Rocky and Carlo's co-founder dies after fall
Times Picayune October 21, 2009

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Rocky Tommaseo, a community pillar in St. Bernard Parish and longtime owner and co-founder of
Rocky and Carlo's Restaurant in Chalmette, died early Tuesday morning after suffering a fall
several weeks ago. He was 94.
dining guide italian restaurants italian grocersThe Times Picayune Rocky Tommaseo in 2005

A fixture behind the bar and cash register for more than four decades at the popular St. Bernard
Highway eatery, Mr. Tommaseo continued to report to work every day until he fell inside the
restaurant in September.

"For him not to work was foreign," said Ali Horrigan, a waitress at the restaurant for nine
years. "He started work full-time at age 8, crushing grapes in Sicily. He's worked seven days a
week ever since. That's all he knew."

Mr. Tommaseo immigrated from Alcamo, Sicily, in the early 1950s, after serving in the Italian
military during World War II. A huge network of Sicilians had laid roots in St. Bernard Parish in
the years after the war, occasionally returning to Italy to fetch new relatives to settle in
Louisiana.

Mr. Tommaseo and other family friends had worked at another Italian spot in Chalmette, Angelo's,
for about 15 years before venturing off to start their own business. Mr. Tommaseo and Carlo Gioe
opened Rocky & Carlo's in April 1965, along with several relatives, including Mr. Tommaseo's
brother, Tommy, who still cooks at the restaurant.

They were serving up heaping plates of veal parmigiana, macaroni and cheese and stuffed bell
peppers for only five months when Hurricane Betsy struck. During that storm, the restaurant's
owners made their mark, endearing themselves to the community by serving food to first responders
and residents under the light of candles.

"We didn't have lights, but we had gas for fried chicken," recalled Tommy Tommaseo, Mr.
Tommaseo's brother. "He'd say, 'If you have money, give it. If you don't have it, don't worry
about it, go ahead.' People said they'd never forget what we did 35 years ago."

"We were kind of like the staple," said Mr. Tommaseo's son, also Tommy Tommaseo, who is now the
restaurant's general manager. "From there on people just came on and on and on. Three generations
of people have come in."

Hurricane Katrina proved a much more daunting challenge, but the popular restaurant opened 18
months after the storm to long lines of eager patrons.

Through it all, Mr. Tommaseo was a constant presence.Workers recalled his unflinching desire to
re-open the restaurant after Katrina, despite films of mud and grease that covered the building
and delays by contractors.

The restaurant's new interior, filled with flat-screen televisions, now hardly resembles the café
of the past - with wood-paneled walls and nicotine-stained tables.

Even as he became more frail in his '90s, he rode a golf cart to work every day -- "The
Cadillac," as it was known in the neighborhood.

In many ways, Mr. Tommaseo's life and his business embodied the close-knit family traditions that
have distinguished St. Bernard. Even a month before his death, Mr. Tommaseo lived next door to
his son, and within blocks of his brother, Tommy, and Leonarda "Nana" Gioe, wife of co-founder
Carlo Gioe, who passed away in 1995.

"He has been an icon of St. Bernard Parish, and is part of what St. Bernard Parish is," said
Parish President Craig Taffaro, who often brings visiting politicians and policymakers to the
restaurant. He said flags in St. Bernard will fly at half-staff Wednesday, which will be declared
"Rocky Tommaseo Day" in the parish.

More than a third of the restaurant's employees are still in the original two families, and many
regulars and other employees would say they've become part of an extended family.

"I've grown up in here; everybody in the parish grew up in here," said Amanda Jeansonne, a
waitress for 11 years.

Funeral services will be held today at 11 a.m. at St. Bernard Memorial Gardens. The restaurant,
which was adorned with black wreaths Tuesday, will remain closed until Friday.