100-Year-Old Freehold Eatery Honored With Proclamation From Mayor

FREEHOLD, NJ - A longstanding staple on Main Street in Freehold Borough is about to turn a whopping 100 years old - and its birthday won’t go uncelebrated if borough officials have anything to say about it.

In a proclamation signed by Mayor Kevin Kane, July 1 will serve as Federici’s Family Restaurant Day in the municipality, with officials encouraging all citizens to support and dine at the restaurant during their centennial year.

According to the document read at the April 19 meeting of the Freehold Borough mayor and council, Frank and Ester Federici purchased the Wolcott Hotel for $23,0001 with 12 rooms on July 1, 1921. While 10 rooms were reserved for boarders, a small kitchen and dining room was preserved for tenants to enjoy home-cooked meals.

The Federicis raised their two youngest children, Beatrice and Frank Federici, on the second floor of the inn until 1929, when the family moved out of the hotel and made their home across from St. Rose of Lima School. The Federicis continued to operate the hotel and restaurant (and eventually a first-floor bar at the end of the prohibition era) well into the 1940s.

In 1946, Frank and Ester’s two sons, Frank and Dante, came home from the war and helped Federici’s build a new kitchen and introduce their now-legendary tomato pie recipe, alongside other Italian specialities. While a fire destroyed the upper floors of the business in 1950 (subsequently putting an end to the hotel side of the family business), the Federicis began to focus on building their reputation as a reputable bar and restaurant. 1979 saw the expansion of the kitchen into a small building next door, which allowed the business to grow its menu of Northern Italian cuisine.

“Over the next 40 years, Federici’s has continued to grow and successive generations of the Federici Family including Frank, David, Michael and John have helped the restaurant become a beloved institution in downtown Freehold where many patrons have been dining for their entire life,” the proclamation reads.

“I, Kevin A. Kane, Mayor of Freehold Borough, do hereby extend all good wishes from the Freehold community to the Federici family … and encourage all citizens to support this beloved Freehold institution by visiting and dining at the restaurant during this, their centennial year.”

You can read the full proclamation here.