14 LIFE & TIMES June 2013

COVERSTORY

Continued from page 13

He was traveling coast to coast, su-pervising the setup of company-ownedunits and involved in everything fromresearch kitchens, testing new productsand equipment, to equipment installa-tion and training. Using his experience,he taught in Arby’s training schools.

The company changed its strategy,and set up territories for supervisorssuch as Jerry. Arby’s assigned him tothe Washington, D.C., area. The roadwas about to take another turn. “I toldthem I wasn’t going to Washington,D.C.,” he said, and effectively ended hisfive-year career with Arby’s while hewas assistant director of corporate de-velopment. Arby’s had a mere 12 unitswhen he started in 1966, and that num-ber had soared to more than 200 whenhe left in 1970.

He found new employment at SharonSteel Corp., and occasionally, wouldhelp his dad at the family-owned EagleGrille. “I helped out when needed. Iworked some parties from time to timeand tended bar, but small stuff, nothingmajor.”

The restaurant had been in the Chic-carino family’s hands for nearly 40years. It opened in the 1930s as a pri-vate venture, the Eagle Club, operatedby his grandfather Peter and his greatuncle. Peter opened the Eagle Grille inthe 1950s and it eventually was run byJerry’s dad and his Uncle John. Whenhis uncle retired in the mid-1960s, Jer-ry’s dad ran the restaurant until 1972,when he sold it to the late Hugo Wash-ington and Charlie Mitchell.

But the restaurant business was inhis dad’s blood, and he had a liquor li-cense in escrow in Hickory Township.He renovated a former grocery store inthe Hermitage Square Plaza that wasanchored by the former Treasure Islanddepartment store (home of today’s PatCatan’s), and opened the new EagleGrille in the fall of 1972.

His father had battled cancer earlierin his life, and it recurred shortly afterthe restaurant opened. He died inRoswell, N.Y., on Christmas Eve of1972, three months after opening therestaurant.

Jerry and his wife, the former LauraWojtanoski of Farrell, suddenly had arestaurant on their hands. “That’s how Iended up in the full-service end of thebusiness,” Jerry said. They renamed itJerry Chic’s Eagle Grille and it soon be-came one of the most popular restau-rants in the area.

“We had a great nucleus of people tooperate the place, many of them frommy father’s Farrell restaurant,” he said.“Laura and I did the accounting, mud-

dled our way through it, and got ourfeet wet little by little.”

After a successful 11-year run, Jerryand Laura decided to sell the restaurantin 1983. Before selling it to the late JoeFortuna, who renamed it Fortuna’s, Lau-ra was diagnosed with breast cancer.Before the diagnosis, they had thoughtabout moving to Florida, but put thatidea on hold and stayed in the areawhile Laura received treatments inYoungstown.

With Laura in remission during thenext several years, they got back intothe business and operated Jerry Chic’sTavern on the Green on the ConneautShores Golf Course in Conneaut, Ohio.That lasted a little more than a year be-fore they operated Jerry Chic’s Pent-house Restaurant at the El Patio Motelin downtown Erie.

The Conneaut experience was oneJerry would like to forget. “Have youever been to Conneaut, Ohio, in thewinter?” he asked. “You don’t want tobe in Conneaut, Ohio, in the wintermonths,” he answered quickly.

Contributed

After the death of his first wife, Laura, Jerry married the former CaroleAtwell in 2004. Carole is mainly responsible for the decor in the restaurant,and she helps out in the evenings as a hostess.

David E. Dale/Life & Times

The dining room is packedon a typical weekend eveningat Chiccarino’s. The restaurantwill close later this summer asthe owner retires. Marathon Oilhas bought the site for aSpeedway service plaza.