The Record Newspaper - Interview 2001

In November 2001, The Record newspaper did an article about McCobb's. The text of the article appears below. You can also read the original article as a PDF file by clicking the picture to the right (opens in a new window).

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"Once upon a time, there was a roadside stand"

Spero Mamakos and his brother, Dean, began working at their dad’s snack bar in Wayne as kids. As they grew, so did the business, and now Spero is president of McCobb’s Family Restaurant. The brothers are making plans to sell their popular chili sauce nationally.

Q. What is the history of McCobb’s?
A. It started in the 1940s as the Maple Snack Bar, a small ramshackle roadside stand with nine stools and some picnic tables.

There were several hot dog stands in Paterson, but this one was probably the first out of the city. People stopped here on their way to the lake vicinities. It became known for its hot dogs and chili sauce, which was created by "Frenchie," the original owner. The stand changed hands several times before my dad bought it in 1963. That was the time of the car craze, and teenagers in hot rods kept the place busy – in fact, the business doubled.

In 1971 we renovated, adding a 70-seat dining room, and changed the name to McCobb’s – Mrs. McCobb was a family friend who often looked after me and my brother when my mother had to help out with the business.

My dad retired in 1995, and we decided to expand the menu, adding soups and entrees. Joe Salonia, who worked for us as a kid before he went to the Culinary Institute, has helped develop many of our new items.

Joe worked at The River Café in Brooklyn, was the chef at Ruga in Oakland, and is now at Bruschetta in Fairfield and works for us as a consultant.

But the hot dogs and chili sauce are still a big draw.

Our hot dogs are made by a local smokehouse, according to our recipe. We use no nitrates, so they have a short shelf life. But they move quickly here.

Because of customer requests, we began selling the sauce in plastic deli containers in the Seventies. We were getting requests from people who had moved out of the area or visited from other states to ship sauce to them, so we began bottling it about three years ago.

It's still made right here in small, hand-stirred batches. Customers can buy it here and at selected Foodtowns, or at www.mccobbs.com.

Q. Where do you see yourself professionally in five years?
A. The demand for our chili sauce is getting so great that we can no longer meet it by making it here. We’re looking into having it produced for us and eventually marketing it nationally – we already have customers calling us from as far away as California.

It’s a versatile product that can be used for a lot more than hot dogs and burgers. One of our customers gave jars of McCobb’s as favors at their wedding.

Q. What is your most memorable food experience?
A. We went to Windows on the World when I was a young boy. Eating that kind of food while looking at that view left quite an impression.

Q. Who is your food god or goddess?
A. My Aunt Helen, actually my mother’s aunt, who owned Tiffin, a restaurant in Wilmington, Del. She introduced nouvelle cuisine to that area in the Seventies. It was an incredible place – filled with bankers and businessmen from the area – even the governor was a customer. People actually wanted to make reservations for her happy hour. She was difficult to work for, but she taught me a lot about the business – to select the best products and never to serve anything you wouldn’t eat yourself.

Q. What are your favorite restaurants?
A. We ate at The River Café in Brooklyn when Joe Salonia was working there and that was probably my all time favorite. Locally, I like Bruschetta in Fairfield and LuNello’s in Totowa.

Q. If you were asked to order your last meal, what would it be?
A. I can’t get enough Texas weiners – though I wouldn’t want to eat them anywhere but here – topped with Gulden’s Mustard, diced Spanish onions and celery, and a ladle of McCobb’s sauce. To go with them, fries with more sauce and a draft Boylan’s birch beer.

Q. What’s your favorite kitchen gadget or tool?
A. The hand blender is a great invention that makes life easier. You can do things like purée soups right in the pot.

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McCobb’s Family Restaurant, 2391 Hamburg Turnpike, Wayne (973) 835-0858.

Table Talk is a weekly column focusing on local food professionals. Recommendations for subjects are welcome, send them to Bev Mortenson in care of the Food section, The Record, 150 River St., Hackensack, N.J. 07601