Reopening a family affair

To George and Anne Keleman, Woodro Kosher Restaurant & Catering in Hewlett is like family.

They met there in 1981; George already an assistant manager and attending culinary school, while Anne got a job as a hostess and waitress close to her home in the Gibson section of Valley Stream.

Now the couple who have two grown children, Joseph and Sophia, have fully taken over the 49-year-old Jewish delicatessen and restaurant and are in the process of moving it from its original location in the Peninsula Shopping Center at 1342 Peninsula Boulevard in Hewlett to 1441 Broadway, also in Hewlett.

“It will be better than ever and we look to be around another fifty years,” George said, as he sat at one of the tables in the old Woodro’s and took phone calls concerning items needed for the new location.

Woodro’s is taking over the former site of the Broadway Bistro, in the buildings at 1335-1441 Broadway where the Valentine’s Day fire of 2012 damaged the street-level businesses and the upstairs apartments. Previously the Broadway Bistro site was the Hewlett Café.

“We are looking to keeping the tradition going,” Anne said, while standing in the new site along with Sophia. “We have a great big following and the customers are like family.”

Patrons have been signing a contact book, Anne said, and the response to the reopening, scheduled for Jan. 20, has been overwhelming, she said. “It has been amazing, the outpouring of concern for this is unbelievable,” Anne said. “I am touched.”

Along with its regular menu that includes favorites such as matzo ball soup, corned beef and pastrami sandwiches and kasha varnishkas, the new restaurant will have a Brooklyn-styled theme, George said, and a handicapped accessible restroom and a ramp to the back entrance.

From play dates with George at Woodro’s to helping in the restaurant during breaks from school, Sophia and Joseph grew up in the business. “It was a normal life for me, the customers asked me how I was doing in school, it was like I had a cheerleading team,” Sophia said.

The support goes both ways, Anne said, as they have comforted customers during difficult times and patrons have been supportive during rough spots for the Kelemans. “We want to continue with that feeling; family feelings,” Anne said.