Milano II restaurant closes down

FAMILY BUSINESS— Carmelo and Maria Ieraci, center, are flanked by their children. Right, are son Joe, his wife, Julie, and daughter, Bianca, 5, who cozies up to her Nonna. Left is daughter Anna Maria holding Joe and Julie’s second daughter, 2-year-old Sophia. JANN HENDRY Acorn Newspapers The memories flowed as freely as the wine last Sunday night as Agoura Hills residents, both past and present, came together to say arrivederci to Milano II, the city’s oldest Italian restaurant.

Customers came shortly after 6 p.m., not only to enjoy the place where they’ve celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and weddings, but to pay their respects to the Agoura couple that made it possible— Carmelo and Maria Ieraci.

Enjoying one warm embrace after the next, Carmelo Ieraci, who is retiring after more than 60 years in the restaurant business, was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for himself and his family, all of whom played a role in the success of Milano II over the past 25 years.

“It’s a truly wonderful night,” Ieraci, 77, said with a smile. He called it a “sweet goodbye.”

Carlos Orozco, owner of the Adobe Cantina, bought the restaurant and will reopen it as the Agoura Bistro.

Milano II opened for business in the Reyes Adobe Plaza on Aug. 12, 1981, less than one year before Agoura Hills became a city. Before that, Ieraci operated Italian restaurants in Tarzana, Hollywood, and before that, in Brooklyn, N.Y.

He learned the business from his older brothers in their Italian home of Calabria. Both brothers were chefs.

Benito Prezia, who had met Ieraci in Brooklyn in 1947, was one of many longtime friends who came Sunday night to sing the praises of this small, warm-hearted man.

“He’s a man people love, and I say that with all my heart,” said Prezia, who now operates five restaurants of his own. “He knows everything about the business. He knows how to cook. He knows how to host. He knows how to serve a table and clean a table. I learned so much from the man. This is his life.”

With good food and service, Milano II quickly became successful, attracting new residents in search of authentic Italian food in a cozy, family atmosphere.

Brother and sister Joe and Anna Ieraci, at that time students at Agoura High School, would come in every afternoon after classes, do their homework and then go to work, helping out where they could.

Each afternoon at 4 p.m. the family of four gathered around a roundtable in the back of the restaurant to enjoy each other’s company before a night of hard work.

“We literally grew up in the business, my sister and I,” said Joe Ieraci, who graduated from Agoura High in 1986 and now co-owns Boccaccio’s in Westlake. “Every holiday—New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s, Christmas Eve, Mother’s Day—has been spent in the restaurant.”

Anna Ieraci, who worked in Milano’s right up to its closing, graduated from Agoura High in 1984. She said it’s more than the food that’s kept customers coming back for years from as far away as Bakersfield and Palm Springs.

“People develop friendships here and they keep them,” she said.

Former Agoura Hills mayor Jack Koenig was one of the restaurant’s original customers.

“The first city hall (of Agoura Hills) was exactly across from the Milano in the Reyes Adobe Shopping Center, and all of us used to go over there after city council meetings to sit down and discuss things and have a pizza,” said Koenig, who attended Sunday’s final dinner.

“The food is good, the family is charming. They’ve served this community well. . . . It’s a bittersweet night. We’re happy (Carmelo) can retire, but we’re very, very sad to say goodbye,” Koenig said.

Westlake Village resident Jim Chamberlain is another Milano patron who has many memories of the place during the more than 20 years he’s been eating there. For instancehe brought his wife, Joni, there on the couple’s second date.

“There are very few restaurants anymore that are family owned, and that make you feel like part of the family when you come in,” Chamberlain said.

“And that’s kind of the way this place is. You know everybody. The family hasn’t changed . . . And they’re all genuinely nice people,” he added .

Though Ieraci and his wife admitted they’re sad to say goodbyethey’re ready for a break. After years of serving others, the Ieracis, married for 40 years, are ready to do something for themselves.

“I’m tired. I just can’t do it anymore,” Ieraci said. “Everybody’s mad at me because I’m retiring, but I can’t stay here forever. I don’t want to drop dead in the restaurant.”

Ieraci said he and his wife are planning a trip back to Italy to see family and then return to Agoura Hills, where they’ve lived since 1983, to enjoy the rest of their retirement doing “nothing.”

“I’m going to stay here. I may leave for a few weeks, but I’ll be back,” Ieraci said. “I love it here.”