Danny Monaco, owner of Hoffstot’s in Oakmont, dies from covid problems

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Daniel “Danny” Monaco, operator of Hoffstot’s Cafe Monaco in Oakmont, died Sunday. He was 75.

Monaco and his brother Tom established Hoffstot’s in 1971. Their vision was to develop a cafe that would element their grandmother’s Italian recipes. They afterwards opened Cafe Monaco, a lesser cafe with a distinctive menu, following doorway. In 1990, the brothers renovated the cafe, creating Hoffstot’s Cafe Monaco, which proceeds supplying Italian specialties, as very well as a bar and catering menu.

Sept. 7 would have marked 50 yrs possessing the cafe.

“He was so thrilled to make it to 50,” Dana Monaco, his daughter, reported. “That was these a big accomplishment for him.”

She said there will be a celebration of his existence at the cafe on its 50th anniversary.

“He was larger sized than everyday living,” Dana Monaco stated of her father. “He generally went previously mentioned and outside of.”

She remembered him as a good father to her and her sister, Danielle.

“If I ever necessary anything, he came in on a white horse,” she reported.

Govt Chef Brian Leri worked with Monaco for 26 years. He said Monaco died of covid-19 complications immediately after battling the virus for about a few weeks.

He remembered Monaco as a variety and generous male who usually supported his cafe staff and the neighborhood.

“He usually manufactured confident the cafe was taken care of,” Leri mentioned. “That was his newborn.”

Monaco was a strict businessman, but also a “pillar of the group,” Leri claimed.

“He was these a presence,” Leri stated. “Wherever he would go, he was so well identified.”

Monaco donated hams to the police department each individual calendar year and contributed to Toys for Tots at Christmas. People would normally come into the restaurant, inquiring Monaco to assist community charities — and he’d usually say certainly, Leri claimed.

“There was a homeless person and every single Xmas, my father would go and provide him Xmas meal. He would go uncover him each individual yr,” Dana Monaco mentioned. “He was a individual that everyone wished to be all around. He often produced every person smile.”

Monaco earlier served in the Navy as a mechanic for modest boats, his brother Jerry Monaco explained. He served on the USS Tidewater from 1965 via 1967.

“He assumed going into the assistance would be an honor and permit him to determine out what he required to do,” Jerry Monaco stated, introducing that his father also served in the army.

“He experienced a fantastic, kind heart,” Jerry Monaco said of his brother. “He would normally be supporting individuals.”

Leri, who is a partial proprietor of the Hoffstot’s Cafe Monaco, claimed Monaco required to assure the restaurant survived soon after his passing.

“We’re likely to continue on on his legacy below at the cafe,” Leri claimed. “He instructed me quite a few situations, ‘I want you to keep what I commenced heading.’”

For individuals in the local community who knew Monaco or patronized his restaurant, Leri stated, the most effective way to keep in mind Monaco is to help the small business he cherished.

“If you want to honor him, appear to the cafe,” he said. “He usually wished the cafe to be full.”

Dana Monaco stated she’s grateful for the local community assist right after her father’s passing.

“He was just incredibly beloved,” she claimed, joking her father had “way way too quite a few mates.”

The restaurant, she claimed, will keep his legacy alive.

“The most effective way to support him and his household is to help the restaurant,” Dana Monaco mentioned. “It’s been a battle with covid, so if you want to guidance him, help us, arrive out to supper. That’s what he would want.”

The restaurant is open for dine-in and choose-out.

Memorial donations to the Mild of Lifetime Rescue Mission or Oakmont Chamber of Commerce are also appreciated, Dana Monaco claimed.

Close friends and kinfolk will be obtained at Burket-Truby Funeral Household in Oakmont from 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday. A personal funeral company will be held at Calvary Cemetery.

Julia Felton is a Tribune-Assessment team author. You can contact Julia at 724-226-7724, [email protected] or by way of Twitter .