Salvatore Zagona Sr., patriarch of Tucson restaurant Caruso’s, dies

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Cathalena E. Burch

On a warm afternoon last summer, weeks before his 100th birthday, Salvatore Zagona Sr. took his usual route through Caruso’s backyard without going through the dining room of his Italian restaurant on North Fourth Avenue.

He went to the spacious veranda overlooking the avenue and took a seat at his usual table – “L4”, which was hidden in a corner from which he could overlook the entire width of the patio.

“He came in and most of them didn’t know who he was, but he was there,” said his great-niece Andrea “Ande” Motzkin, who has been the co-manager of her great-uncle’s restaurant since 2007.

“The staff got nervous, but he wasn’t that kind of personality. He was so warm and lovable. Everyone on the terrace would be looking somehow as the staff came out and greeted him. ‘Who is this guy?’ I loved seeing it. I came home and said, ‘The godfather was there today.’ “

The last time Motzkin saw Zagona was in his restaurant because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arizona Daily Star reported. The last time they called was a few days before he was hospitalized on February 1st after falling.

“He called me to remind me that he loved me very much and hoped the COVID would calm down and they would let me go to him,” Motzkin said last week, days after Zagona on Sunday, February 7th, died was 100 years old.

Zagona was a weekly regular at the restaurant for years after leaving the business to his son Salvatore Zagona Jr. Motzkin joined them years later.

But the presence of the older Zagona was never far away. The guests enjoyed the menu, which he created dish by dish, which dates back to the 1950s when he took over the restaurant from his father, the founder of Caruso, Nicasio “Caruso” Zagona. And they saw it in his dining room and on that terrace that years ago he had made the center of North Fourth Avenue.

“Everything he has done to develop Caruso’s, not just in terms of the menu, but also in terms of the space it has in Tucson, the courtyard that he expanded from my grandfather’s smaller terrace said Zagona Jr., the third oldest of six children. “The restaurant is his legacy. That meant most to him and raising a family with remarkable people. “

Zagona Sr. was born on July 27, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, and served in the Navy during World War II.

After the war, he followed his father to Tucson, where he attended the University of Arizona on the GI Bill and met his wife, Ingeborg Thordis, a UA student at the time who had also served in the Navy during the war. The couple married in 1948.

Zagona Sr. took over Caruso’s in the early 1950s and quit his job as a proofreader for the Arizona Daily Star to work full-time in the restaurant while completing his Masters and PhDs from the UA. He continued to run the restaurant after receiving a professorship at the UA. He taught psychology for 30 years.

“When we lived in the restaurant, I remember my father going to the restaurant almost every night, but he was very, very successful at juggling his time,” said Zagona Jr., remembering how his father always made time for took his family.

“He took us to Bear Canyon to make breakfast over an open fire,” his son recalled. “He made these omelettes with lots of ingredients. He was a fantastic cook. “

Zagona Sr. created most of the recipes at Caruso’s and introduced pizza to the menu. He developed the house Lasagne al Forno and the Shrimp Mediterranean as well as the homemade sausages and meatballs, all of which are still on the menu.

“He encouraged us to keep creating new dishes,” said Motzkin. “He would lie in bed at night and call us at unusual times and say, ‘Hey, I was like, what if we did this and that?’ She remembered.

“This restaurant, the operation and the popularity of this restaurant were his passion,” adds Motzkin. “He loved teaching and being a professor, but this restaurant was it. He was happy to be here. … He was happiest here. (His) legacy will endure as long as someone from the family is here to lead it. “

After spearheading Caruso’s kitchen expansion in the early 1990s, Zagona Sr. began scaling back his role in the restaurant. His son said his father spent his retirement learning new languages, including Greek, and traveling.

“Until the middle of last year he was pretty vital, pretty strong,” said his son.

In addition to his son, Zagona Sr. has four daughters, Helen, Edith, Karen and Miriam; one son, Eric; and two grandchildren. Nicasio Zagona died in 1970 and Ingeborg Zagona died in 2016 at the age of 99.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, memorial services won’t be held until late spring, Zagona Jr said.

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