Veteran restaurateur comes to Montclair
MONTCLAIR - In giving his customers more than 200 items to choose from, Jim Rexhepi, the owner of Paradise Family Restaurant, is all about giving more for less.
Rexhepi means it too - coffee for 99 cents, two eggs and two pancakes for less than $5, and a halibut dinner that won't break your pocketbook.
The restaurant, which opened on Nov. 10, takes over space formerly occupied by Cafe Montclair on Central Avenue. It is one of the few family dining options in the city that offers a variety of menu items, from Italian to traditional American fare.
Rexhepi means it too - coffee for 99 cents, two eggs and two pancakes for less than $5, and a halibut dinner that won't break your pocketbook.
The restaurant, which opened on Nov. 10, takes over space formerly occupied by Cafe Montclair on Central Avenue. It is one of the few family dining options in the city that offers a variety of menu items, from Italian to traditional American fare.
Paradise even offers a "Value Menu" for everyone, not just seniors. It's a seven-course meal, which includes soup and salad, bread and butter, and dessert for as low as $7.25.
"I've been in the restaurant business for more than 35 years, and this is my seventh restaurant," Rexhepi said. "And I want and like the family restaurant because there is a little bit for everybody."
Rexhepi, 55, spent four weeks remodeling the interior of the restaurant before opening its doors.
If the name sounds familiar, it's because Rexhepi is also the owner of the Yucaipa restaurant with the same name.
"If you open an Italian- or French-style restaurant or steakhouse, then you're only dealing with certain people, but family restaurants are for everybody," he said.
"If you want a cup of coffee, you can have a cup of coffee. You want steak, you can eat steak. But if you go to an Italian or French or high-class place you're not going to go there for a cup of coffee. You'll go there and have a nice meal that may be too expensive, and sometimes you can't afford it.
"But with a family restaurant you can eat here almost every day because of the prices."
An immigrant from Greece, Rexhepi settled in Illinois in 1970, and at 17 he started working as a bus boy in a restaurant. By the time he was 21, he went into business with a partner.
"I had a lot of friends and most of them that's all we knew, restaurants, and they were successful and I thought, 'Let me try,' and that's how I started, and here I am today," he said.
Although he doesn't own it anymore, a restaurant Rexhepi named and opened in Elmhurst, Ill., called Kopper Kitchen is still there with the same name and still serves a warm cup of joe.
He said in the restaurant business "you have to work hard, and the key is you have to be lucky."
Rexhepi stands behind his words, working 14-hour days.
"If you can't find something on that menu, then you're probably not hungry," said Darleen Curley, president of Montclair's Chamber of Commerce.
Curley said she was impressed by the restaurant's turkey sandwich.
"It's real turkey, not the thin-sliced stuff," she said.
Rexhepi's restaurant will be the third to occupy the space in Montclair in the last decade. Before Caf Montclair, the space was the Plum Tree Restaurant.
Rexhepi believes Paradise will be a staple for the city's residents.
"I think it is going to be a busy place and a place for the community," he said. "It all comes back to the quality of the food, the service and the atmosphere, which I give all of that so I'm pretty sure I will be successful."
Rexhepi has three children and lives with his wife of 34 years in Yucaipa. He admits, by the time he gets home, all he wants to do is relax and watch some television.
"But if I were to have something to eat here I would get my 'Crispy Chicken Jim,"' he said. "It's three thick moist boneless pieces of chicken with special dipping sauce. It's the best. Nobody does it like us."
"I've been in the restaurant business for more than 35 years, and this is my seventh restaurant," Rexhepi said. "And I want and like the family restaurant because there is a little bit for everybody."
Rexhepi, 55, spent four weeks remodeling the interior of the restaurant before opening its doors.
If the name sounds familiar, it's because Rexhepi is also the owner of the Yucaipa restaurant with the same name.
"If you open an Italian- or French-style restaurant or steakhouse, then you're only dealing with certain people, but family restaurants are for everybody," he said.
"If you want a cup of coffee, you can have a cup of coffee. You want steak, you can eat steak. But if you go to an Italian or French or high-class place you're not going to go there for a cup of coffee. You'll go there and have a nice meal that may be too expensive, and sometimes you can't afford it.
"But with a family restaurant you can eat here almost every day because of the prices."
An immigrant from Greece, Rexhepi settled in Illinois in 1970, and at 17 he started working as a bus boy in a restaurant. By the time he was 21, he went into business with a partner.
"I had a lot of friends and most of them that's all we knew, restaurants, and they were successful and I thought, 'Let me try,' and that's how I started, and here I am today," he said.
Although he doesn't own it anymore, a restaurant Rexhepi named and opened in Elmhurst, Ill., called Kopper Kitchen is still there with the same name and still serves a warm cup of joe.
He said in the restaurant business "you have to work hard, and the key is you have to be lucky."
Rexhepi stands behind his words, working 14-hour days.
"If you can't find something on that menu, then you're probably not hungry," said Darleen Curley, president of Montclair's Chamber of Commerce.
Curley said she was impressed by the restaurant's turkey sandwich.
"It's real turkey, not the thin-sliced stuff," she said.
Rexhepi's restaurant will be the third to occupy the space in Montclair in the last decade. Before Caf Montclair, the space was the Plum Tree Restaurant.
Rexhepi believes Paradise will be a staple for the city's residents.
"I think it is going to be a busy place and a place for the community," he said. "It all comes back to the quality of the food, the service and the atmosphere, which I give all of that so I'm pretty sure I will be successful."
Rexhepi has three children and lives with his wife of 34 years in Yucaipa. He admits, by the time he gets home, all he wants to do is relax and watch some television.
"But if I were to have something to eat here I would get my 'Crispy Chicken Jim,"' he said. "It's three thick moist boneless pieces of chicken with special dipping sauce. It's the best. Nobody does it like us."
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