|
These two Articles
appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune and the Intermountain Catholic in 2004.
 Bruno’s
Italian Deli Offers Authentic
Dishes to Cedar City and Beyond
by Barbara Stinson Lee
Intermountain Catholic
September 17, 2004
CEDAR CITY- Whether it's pizza
you crave, or calzone, chicken Parmigiana, a mortadella sandwich, or an
eggplant parmigian dinner with spaghetti, Bruno's Italian Deli in Cedar
City can satisfy your appetite. Tony Bruno and his wife, Nina will either
serve it up to you in their modest dining room in the Providence Center on
Royal Hunt Drive, or deliver it to your door.
Bruno's Italian
Deli takes up one corner of a mini-mart in the Providence Center. but you
can't miss the caricature of Tony the Pizza Man hanging on the wall among
the grape vines. The food is, delicious, and the company grand.
Tony and Nina Bruno were both born in Sicily, (Tony in Agrigento and Nina in Palermo), but met
and fell in love in Chicago. They were married 40 days after they met in
1970. Tony had left Sicily at the age of two, spending most of his life in
Argentina, where he still has family. Nina left Sicily in 1966, and went
to Chicago looking for work. Both are 57. They have three grown children
and seven grandchildren.
T he
search for a quieter life brought the Brunos west. They settled
first in Las Vegas, which wasn't quiet enough for Tony. One day three
years ago they took a drive to Cedar City, fell in love with it, and
brought the deli here.
The Brunos bought a
home in nearby Enoch. "Life is slower and cleaner here," Nina said. “It’s
fresher, and the people are friendly, although we don't have much
time to do anything but cook." Tony is a little hesitant to entrust his
secret recipes to anyone else, so he and Nina are the only cooks. They
employ a couple of part-time employees to serve the food and
take orders.
"I don't cook
anything ahead of time," Tony said proudly. "Everything is fresh." Nina
said at first the couple wanted to limit their menu to Italian sandwiches,
but before long, Tony was cooking up pasta, pizza, and lasagna and making
salads. "Business is good here," Tony said. "It helps that we're the only
Italian restaurant in town, and people come from St. George, Provo, even
Salt Lake City.
Bruno's is,
open Monday through Saturday from 11a.m. to 9 p.m. They are closed
Sundays. Call them at.- 435-865-2845.
Cedar City Boasts Own
Taste of Italy
 By
Tom Wharton - Salt Lake Tribune.
CEDAR CITY -Finding a
good. Italian restaurant in the same building as a Chevron Gas station is
almost as strange as seeing a lighthouse in the desert. But to those who
venture to the new development on the south end of Cedar City will find
both.
Tony Bruno, a native of Italy Who spent much of his youth in Argentina,
opened Bruno's Italian Deli on one side of the gas station across the
street from a giant Wal-Mart and surrounded by typical freeway exit
franchises and strip malls, this seems an unlikely place for a chef who
has cooked for former President Bill Clinton to set up shop.
Stranger still, guests who sit at one of the tables are treated to dishes
such as eggplant Parmesan, lasagna, ravioli and manicotti served on
ceramic plates. Pizza, the dough made from scratch by Tony each morning,
is served on stainless steel stands. Tony and his wife, Nina, have
decorated the small space with a map
 of
Italy and pictures of grandchildren.
The Brunos' journey to Cedar City is long and interesting one. Tony was
born in Sicily but, after World War II, moved with his parents to
Argentina where he lived for 19 years. He came to the United States as a
21 year old, opening a small pizza place if New Jersey in1968. He cooked
in Chicago and Toronto learning from different chefs and on his own
working on his own recipes.
The family moved to Las Vegas in 1979. Tony labored at The Mirage as cook,
in a California Pizza Kitchen and eventually at the MGM Grand. There, he
was assigned to the main banquet kitchen for three years where he would
help cook meals for celebrities such as Clinton and boxer Evander
Holyfield. "I learned a lot of things," he said. "We cooked Italian,
Mexican and Chinese under a great chef...I did sauces and soups for every
restaurant in the casino.”
But like the lives of many Americans, things changed for the Bruno family
on Sept. 11, 2001. when terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade
Center and, the
 Pentagon.
Las Vegas tourism was hurt.
Tony had purchased 10 acres near Cedar City in 1981 and often drove up for
a day to see his property. "After 9-11, things got pretty bad with jobs
and I was not too comfortable with big cities," he said. "My wife and I
rode to Utah and stayed overnight. The next morning we went to look at my
property and took a right turn instead of a left. We saw this house on a
nice piece of property."
They purchased the home and 10 days later, sold their house in Las Vegas.
Almost a month had passed since the terrorist attacks. Tony decided to
open an Italian restaurant He examined two or three places on Main Street,
but they did not feel right.
He found the place inside the Chevron station in December 2001, signed a
contract and opened about a year ago. He and Nina work 13 hours a day, six
days a week, at the little shop, arriving around 9:30 a.m. to make sauces
and dough from scratch. They close the restaurant on Sundays. “l believe
if you want to do something good, you do it yourself," he said. "If I g o
on vacation, I close the place. I have worked all my life... I never work
just 4o hours. And like what I am doing."
 Despite
the rather odd location - and the lighthouse in the desert seems more than
a little strange - Tony and Nina's little deli is worth seeking out.
Expect fresh, home-made Italian food, good service and a couple that enjoy
talking to their customers when not too busy working.
wharton@sltrib.com
|
