Family-owned eatery on the shores of Lake Ontario is visited by tens of thousands of people each season
By Tom and Jerry Caraccioli
Not many business owners can say they’ve kept their doors open for 80 consecutive years with no plans in site to close them.
What’s more, not many businesses could calculate selling more than 13 million hot dogs during its fourscore of existence, and more than 68,000 pounds of fresh haddock in a seven-month season, not including thousands of pounds of seafood delicacies like shrimp, scallops, tuna, salmon and more.
Rudy’s of Lake Ontario can lay claim to all of that.
In fact, current general manager and owner Jason Livesey figures since joining his parents in business in 1993, he alone has served more than 1.4 million fish sandwiches. And, while he’s not certain about exact numbers of customers Rudy’s caters to, that too figures to be in the tens of thousands each season.
Family Business
In 1945, Livesey’s grandfather Rudy Gadziala came back from World War II to help his parents run the former White Horse Inn, which was the inn and bar across the street from the restaurant.
The building known today as Rudy’s was a small 12’x18’ shuttered food shack known as “Herbie’s Stand” and catered to Oswego residents trying to escape the heat by traveling from downtown on a then-trolley car to the lake. That trolley ride was a trip that was described then — and is still known to this day by many longtime Oswego residents — as a “ride round the loop” or “going to the stands.”
In 1946, Herbie, the owner of Herbie’s Stand, offered Rudy a deal he couldn’t refuse. And Gadziala, along with his wife Maria, opened a small restaurant on the shores of Lake Ontario less than a mile past the SUNY Oswego campus. Rudy’s is now best described as “being nestled in the heart of Oswego, N.Y.,” and was recently named Best Seafood Restaurant in Central New York.
At first, it was mostly hot dogs, accompanied with special Texas hot sauce created by Maria. The menu was steadfast for many years serving fast, comfort food to locals enjoying the cool waters of Lake Ontario during steamy summer days.
“In the summertime, it would be hot in the city, and so people would jump on the trolley and they would take it out here,” Livesey explained. “What was known as Oswego Beach is actually the area between Mulcahy’s, Jack’s and Bev’s ice cream. Stands popped up along the road in order to accommodate the people getting off the trolleys and riding the buses.”
Expanding service, including fish on the menu
When Livesey’s parents, Brad and Carol, bought Rudy’s in 1976, progressive thinking about what Rudy’s Lakeside was and would become only continued to blossom.
“The first thing I would say and probably the most notable, of course, both Rudy and Maria and my mother and father, Brad and Carol, expanded the menu quite a bit, adding fish, scallops, steamed clams, all of the side items including clam strips, mushrooms,” Livesey said. “Of course, mozzarella sticks, things like that wouldn’t have existed in the 1950s, and early ‘60s.
In the ‘70s, we also used to do all homemade French fries here. But as businesses really expanded with the building of the nuclear plants, we were going through a boom at Rudy’s. We moved away from doing the fresh fries in order to be able to expand the menu and keep the lines outside the doors moving.”
During that time taking a drive “around the loop for a fish sandwich or Texas hot” at Rudy’s was a long and special evening affair, particularly on summertime Friday and Saturday evenings.
A fish sandwich or Texas hot, and then an ice cream from Bev’s while skipping rocks into Lake Ontario and watching a glorious Oswego sunset was, and still is, a great and treasured treat.
Third generation now in charge
Jason Livesey is the third generation of Livesey’s to man the grills and fryers of one of Oswego’s and Central New York’s favorite and most notable summertime restaurants.
Noted for its fresh fish and chips, Livesey fondly recalls the routine of his father, who would split shifts cooking, preparing and serving meals nearly 18 hours a day during the boom years, while his mother would bark out orders in what seemed like a special language amongst the staff and cooks. She did so always with a friendly greeting to customers while never forgetting a name, face or in many cases an order, of the faithful customers who came.
Eighty years later, Rudy’s offers more than meets the eye for any customer wanting to enjoy a summer day or evening sitting on the lake eating lunch, dinner or a late meal.
After many years of acquiring fish on the open market, Rudy’s fresh seafood is imported from Boston after originating in Iceland.
“We get it four times a week through three different distributors,” Livesey explained. “It’s all coming from Iceland now, whereas it used to be Norwegian. The scallops come from Canada. The reason we buy Canadian scallops is they are actually frozen at sea. About 20 minutes to a half-hour after they’re brought aboard the ship, they’re processed, flash frozen, and ready for packaging in order to be shipped to us. When we open them up in the back of the building, you can still smell the seawater, which is absolutely amazing. That’s why the scallops are so good.”
Busy season
An average customer spends about $16 for lunch and $22 for dinner. A couple may spend between $32-$38. On average, weekdays and nights may see between 1,400 and 1,800 customers through the doors. On special occasions, like this past Father’s Day, Rudy’s served nearly 3,400 people. And, depending on when the Easter season falls and because of Lent, Rudy’s fish orders can exceed previous year’s highs.
If you’re doing the math, one can assume that not only is Rudy’s a longstanding, successful business, but it is also quite lucrative. However, it’s important to point out the exorbitant expenses that come with having a lakeside restaurant including greater property taxes, inside and outside yearly property restoration and maintenance because of the harsh winters, multiple business insurance policies, and the cost of goods and services. It’s also important to note, these expenses are not passed on to customers by raising prices or skimping on the quality of Rudy’s fare.
Livesey said he could buy less expensive food, keep his current prices and make more money. He won’t do it. He wants to serve quality food, and he wants people to come back. It is a philosophy handed down from his parents.
“I give my mother, Carol, a lot of the credit for the success of what Rudy’s is known for today, the cleanliness, the professionalism, the customer service,” Livesey said. “She was a phenomenal woman. My father was more the working hands, the one that really put his nose to the grindstone and really busted his butt to improve the property first and foremost when we bought it in 1976 from Rudy and Maria. At that time, it was steel garbage cans that were uncovered and, there were no gazebos.”
The Livesey’s not only established a thriving business but also have supported the community by employing many of its young residents through the years. Many have gone on to become respected community leaders, teachers, lawyers, judges, public servants and more. And many of them, along with past and present Oswego residents, college students, who practically consider an order of a fish center and chips a requisite requirement of their education, as well as people from all over the country and world, still journey out around the loop to Rudy’s.
“Rudy’s is a namesake,” Livesey sums up. “It’s iconic. It’s a fond, past memory. A fish sandwich while watching the sun set. People make it to be what they want it to be. I’m just a steward. I just have to keep the ship running straight, keep the professionalism, keep the quality. If I’m doing that, I’m doing my job.”
Tom and Jerry Caraccioli are freelance writers originally from Oswego, who have co-authored three books, mostly about hockey. They also host a monthly television and multi-platform segment on WSYR-Channel 9 (ABC) – “Backroads to Bridge Street with Tom & Jerry.”
