Page 42 – North Central News, October 2012
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
COME
US!
Membership is available to all - you don’t need to be Italian to join.
Bingo Mondays and Fridays at 6 p.m., Sundays at 1 p.m. Over $3,000 in payouts each session. Newly remodeled air conditioned room, snack bar and smoking patio.
Events Saturday, Oct.6: Columbus Day Dinner & Dance featuring music by R & B PROJECT. Appetizers, Baron of Beef, Chicken Piccata, Pasta Bolognese, Veggies and Salad. Dinner at 6 p.m., music at 7:30 p.m. $25 per person advance ticket purchase only at the club by Wed, Oct. 3. Friday, Oct. 12: Buffett & music by The Gina DeFazio Band. Buffet at 5:30, music at 7:30 $11 per person. Friday, Oct. 26: The Second AAIC Wine Class and Tasting featuring “The Wines of Italy.” Come taste and learn about the different regions of Italian wines. 5:30 to 7:00 p.m Advance tickets only available at the club for $20 per person with light appetizers. Friday, Oct. 26: Halloween buffet and dance featuring The Rocket 88’s! Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m., music starts at 7:30 p.m. Come dressed for Halloween! $11 per person, no advance tickets. GET THERE EARLY FOR A SEAT! Saturday, Nov. 10: Rare Fine Art Exhibit & Offering from the “Barr Collection” 1 p.m. to 6 p.m Come meet the artist, Gary Barr and enjoy light h’ordeuvres. $5 donation to charity.
7509 N. 12th St. 602-944-3090 • www.azaiclub.org
Members of the Garcia family, (from left) Josh, Jill and George, continue the family tradition started by Jill’s father, Jack Grodzinsky, in offering quality food in large portions at an affordable price at the Miracle Mile Delicatessen (photo by Teri Carnicelli).
Café Chat Old favorites, fresh ideas at Miracle Mile By Teri Carnicelli When the doors open at 10:30 a.m., there’s usually a handful of customers waiting to come in. But business doesn’t really get hopping at the Miracle Mile Delicatessen until lunchtime, when two lines in the cafeteria-style eatery serve the hundreds of customers who come in to get a quick meal to take out, have a business lunch inside the spacious dining room, or meet old friends over old favorites. The Miracle Mile located in the Colonnade Mall at 20th Street and Camelback Road may have only been open since 2000, but the Miracle Mile name has been an icon in Valley dining for more than 60 years. Jack Grodzinsky, a Brooklyn transplant, started his restaurant business in the early 1950s with a small café next to a bus stop. Two years later he and his sisters purchased Herman’s Corned Beef Junction at McDowell Road and 16th Street. The area from 7th Street to 24th Street on McDowell Road was the first business district to be developed away from the downtown area and became known as the “Miracle Mile.” Grodzinsky decided to change the name of his restaurant to capitalize on the location. After a kitchen fire in 1954, Grodzinsky opened a new location at Park Central Mall on Central
Avenue and Earll Road. This particular location is where Miracle Mile’s “cafeteria style” concept was introduced. The restaurant lasted there for 46 years. Another restaurant opened in the Chris-Town Mall in 1965, serving that community for 43 years. It was at the Chris-Town location where George Garcia entered the picture, signing on as a busboy as a teenager. He met Grodzinsky’s daughter, Jill, when he was 15 and she was just 12, helping out in her family’s business. Years later the two would marry and take over the dayto-day operations from Grodzinsky, who passed away in 1998. Other restaurants have come—and gone—over the years, leaving the Colonnade location and one at the Scottsdale Promenade. The next generation has come into the picture, with George and Jill’s son, Josh, now handling much of the management responsibilities of the two locations. Jill still helps out occasionally with catering orders and George comes in almost every day to look things over, visit with customers, and troubleshoot where needed. “It’s in his blood,” Josh says. “He can’t stay away. It’s what he loves.” For Josh, it wasn’t necessarily a done deal that he would enter the family business. An avid tennis player in college, Josh spent a year and a half at Wimbledon in London as an intern in the marketing department. But in the back of his mind he always knew the family business was there if he wanted it,
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North Central News, October 2012 – Page 43 FOOD FOR THOUGHT
and his business administration degree from University of Redlands gave him the training he needed, on top of his lifetime exposure to the restaurant business. “I remember sitting on a pickle barrel behind the line doing my homework as a kid,” Josh recalls. “I grew up in this place, and I still love it here.” So, too, do a lot of the regular customers, who come in almost daily. If you want to know what the most popular menu item is, just stand in one of the two serving lines and listen. Day in and day out, it’s “The Straw”—a hot pastrami sandwich with sauerkraut and melted Swiss on rye or your choice of bread. Josh says that on average Miracle Mile goes through two tons (that’s 4,000 pounds) of pastrami every month, combined between the two locations. It’s hard to get good pastrami, he points out. At Miracle Mile, it’s served the way it should be—steamed to keep it moist and then sliced when you order it. “How many people have a meat steamer at their home?” he points out. “We do all the work for you and it tastes like it was meant to taste.” Miracle Mile is not just a sandwich (and burger and kosher hot dog) place. Every day customers can order hot entrees such as homemade macaroni and cheese and Hungarian-style stuffed cabbage, along with daily specials. The menu hasn’t changed substantially in 60-plus years. But Josh knows that the Colonnade location appeals to a business lunch demographic as well as casual lunch diners, and has put his marketing background to good use, adding social media tools to the e-mail blasts that tout upcoming specials. “We’re trying to get the younger generation to know about Miracle Mile as well,” he explains. He’s also looking to add a few new sandwich and salad selections to the menu before the end of the year, some of which take advantage of the popular avocado and bacon trends but with a Southwestern flair. “We like to keep some of our menu options fresh and current,” he points out. Hours are 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, visit www.miraclemiledeli.com or call 602-776-0992. For local restaurant listings, visit our Dining Guide at www.northcentralnews.net
Dining Briefs Mary Coyle donates Mondays to nonprofits Mike Stoffey, owner of Mary Coyle ‘Ol Fashion Ice Cream Parlor, has announced that beginning Oct. 1 the restaurant will be closed each Monday to all walk-in business. However, the ice cream parlor will “open” 6 to 9 p.m. to host fundraising events for any local philanthropic entity. “We will open for any pre-scheduled and appropriate nonprofit entity to host a fund-raising ice-cream social,” Stoffey explained. During these events, 20 percent of all proceeds will be given to the nonprofit. Mary Coyle ‘Ol Fashion Ice Cream Parlor is located at 5521 N. 7th Ave. To book a Monday night fund-raising event, call Ed Kolesar, general manager, at 602-265-6266.
‘Pink bagel’ featured at Paradise Bakery Paradise Bakery & Café is bringing back its popular Pink Ribbon Bagel for the month of October as the cafés join in the fight against breast cancer. The Cherry Vanilla Bagel is formed in the shape of a ribbon and enhanced with a mix of cherry chips, dried cherries, cranberries, vanilla, honey and brown sugar. A portion of the sale of each bagel ($1.25) benefits the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Paradise Bakery & Cafe has locations at 12th Street and Glendale Avenue, and the Arizona Biltmore shopping center at 24th Street and Camelback Road. For more information, visit www.paradisebakery.com.
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High tea returns to the Biltmore Though afternoon tea at the Arizona Biltmore is a tradition dating back to 1929, the experience changes each year. On the menu for the 83rd season are an array of black, green and white teas and infusions, a selection of tea sandwiches and salads, and freshly baked scones and desserts. The dessert menus will be themed seasonally. Afternoon tea is served Thursday through Sunday from Nov. 1 through May 11, 2013, with two seating times: 12 and 2 p.m. Cost is $36 per person, or $46 with a cocktail; children under 12 are $26. Tax and gratuity are additional. Reservations are strongly recommended. Call 602-381-7632.
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