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A Few Clouds Frank Borrelli Jr.: a true family man
Courtney Secada has been working at Borrelli’s Italian Restaurant, on Hempstead Turnpike, for half of her life. In the 15 years the 30-year-old Wantagh resident has been a hostess, waitress and party planner at the 60-year-old East Meadow business, she has seen hundreds of community members come and go — and come back again.
A now-married couple who enjoyed pasta dishes at the restaurant while on their first date decades ago. A pair of senior citizens who came in once a week to sip Manhattans with a slice of pizza or two at the bar. A member of the East Meadow Kiwanis Club or St. Raphael’s Roman Catholic Church, stopping by for a meal and to thank the staff for donating to a fundraiser. No matter who it was, Secada said, anyone who came to Borrelli’s in the distant or recent past quickly learned one thing: The restaurant’s owner, Frank Borrelli Jr., is a family man, in every sense of the term.
“His wife is his best friend, his kids are his happiness and his father is his inspiration,” Secada said. “I knew that [Frank Sr.] took care of his family, his employees and his community, and that’s the driving force behind everything [Frank Jr.] does. For him, it’s all about giving more than you receive.”
Given his adherence to this timeless principle, which has led to scores of contributions to the business community and countless local people in need, the Herald is proud to name Borrelli its 2015 Person of the Year.
Frank Sr., Al and Phil Borrelli — three brothers in a family of chefs and “pizza men” from Naples, Italy — opened the East Meadow restaurant in 1955. Frank Jr., 56, began helping out around the kitchen at age 10. After breading cutlets and rolling meatballs as a youngster and taking on various jobs while he was a student at East Meadow High School, Borrelli knew what he wanted to do with his life.
“I loved the business,” he said. “There’s a lot of family history here … It’s like home to me.”
