Omaha Exploration

Perhaps the most well-known of the Caniglia restaurants was Mister C’s. That’s saying something given how many beloved restaurants the family opened across town.

Yano Caniglia was the second of the children to branch out from the original restaurant. His sister Grace was the first when she opened Piccolo Pete’s with her husband Tony Piccolo in 1934.

Prior to opening his restaurant, Yano met Mary Marino when they were just teenagers. They met at the Santa Lucia Festival in the old neighborhood. After dating, they realized that their parents were neighbors back home in Carlentini. It was meant to be, as the two married in 1944 when he was just 20 and she was 19.

After serving in World War II, Yano returned home where he worked in the city’s first pizzeria with his brothers in 1946. Seven years later he made the difficult decision to leave the family business and go out on his own.

He did just that in 1953 when he purchased Marshall’s Drive-in on 30th and Fort Street across from the historic Fort Omaha. The drive-in originated as Sam Gendelman’s fruit stand in 1933 and was converted to a drive-in by 1947. When Yano took over, he named it Caniglia’s Royal Boy Drive-in. In addition to its six stools and 15 carhops, it featured a 2,000-light sign reminiscent of something you’d see in Vegas. It was the era of the drive-in and Yano’s spot proved to be a popular one with teenagers and families alike for its pizza burgers, milk shakes, steakburgers, chicken, and shrimp.

Yano and Mary started the process of expanding the drive-in into a full-service restaurant in 1964, though they didn’t change its name to Mister C’s until 1970. Mister C was a nickname given to Yano by his employees. The Caniglias decorated the inside with Christmas lights during the holiday season to give it a festive touch. A year later, an employee asked to leave the lights up until her husband returned home from the Navy. Not only did he oblige, he never took them down again. Her husband returned home that summer. That year also marked the beginning of a 20-year tradition in which Mister C bought the grand champion steer from Ak-Sar-Ben.

The restaurant ended its car hop service in 1976 and thereafter expanded so frequently over the next 12 years that the Caniglias hired a full-time contractor. During this time, they expanded the basement and added two bars. Its most ambitious expansion project was Piazza di Maria, an outdoor dining area built in honor of his wife and designed to resemble an Italian villa. At its peak, Mister C’s seated 1,400 people. The fruit stand-turned-drive-in-turned-full-service restaurant was so highly regarded for its Italian cuisine and ambiance that it was listed as one of the leading independent restaurants in the country in 1988.

While Yano received a lot of credit for Mister C’s success, much of it can be attributed to Mary, who carried the fitting nickname of Mrs. C. Her son David said that while his father had the grandiose ideas, it was his mother who made them a reality. She took pride in her meticulous bookkeeping, and the restaurant’s own family says that without her, Mister C’s would have never existed.

With no desire on the part of the children to keep it going, Yano and Mary made the difficult decision to close in 2007, more than 50 years after it started. By that time, both were in their 80s and the restaurant itself was showing its age with leaks, burned out lights and faded carpet. Prior to its closure, the city declared September 18, 2007 as “Mister C and Mary Caniglia Day” in honor of the family’s service to the city. The Caniglias closed the doors to Mister C’s for good on September 30.

Yano once said he couldn’t wait to get to work every day as he considered those who visited his restaurant to be more than customers. Instead, it was like he was welcoming them back home. He could often be found chatting up guests, singing off-key, or playing the mandolin. To carry on the Mister C’s legacy, son Larry Caniglia created Mister C’s Wholesale Foods, Inc. to produce the restaurant’s popular salad dressing and spaghetti sauce, making it available in grocery stores and online.

Mary passed away in 2011 followed by Yano in 2013, the same year he was inducted into the Omaha Hospitality Hall of Fame. The building has since been demolished and in its place stands a 5-story mixed-use apartment building with 110 units, a health clinic, and commercial space, much-needed additions to the North Omaha neighborhood that sits across from Metropolitan Community College.

Omaha had never seen anything like Mister C’s before it opened. It hasn’t seen anything like it since it closed.

This is the third of a multi-part series in which we explore some of the Caniglia family’s restaurants including the Original Caniglia’s (1920), Caniglia’s Piccolo Pete’s (1934); Mister C’s (1953); and Venice Inn (1957).

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Until next time, keep exploring!

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Sources

• Omaha World-Herald archives
• OUR STORY | Mister C’s
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_C%27s
• https://northomahahistory.com/2017/12/06/a-history-of-mr-cs-restaurant-in-north-omaha/