History & Hollywood

 

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Abruzzi’s Café 422 restaurant started in 1939 by Guerino Abruzzi (1912-1994) and quickly became one of the premier restaurants “on the strip” in Warren, OH. Known throughout the Mahoning Valley and as far away as Cleveland and Pittsburgh, the “Four Twenty-Two” consistently ranked high in the NRA’s top restaurants in the country.

An Italian-American eatery serving everything from live lobsters straight from our tank to homemade pasta dinners to eggplant parmesan to steak sandwiches on homemade Italian bread. Incidentally, some of the greatest actors and entertainers to ever walk the red carpet also walked into our restaurant for a meal during the 60's and 70's, including Sonny & Cher, Tony Bennett, Ricardo Montalban, William Shatner, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and countless others!  

Among our famous food was a very popular menu item, “hot peppers in oil,” the perfect complement to a good piece of Italian bread. An Italian tradition, now considered a specialty food, Abruzzi's Hot Peppers in Oil was an instant hit! 

Speaking of great entertainers who walked through our doors, Sonny & Cher were in our restaurant in the mid 70's and Sonny fell in love with our peppers! He loved them so much that he had his secretary call us from CA to send him more!  It worked out great for us since we received back stage passes at their next concert in Cleveland! They treated us like family, what an amazing experience!

 

"As a family we ate at (Abruzzi’s) 422 countless times, every one of them a treat. We even had our rehearsal dinner down in the basement in 1984. Wow, what a meal.  I worked at (Abruzzi’s) 422 in the early to mid-70's and even took a telephone order for peppers from Sonny Bono.

I was stocking the bar when the phone rang, and since no one was around, I took the call. I didn't learn who "Sonny" was until I told Bobby Abruzzi about the order. He said "do you know who that was? That was Sonny Bono!" I subsequently learned he was in town for summer stock at Kenley Players. 

Anyway, enjoying the peppers again this past weekend brought back great memories and I just wanted to say thanks."

Bob Adamson

 

Shortly after we sold our restaurant in 2006, we decided to market our signature item that people missed so much. From local farmer’s markets to national grocery store chains, we have brought back the original, Abruzzi’s Hot Peppers in Oil.  Today, we also have a sweet variation!

We invite you to taste our history.

Abruzzi's Hot Peppers

 

Guerino "Greenie" Abruzzi (1912-1994), founder of Abruzzi's Cafe 422, was an accomplished trumpet player and restaurateur.  The trumpet on our label is a tribute to him.