Nearly three decades after restaurateur Joe Accurso took over the old Main Street Deli at 5044 Main and transformed it into a popular neighborhood Italian restaurant, he's getting out of the day-to-day restaurant operation. Accurso, who opened his current restaurant at 4980 Main in 2009, sold the restaurant to his cousins on July 1.
Craig Accurso -- senior vice president of Lee's Summit-based American Food Service, which is owned by this branch of the Accurso family -- and his son Anthony took over ownership of the venue at the beginning of the month but have only just started making cosmetic changes to the interior. Customers stepping into the south Plaza restaurant on Monday will see a new shade of paint in the dining area called the Wine Room. The main dining room will be painted a new shade next week, and the Accurso family photographs will be moved from two interior walls to different areas around the dining room.
"Craig and Anthony came to me," Joe Accurso says. "I had no plans to sell the restaurant. They first wanted to start franchising the Accurso's concept but then decided to buy the restaurant. It was a difficult decision, but I'd like to spend more time with my family. I was 23 years old when my sister and I started the Main Street Deli. Now I'm 50 years old, and I have a 5-year-old daughter."
Joe Accurso will continue to serve as a consultant for Accurso's Italian Restaurant for the next three months, then he plans to start focusing on his catering business, which he plans to re-name this month.
"I'm hoping that Craig and Anthony will continue some of the traditions that I started in this restaurant," Joe Accurso says. "We've built a very loyal following."
Some of those traditions have been Joe's house-made Italian sausage and the cheesecake that his mother, Mary, has been baking for the restaurant for years.
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This is the same skankbag that gets on Yelp and 1 star's a restaurant because the ice cubes were the wrong size......Spare us the drama and keep cheapskating everyone while you drive your oversized vehicle and shop out of your designer label purse.....
I had my husbands 40th there and it was amazing nobody told us we had to spend 1000 an hour, we had 27 people there and everybody was treated great, food was wonderful, service was wonderful, Joe did an outstanding job as a matter of fact everytime I have gone there it has been nothing less then perfect. Also Joe loves his family and I think he deserves his time to be with them, so stop the name calling and the cussing and just give your opinion weather it be bad or good, because I know I wont stop going there just because of one person.....
Invite people over, get some OK Joe's carryout and Gallo Chablis and you're in business.
I know Joe personally, and there is no way that he would require a patron to spend one thousand dollars an hour in order for him to honor a reservation. You are obviously disgruntled and plain wrong.
The last place you wanted to have it was Chili's, yet you kept going to Chili's week after week after the party because....?
Trying to find a restaurant that will put up with your petty shit on a Saturday night was probably quite a challenge. I'll bet the farm if Joe shut you down there was a good reason. Expereinced operators don't act like that without provocation. If you were worried about the legal ramifications of your dinner you have bigger problems than Joe Accurso!
Charles, I wish I could have called you. I actually nearly kept the booking but when someone else told me the Accursos also had a law firm and my 65 yr old jetlagged father began to stress about us all being arrested when we refused to pay the $1000 an hr tab that Joe was demanding, I decided against it. The ultimate irony here is that I chose Accruso's in the first place because a friend of mine had his birthday there and it was a wonderful night.
You actually make a good point here: Where can you make a frantic reservation -- on 24-hour notice -- in Kansas City if some irresponsible manager or restaurateur ruins your plans? And for a Saturday night, no less. I wish you had called me. I would have given you some unorthodox, but lively alternatives. But Chili's is certainly better than the Old Country Buffet -- which does have a party room, come to think of it. In fact, I would have gone to that party.
All you ignorant asses are missing the frigging point! The last damn place I wanted to have my 40th was Chillis.. which is why I booked a recommended locally owned restaurant six weeks in advance! Joe left me no damn choice but to have it at chillis. Again you missed the freaking point. Try finding a restuarant that will take a booking for 25 for a Saturday night the day before!!!! Go and spend a fortune at overpriced restuarants just so you can feel superior and leave me the f alone.
I hope they keep the $10 weeknight dinner menu. My wife and I have become big fans; huge portion with a salad and bread. Wash it down with a cool Peroni and I'm a happy man. Glace' for ice cream after that, then put me to bed.
If only the whole story could be told here. The "now defunct Chili's" sounds like the perfect place for your party. Water with lemon and seperate checks all around. Don't forget the Costco cake and 2 Buck Chuck you wanted to self supply.
If your typing is any indication of how you interact with people in real life, I would have tried to get you out of my restaurant as well. Chili's? Really?
I"m
sorry but I am not upset by this, I had one of the worst experiences evertrying
to book a restuarant at Accurso's trying to book a table for 25 for my 40th two
years ago and i have never forgotten the agony I went through just trying
to...
patronize a locally owned eatery in this city.Six weeks before the date of my
birthday party, I called and talked to the manager (not Joe), I went in and met
personally with the manager and thought that I had crossed my t's and dotted my
i's and sent out my invitations including my three international guests (family
members who were flying in specifically for dinner and to celebrate with me and
to whom I mailed the Accroso's menu because my family are huge italian food
fans). Imagine my embarrassment and total confusion when the DAY BEFORE MY PARTY
AT ACCRUSOS.. the arrangements for which I have confirmed with the manager three
days before, Joe calls me and tells me that the only way he can honor my
reservation is if I GUARENTEE THAT WE WILL SPEND $1000 AN HOUR EVERY HOUR WE ARE
AT THE RESTUARANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thankfully and amazingly I
called the Manager at the now defunct Chilli's in Westport and he was amazing
about accommidating a party that big THE DAY BEFORE. His staff were amazing and
my guests tipped and ordered very well. I doubt we spent $1000 an hour but we
did leave a large amount of money and a very large tip at Chilli's as well as
having every birthday party there and eating there almost every weekend until
they closed because we loved them and their service and how well they took care
of us for my birthday. The same cannot be said for Accorso's and if how I was
treated was any indication, it should not come as a suprise that Joe has sold
out (again)
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