32 THE QUEENS COURIER • QUEENS BUSINESS • SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
queens business
Iavarone Bros. celebrate 90 years of family business
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
agiudice@qns.com
@A_GiudiceReport
For nine decades, Queens residents
have relied on the Iavarone family to
bring them the freshest, tastiest cuts of
meat, and on Sept. 5, the Iavarones celebrated
Stuff your face with food from 13 countries
at Jackson Heights’ Viva la Comida festival
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Queens has long been celebrated for
its eclectic food off erings, and one food
and music festival in Jackson Heights will
allow food lovers to try bites from a smorgasbord
of countries.
Viva la Comida, now in its sixth year,
will take place in Jackson Heights along
82nd Street between Roosevelt and Baxter
Avenues. Attendees will be treated to a
mix of Vendy Award-winning street vendors
and restaurants. Music from jazz,
Afro-Cuban Salsa and Cumbia will fi ll
the streets.
Th e festival, hosted by 82nd Street
Partnership, will take place on Sept. 16
from noon to 7 p.m. Vendors will off er up
traditional dishes from North and South
America, the Caribbean and Asia.
Options will include Jackson
Heights’ own Arepa Lady; D’Angelo’s
Italian Sausage Truck (usually found
on Woodhaven Boulevard); Oscar’s
Chuzos & Corn, a popular food truck
on Roosevelt Avenue; and newcomers
like Mom’s Momo, which serves up
Himalayan momos; Chef Troy, off ering
Jamaica Jerk chicken and fi sh; and Kopi
Kopi dishing out Indonesian Ramen,
shrimp buns and spring rolls.
Restaurant options will include Delicias
Colombianas, which will serve morcillas
(blood sausages) and the traditional
Bandeja Paisa; Sunnyside’s Sabor
Ecuatoriano,where attendees can pick up
traditional Yaguarlocro, a dish cooked
with lamb tripe from the Andean region
of Ambato in Ecuador; and Mama’s
Empanada, which has 54 diff erent types
of corn and wheat empanadas.
“During Viva la Comida, our communities
come together to honor diversity and
unity through the sharing of food, music
and art,” said Leslie A. Ramos, executive
director of the 82nd Street Partnership.
“Over the last couple of years, the festival
has evolved to become a platform for
local artists and entrepreneurs to showcase
their talents regardless of ethnic or
cultural background.”
Los Hacheros will perform their mix of
Afro-Cuban salsa, Puerto Rican Bomba
and jazz.
New York jazz legend Ed Polcer and his
son, Ben, will perform with Th e Ed and
Ben Polcer Swingtet.
Colombian accordionist and bandleader
Gregorio Uribe will perform with
Argentinian vocalist Solange Prat, and
CHIA’s Dance Party, a NYC-based quintet,
will fuse Colombian music with other
genres.
Centro Cultural Barco de Papel and
Intercultural Cartonera will create a literature
garden, where participants can build
their own cardboard book or collaborate
on a community book sculpture, and
explore books from Latin-American writers
and artists. Local artists will display
their work at Dunningham Triangle Park.
Paul VanDeCarr, a local puppeteer,
and artist Melissa Villalobos will provide
activities for children like a puppet-making
session and henna tattoos.
For more information, visit www.vivalacomida.
com.
Photo via Shutterstock
The Viva la Comida festival in Jackson Heights will take place on Sept. 16.
that tradition and their 90th anniversary
outside of their Maspeth store.
Since Pasquale Iavarone opened the
original Iavarone Bros. Pork Store in 1919
in Brooklyn — where the refurbished
sign can still be found outside of Th e
Wheelhouse in Bushwick — four generations
of Iavarones have worked in the
family business. In 1927, the store offi cially
became known as Iavarone Bros.
Over the years Iavarone Bros. has
expanded past its roots in Brooklyn, opening
up shops in Queens and Long Island.
In 1976, they brought their expertise in
quality meats and food to the heart of
Maspeth at 69-00 Grand Ave., and it is now
the oldest standing Iavarone Bros. location.
Now there are still six Iavarone family
members spread across all the store’s
locations working in the family business.
“I am very proud,” Michele Iavarone,
operating manager of the Maspeth store,
said of her family’s business celebrating
their 90th year. “Being part of the fourth
generation of the family business, four
generations in any business is a long time,
so that in itself is an honor. I’m hoping
that I continue to my family proud, my
great grandfather, my grandfather and
my father. It’s very nice.”
Keeping a business running for 90 years
is no easy task, and Iavarone credits her
family’s dedication to serving quality
products and customer service as two of
the main reasons why the shop has lasted
nearly a century.
Even in the changing landscape of
Maspeth, Iavarone sees a healthy mix of
longtime customers and new faces coming
into the store, she said. In order
to stay competitive, the Iavarones have
begun expanding their products to fi t
their changing customer base.
Aft er posing for photos with a banner
celebrating their 90 years, the Iavarones
cut a cake which was in the shape of a
pig, honoring their business’ roots as a
pork store.
Photos by Anthony Giudice/QNS
The Iavarone family celebrated their business’s 90th anniversary at their Maspeth store.
