Chef Mark Mazzone’s first restaurant job was working for his grandfather, Tony, at Gervasio’s Restaurant in Hamilton.
The bar and restaurant, which Tony Gervasio owned and operated from 1969 to 2006, was a popular Hamilton hangout, known for its Italian-American dishes and tomato pies.
After Gervasio sold the business, it became Killarney’s Publick House. More that 50 years later, the building on White Horse Avenue continues to serve the community, albeit with new owners and a new identity.
Mazzone was 15 when the original Gervasio’s was sold. Since then, he has gone on to establish himself in the restaurant business. He has worked as a cook and chef in the Philadelphia area at places like Wolfgang Puck Catering, Di Bruno Brothers, Xfinity Live and Border Café. All the while, he dreamed of one day opening his own place.
He realized that dream in May, when he opened the new Gervasio’s Italian Family Restaurant in nearby Chesterfield. Mazzone revived the Gervasio’s name in honor of his grandfather, who died in 2021 at age 90.
The new Gervasio’s is located in The Shops at Old York Village, alongside several other food-related businesses that have opened in the past year: Fundaes, an arcade and ice cream parlor; and Mikey Bagels.
The cozy BYOB restaurant is serving a number of dishes that the original was known for, as well as some specialties that Mazzone has added to the menu.
“Tomato pies are the biggest thing,” Mazzone says. “We had to have those.”
In addition to standard Trenton tomato pies or white pies, customers can choose from among a variety of specialty pies, including margherita, buffalo chicken, and the “Tony G,” a tomato pie topped with sausage, cherry peppers and garlic. There is also the “Grandma pie,” a thin-crust Sicilian style pizza with basil and plum tomatoes.
Another classic from the old restaurant that Mazzone wanted to feature is chicken cacciatore. “There was always a great recipe that my grandfather had that we use,” Mazzone says. “Actually, I think it was my grandmother’s recipe.”
The original Gervasio’s was known for its “special salad” — a chopped antipasto that Mazzone has looked to re-create in his restaurant. Another key recipe for Mazzone was the pasta e fagioli soup. Those four items were most important to Mazzone, in terms of bringing some of the old history into the new place.
The chef has also brought some of his own recipes into the mix, including his bucatini carbonara, which he says has been among the most popular dishes he has served over the course of the opening weeks. “We do it the classic Roman way — no heavy cream,” he says. “Egg yolks, parmesan, romano cheese, pancetta, black pepper.”
Another popular dish has been the shrimp and scallop portofino: seared shrimp and scallops in a mushroom demiglace sauce with artichokes and roasted red peppers.
It should be no surprise that chicken parmigiana and vodka rigatoni have also been popular in the early going.
“The biggest thing for me is to try to bring the highest quality of service and food and overall experience, and try to carry on the tradition of the family restaurant,” Mazzone, 34, says. “That’s always my call to action. If we’re doing something and it’s not in the vein of quality — if it’s only the vein of speed or money — then we’re doing something wrong.”
The Steinert High School grad grew up in Yardville with brother Anthony and parents Mark and Francine. Today, Mazzone lives in Audubon with his wife, Amber, who grew up in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.
Amber, who works full-time as a nurse, helps out at the restaurant as much as she can. Mazzone says she has also been crucial to the restaurant’s web and social media presence.
Mazzone says the restaurant business is the only business he has ever known. “My parents both worked full-time jobs, and then on the weekends, they were here. We didn’t have babysitters; we were in the restaurant. We were either in the office, or they put us to work,” he says.
Mazzone says that many of the customers who have stopped in since the restaurant opened have been people who remember his grandfather’s place.
“I try to pop my head out (of the kitchen) as much as I can,” Mazzone says. “We’ve had a lot of people coming back and trying it — a lot of familiar faces, and some that I never knew, who used to come in before I was there. I sit down with them and they tell me things like, ‘We used to go there every Friday.’”
Business has been brisk in the early going, both in terms of dine-in and take-out. Mazzone says dine-in has been more popular during the week, with weekends seeing more of a 50-50 split. Gervasio’s has a special counter dedicated to take-out customers.
“I always felt like it was my thing to do this,” Mazzone says. “I have the experience in this business, and I wanted to carry it and keep the name alive.”
Gervasio’s Restaurant, 95 Saddle Way, Chesterfield NJ 08515. Open Wednesday through Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Open until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Tuesday.