the restaurant manager for more than 40 years.
“It’s definitely the end of an era in any regard,” he said.
Neither the restaurant’s staff nor its fiercely loyal patrons begrudge the Stevens siblings their retirement plan. But many do worry that things might change at the Olneyville New York System — and a big part of the place’s charm is that it hasn’t changed in years.
Tried and true system
The New York System is, oddly enough, a Rhode Island invention. At least that term is.
Plenty of cities have their own beloved hot dog joints. There’s Pinks in LA, Ted’s Red Hots in Buffalo, Papaya King in Manhattan, and of course Nathan’s in Coney Island. But none of them offer the New York System.
According to Saccoccio, the system refers to a style of lunch counter restaurants developed by Greek immigrants to New York, where the kitchen and dining area are separated just by the long countertop where customers sit.
“There’s no separate area where the food is cooked. The customers see us prepare everything,” he said.
The restaurants specialize in one signature product: hot wieners, usually served up “All The Way” and washed down with a big glass of coffee milk.
“All the Way” means topped with mustard, onions, and celery salt, plus a trademark meat sauce.
Saccoccio spreads each ingredient over the wieners with panache, like a painter with an edible easel.
“Only one guy in the family knows the recipe for this meat sauce, and that’s Greg,” said Saccoccio. “I think it’s more closely guarded than Coca-Cola.”
The customers say they don’t care what’s in it. What matters to them is that it still tastes the same as it did when they came here when they were kids.
The ‘OG experience’
“It’s a classic, an institution, a Rhode Island thing,” customer Bill Bryan said while getting lunch at the Olneyville New York System’s Plainfield Street location.
He and his friend Mark Soprano, both now middle-aged, practically grew up here. Their parents brought them when they were kids. They stopped by after bar hopping when they were teenagers. And they still come for lunch as often as they can.
“I don’t come as often as I should,” said Bryan. “Or maybe not!” he added with a chuckle, noting his cardiologist might have a different view.
“The wieners here, man, they’re terrific,” said Jerry Taylor, who grew up in the nearby Hartford housing project.
One neighborhood woman named Rita, who comes in almost every day, is such a loyal customer she sometimes even feeds the waiters.
“She’s kind of like our adopted mom,” Saccoccio said, as he tucked into a Tupperware container of homemade Bolognese she dropped off for him to enjoy on his lunch break.
News of the ownership transfer brought in some new customers too.
Felicia, who didn’t share her last name, is a Providence resident starting a manufacturing studio nearby.
“I’ve been meaning to come, and soon as I heard there were new owners I finally came,” she said. “I want the OG experience before it changes.”
Ditto for Matt Ijac, a Roger Williams law student with a handlebar mustache.
He said, “You don’t want something to just become a Starbucks, you know? That’s the big concern, somebody buys a property and then immediately wraps it up and turns it into high-rise condos or something.”
Plenty has changed in the Olneyville neighborhood since the Stevens family opened the restaurant in 1946. The nearby mills have all closed. Benny’s, another iconic Rhode Island institution, used to be just next door, with the Rhode Island Chess Club upstairs. The site of the demolished Benny’s building is now the restaurant’s parking lot.
The Stevens family insists the new owners have promised nothing will change. Newport’s Heritage Restaurant Group also recently purchased the Old Canteen on Federal Hill as well as Newport’s Brick Alley Pub.
Greg Stevens has said he plans to stay on at Olneyville New York System through the year to smooth the transition.
Correction: Greg Stevens and Stephanie Stevens Turini are brother and sister. An earlier version of this story misstated their relationship.
This story was reported by The Public’s Radio.
