Young men have been following their fathers into the family business since biblical times.
The practice is steeped in tradition and pride.
It is, in most cases, an honorable inheritance.
For Aldo Vitale and sons, a family of restaurateurs in Baltimore?s Little Italy, the legacy goes beyond the two brick and mortar trattorias they own.
“My father encouraged us not to get involved in the business,” Sergio Vitale said.
“He never pressured us to do anything other than what we chose to do.”
Aldo Vitale was born in Calabria, Italy, in 1945.
Though he apprenticed in his father?s woodworking shop, his love of culinary arts fueled his dreams.
In 1961, he emigrated to the United States where, after serving in the U.S. Army, he began his long and successful career as chef and restaurateur.
In 1981, Aldo Vitale, along with his wife, Regina, opened Aldo?s, their first-time venture in full-service dining, in Fallston.
“We were in the restaurant at a very young age,” Sergio said.
Alessandro and Sergio, encouraged by their dad, soon followed their own dreams, each earning degrees in political science and business, respectively.
“But, there was for us that irresistible combination of being of being Italian and being a natural with pleasing the public,” Sergio said of the brothers? returns to the family enterprise.
“We got back into the business. That?s how the Little Italy place [Aldo?s Ristorante Italiano] began.”
The boys and their father opened what would become their award-winning establishment on HighStreet in Little Italy. Aldo is happiest in the kitchen, creating and preparing his popular cuisine on a daily basis.
Sergio works the front of the house, while brother Alessandro spends most of his time in the North Baltimore establishment, Cibo Bar & Grille.
“My father has been our personal and professional mentor,” Sergio said. “He can do anything; I?m so impressed.”
The brothers contend that they are almost too close to their father, but as Sergio has realized over the years, “every good thing here at Aldo?s is a result of that closeness.”
