The family-owned business on Freeman’s Bridge Road in Scotia was open one last time on Saturday, a chance to celebrate the restaurant’s relocation.
It was one more chance to smell the fresh pasta and bread at this hometown pizza place.
Passing the takeout area, the well-lit dining room with classic checkerboard tablecloths is bustling.
Waitresses burst through the kitchen’s double doors passing a statue of a chef to drop off pizza, sandwiches, parm, calzones and subs made from scratch to hungry customers.
Other orders are called in.
James Hart grew up in the area and took the restaurant over three years ago.
“Basically, I’ve been working here since I was 15. I’m the oldest grandchild of six. My grandfather took over for his father which is my great-grandfather Carmelo, my grandfather Tony took it over and then he was ready to retire, I graduated high school,” he said. “He was 70-something years old and he was just done and kind of passed it down. Wanted to keep the legacy going.”
Hart decided to relocate after Mohawk Honda offered him and his family a “good offer” to purchase the property.
He’s planning to downsize the menu and focus on catering and takeout as part of the restaurant’s move.
However, Carm’s will still serve some of its most popular items including homemade bread and the parms: chicken, veal, and eggplant.
Hart says he has enjoyed his time as head of the business so far:
“Oh yeah just basically, I mean I have a lot of family that works for me so it was just all of our family together keeping everything going. You know, my grandfather passed it down to me. That was big for me. Making the bread every day. Him just teaching me everything that I learned.”
The Carm’s Family doesn’t know exactly where the new location will be. Hart says he wants to stay in Schenectady County – no more than 15 minutes away from the old location.
Hart’s mother, Christine Robinson, has been working at the restaurant for 38 years.
She started as a hostess.
“Was to walk through the line that went out the door and ask how many people smoking or non? At that point in time you had to have a smoking section and non-smoking section which is kind of funny because the tables were literally right next to each other.”
Her grandfather, Carmelo Puglisi, opened the restaurant in 1971 after he saw how much money his son, Anthony Puglisi, was making at Homestyle Pizza.
“He really couldn’t believe that people would pay for food. Like to him, they came from Italy, for him it was kind of bizarre that people would pay you to make their food for them.”
Robinson has mixed feelings about the restaurant changing locations.
Over the years, she watched her customers’ families grow and some have even become family themselves.
“Out longest customers because they didn’t like to be called the oldest customers, they are both deceased but they’re family has been coming in since we opened. Their children worked here, their grandchildren worked here. Now their great grandchildren are coming in. So, it’s nice to see the generations change a little. I remember when I first started my mom would wait tables and she’d be like, ‘Oh my god, I feel so old.’ That man with those little kids used to be a little kid coming in here himself. Well now that happens to me.”
Susan Vine has been waiting tables part-time for a year and a half.
“I’ve met quite a few people here that I’m very happy that they came into my life.”
She isn’t related to the Puglisis or the owner, but she still feels like a part of the Carm’s Family.
“Thank you to Jimmy for giving me the opportunity. I’m a little bit older than most to be starting out with a new kind of thing, waiting tables and stuff.”
Vine doesn’t know if she will be working at Carm’s after the move but she says she is thankful for the relationships she has made.
Hart says the restaurant’s relationship with the community is how his family has managed to stay in business more than five decades.
He wants to stay in the area so his regulars can visit the new location.
Carm’s will keep its original phone number and update its location on Facebook once Hart finds a suitable home.
