(309) 688-8200
2607 N University St
Peoria, IL 61604
Our Great-Grandfather Vincenzo (James) Agatucci immigrated to the
United States from Calascio (AQ) Italy in 1904 with a dream. After
many years of hard work on the coal mining circuit between
Pennsylvania and Central Illinois, James moved to Peoria along with his
wife Teresa and their seven children to open a small “mom and pop”
grocery store on Second Street in the early 1920’s. In 1926, he took a
chance and purchased our current building on a dirt road which to our
knowledge was the furthest point North in the City of Peoria.
During the early days of the Great Depression, he turned his beloved
grocery store into a family run restaurant to better serve the
community.
Following the end of prohibition in 1933, he purchased liquor license #13 which became very lucky for
our family as we now possess the oldest continually owned liquor license in Peoria. Another daughter
joined the family and soon thereafter Great-Grandfather Jim retired in 1948. He passed the business to
his sons Frank and Nick who introduced pizza to the Peoria area in order to satisfy the craving of
soldiers returning from war service in Italy.
Following a successful venture into the frozen pizza and spaghetti sauce market by brothers Jim and
Jerry in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s, they took over the restaurant when their father Frank “officially”
retired in 1979. Many claim that Jim and Jerry operated the restaurant in perfect ying and yang
harmony! In 1988, they expanded the restaurant to include the “new room” for greater seating capacity.
As we enter our 10th decade of operations, we look foward to serving you with the principles that we
have learned through the years: 1.) Take pride and work to offer a high quality and consistent product
at a fair price and 2.) Flour is much easier to handle than coal dust!
We sincerely thank you for your continued support. You are the reason our history endures. Please let
us know if there is anything we can do to make your visits with us more enjoyable.
Danny & Tony Agatucci
