Jim and Karen Augusta, owners of DeRienzo’s Italian Foods, 387 S. Broadway Ave., have operated the business for 30 years. A Salem landmark dating to 1933, the restaurant is one of the longest, continuously-operated family businesses in the city. (Salem News photo by Larry Shields)

SALE — DeRienzo’s Italian Restaurant has been in business 84 years and Jim and Karen Augusta have owned it for the last 30.

The 30 years will get you a big milepost alone, but the 84 makes it one of the longest, continuously-operated family businesses in Salem.

Its history goes back to 1933 when Mike and Nicolina DeRienzo opened the restaurant (spaghetti house) at 387 S. Broadway Ave., serving real Italian food.

Today, 84 years later, it is still serving “real” Italian food from the same location.

Karen is the great-granddaughter of the founders, a fourth-generation DeRienzo, and along with Jim, they moved ahead with the family traditions from the beginning and when they bought the restaurant. The recipes, stipulated in the agreement, were the big proprietary asset that came with it.

Jim said they are the “key.”

If you wonder why the recipes carried such weight, it comes down to his long-considered description: “You can smell it in the walls.”

He said customers told him that.

Those recipes were in the walls before the 1967 fire that forced the DeRienzo’s, who lived upstairs in the old building, to put up a new building.

Today the fragrance of those recipes comfortably permeates the relaxed atmosphere of the whole DeRienzo’s dining experience.

“You can smell it in the walls.”

That’s ambiance can’t buy, imagine or manufacture. You can only create it. The recipes for wedding soup, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, Italian dressing, French dressing, meatballs and the blue cheese dressing are all part of it.

It’s in the walls.

“The blue cheese is worth killing for,” Jim said. The sauces and dressings are blended from the old-country recipes and he hand makes the meatballs.

His chili and hot peppers are way up there too and he makes 210 quarts of hot peppers a year.

“The sauces and dressing are old recipes,” he said. “Mike and Nicolina, they were from the old country.”

Handed down, across the ocean, across generations.

“We don’t make the pasta but we make the dressing, sauces, soups, chili and meatballs,” Jim said.

DeRienzo’s defines family restaurant: an established, time-honored name, the best foods including gluten-free pizza and pasta and a friendly atmosphere where 110 diners can be served.

Customers are served by a tenured staff which says a lot about this business. One waitress has been with DeRienzo’s since 1990 and longtime employees add a friendly warmth and a certain “feel” to the bar and dining room.

In 1989, DeRienzo’s opened a second location in Alliance.

Jim explained it “was crazy busy and then it just went away. We made everything here and took it to Alliance.”

But something didn’t click and with the great overall success enjoyed at the original Salem location it’s mystifying that customers thought the taste was different in Alliance.

After 16 months, the restaurant was closed.

And even today, despite being the one of the oldest, continuously-operated restaurants in Salem, Karen said, “there are people who tell us they didn’t know we were here.”

She worked at the restaurant at first from 1978 to 1982 and returned in March of 1988 and the couple has been married 18 years. Jim is president and Karen is vice president.

From the one-pound lasagna “boat” to Fettucini Alfredo and chicken parm, the favorites are all over the menu and there are American beers. Karen said popular wines include Merlots, Chianti, Chardonnay and Lambrusco.

In a social media comment, Dan Holroyd said: “Food is awesome as always. Staff very friendly. Always a must stop to get our baked ziti and egg plant parm fix when we come up from Florida.”

Jodi Lynn Buck said: “They have the best pizza!! Been eating here since I was a kid. I just wish they had one in Texas.”

Betty Kuzemchak said: “Always a great time when we all meet for dinner. Great food, great atmosphere, and, of course, the best company.”

Monica Simmons said: “My hubby ate here as a kid growing up in Salem. My first time. The best pizza. The way I remember pizza tasted when I was a kid.”

The restaurant will cater to small groups and customers drive from all over to enjoy the DeRienzo’s dining experience.

For more information visit DeRienzo’s Italian Foods on Facebook or call 330 -337-9812.