Syracuse, N.Y. — The old Joey’s Italian Restaurant building at Carrier Circle is no more.
At 7 a.m. today, demolition crews gathered for one last walk-through of the building that had served Central New Yorkers since 1982. Workers pulled out the familiar iron gates that thousands of customers passed through on their way downstairs to dinner, then stepped aside as the machines rolled in.
Former owner Joey DeCuffa, who built the original restaurant more than four decades ago, stood with several former employees and current owner Bill Cleary to watch the end of an era.
At 7:45, two excavators from Contento’s Demolition of Cortland began tearing into the brick and mortar, one clawing down walls and roofing, the other sorting metal, brick and debris into waiting trucks.
By mid-morning, the building was reduced to rubble.
Joey DeCuffa watches his old restaurant come down. The longtime home of Joey’s Italian Restaurant in Syracuse was demolished on Monday morning. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)(Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)
“I wasn’t going to come down this morning, but I wanted to put closure to this,” DeCuffa said, watching as dust rose over the Carrier Circle lot. “Forty-four years is a long time. It’s time to say goodbye.”
In the parking lot nearby sat 32 worn-out chairs and a few broken tables, survivors of countless meals and memories. Soon, even those will be gone.
Once the debris is cleared, the land will be paved to create additional parking for the new $5 million-plus Joey’s building that opened just steps away last week.
As the old structure came down, the gleaming new restaurant came into view, its bar glowing with thousands of LED lights and its dome towering 34 feet above. Cleary said the restaurant has been full every night since opening day.
The food made from DeCuffa’s recipes in a kitchen he designed lives on, but the building that started it all is now just a memory.
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Dining and Cooking