Neighborhood gem marks 50 years of serving 'unapologetically old-school NJ Italian' food

Fifty years ago, Espo’s was a neighborhood Italian joint, tucked between modest homes a block from downtown Raritan Borough.

Its dark, wood-paneled interior was lit by the roaring laughter of locals, who came in one, two, three times a week for red sauce dishes like stuffed shells, chicken cacciatore and stuffed peppers listed on a chalkboard menu.

A half-century later, it remains a shrine to the ethnic heritage of Raritan, and a cherished destination for family celebrations, date nights, special occasions or just a spot to enjoy traditional Italian-American cuisine.

Espo’s founder Bobby Esposito died in 2018 after a battle with leukemia. But owner Nick Zamora has kept the restaurant’s legacy alive since purchasing it in 2019 and this month, he’s celebrating Espo’s 50th anniversary with a proclamation from the mayor, gift card giveaways, anniversary t-shirts and dinner specials with menu items from decades past.

“It’s Bobby’s last name up there, not mine,” said Zamora, who, as a Bridgewater native, grew up going to Espo’s at least once a week and knew Esposito well.

“I think he’s looking down really proud. We did a lot of great things since 2019 but at the end of the day, it was his vision and legacy and without those 45 years before, we wouldn’t be here.”

Esposito opened restaurant in 1974 and two years later, he hired then-16-year-old George Melitsky and Phil Gentile, who have worked there ever since. The pair were Raritan neighbors and knew each other since they were seven. Zamora credits them with Espo's enduring longevity, as well as Lisa Wilson, who Zamora hired as the general manager in 2019.

Melitsky is the bar manager, and you can usually find him behind the bar grilling the steaks, old-school style. Gentile, an Italian immigrant, is the chef. Espo’s is the only place he’s ever cooked at professionally, although that’s hard to believe once you taste his vodka sauce.

“All of the food has been made the exact same way with the same ingredients for all these years,” said Melitsky. “Phil is pretty amazing when it comes to consistency.”

Vodka sauce dishes are Espo’s number-one seller, whether it’s vodka rigatoni or vodka chicken Parmesan. “It’s unlike anything else,” said Zamora. “It’s creamy and thick, and it has a lot of garlicky flavor. It’s good on anything.”

It’s also a sauce that almost wasn’t.

Gentile started making it for the Friday staff lunch in the 1980s when vodka sauce wasn’t as popular as it is today. Everyone loved it so much that they wanted Esposito to add it to the menu, but the notorious stickler for tradition was against it.

Then, unbeknownst to Esposito, his daughter, Taryn, added it to the menu after she tried it. It wasn’t until a customer gave his vodka sauce order to Esposito that the restaurant owner realized what had happened.

“From that day on, it was a hit,” said Zamora.

“Bob was never a big one for change,” laughed Melitsky. “The joke was we would put something new on the menu every five years.”

As the years went on, and at Melitsky and Gentile’s insistence, Esposito added items like steak Parmesan – a rarity in New Jersey − calamari, and linguine with clam sauce to the menu. But it was still presented on a chalkboard menu, and credit cards weren’t accepted until 2008.

As much as Esposito disliked change, he loved his customers. Ask any Espo’s regular – most of have been visiting the place for decades, and Zamora said nearly every customer visits at least once a month – and you’ll hear a story with a smile about Esposito’s bottomless kindness.

“Bob was a sweetheart,” said Jack Dunne, a Raritan native who has visited Espo’s for 45 years and also worked there when he was in college. “He would give anyone a job who asked for one. He was a great guy.”

When Espo’s catered Dunne and his wife Diana’s rehearsal dinner in 1987 – they also had their first date there in 1982 – Esposito refused to give Dunne a bill. And when customers often forgot the restaurant only accepted cash, Esposito always paid for their dinner.

To Dunne, who now visits Espo’s two to three times per week, Zamora was just the man to fill Esposito’s shoes.

“He’s the perfect soul to take over that place,” Dunne said. “He’s 30 going on 60, way ahead of his time.”

Everyone knew Esposito’s spot at the end of the bar near the front door, where he kept a watchful eye over his restaurant. That’s where Zamora is stationed, too.

“People talk so fondly of Bobby,” said Zamora. “They come in looking for him – some people don’t even know he passed. They look at me and say, ‘Wow, you look like Bobby because that’s where he used to stand, too.’ “

Zamora is glad for it. It’s his restaurant now, but he never forgets who he’s paying homage to. “I say to George all the time, ‘Would Bobby do that?’ or ‘How would Bobby do this?’ “ Zamora said.

He can be sure that Esposito would have renovated the restaurant much the same. When Zamora and his business partner Kevin Sempervive bought it in 2019, they had one goal – “We wanted people when they came back to say, ‘It looks like Espo’s, but maybe 50 years ago,’ “ Zamora said.

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Zamora and Sempervive gutted the restaurant and put it back together, piece by piece. They restored the original bar, the Tiffany lamps and found another Budweiser lamp in the restaurant’s shed to replace one that was broken. Espo's continues to use the same placemats, silverware, table layout, candle holders and glasses.

Keeping Espo’s as it was is personal for Zamora. He remembers eating steak Parmesan as a kid there on special occasions, having a drink with his father there after he turned 21, and watching his own sons, now six and three, grow up at Espo's.

The most noticeable difference to longtime customers is that now, Espo’s is more than a basic red sauce joint − and it's no longer Raritan's best kept secret, as it attracts diners from throughout Central Jersey.

It has items like clams, fresh fish and pork chops on the menu. Pork chop Murphy, which is grilled pork chops with fried potatoes, onions, garlic, hot cherry peppers, wild mushrooms and crumbed sweet Italian sausage, is one of the top sellers. The liquor and wine lists were also updated, and Espo’s now has a reserved wine list, too.

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“If you want to come to Espo’s and have an iced tea and two pasta dishes for $40, you can,” said Zamora. “But if you want to have steak and drink Caymus and do an upscale dinner, you can.”

Espo’s now also serves Sunday brunch, giving the faithful another meal to treasure. Some people come back for dinner after having brunch or just stay from brunch through dinner. “It happens a lot,” said Zamora.

The restaurant also offers takeout and outdoor dining in the Italian Garden, lined with chandeliers, Edison lights, vines, fig plants, lemons and flooring. At the front is a lounge with couches, wicker furniture and televisions, ideal for customers waiting for a table. It’s hard to believe it was once the restaurant’s driveway.

And no one can forget the pink car that sat out front for a few years, a nod to “Goodfellas” that Zamora bought for the restaurant’s “Goodfellas”-themed Christmas party in 2019.

“We found this random car, painted it and put it outside for the party and it stayed there for a few days, and then a few weeks, and people fell in love with it,” Zamora said. “They were taking pictures with it, and then COVID hit and that was our delivery vehicle. It’s like a secondary logo at this point.”

The car is now in storage and needs “a tune-up and a good wash,” said Zamora, who put it away to make way for more parking spaces. But it’ll make an appearance soon, he said.

But pink car or not, Espo’s authenticity is loud and clear.

"It's an old soul and true to itself, serving unapologetically old school New Jersey Italian American cuisine," Zamora said. “People ask me, ‘What part of Italy are you from?’ And I’m like, ‘Newark.’ We are New Jersey Italian. We say gravy. We make meatballs and sausage. That’s our identity."

Go: 10 Second St., Raritan; 908-685-9552, esposraritannj.com .

Contact: JIntersimone@MyCentralJersey.com

Jenna Intersimone has been a staff member at the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey since 2014, although she's a lifetime Jersey girl who considers herself an expert in everything from the Jersey Shore to the Garden State's buzzing downtowns. To get unlimited access to her stories about food, drink and fun , please subscribe or activate your digital account today. You can also follow her on Instagram at @seejennaeat and on Twitter at @JIntersimone .

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Neighborhood gem marks 50 years of serving 'unapologetically old-school NJ Italian' food