CEDARBURG — Tomaso’s Restaurant, celebrating 45 years in business this year, has been a Cedarburg landmark since 1976 when Ray Thomas bought it from the DiQuardo family. Now retired, Ray’s son, Scott Thomas, and daughter, Nicole Thomas, run the place together with help from family and children, their dependable employees, and occasional help.
The original building that Tomaso’s can be found on Washington Avenue and it has a history. It was built in the late 1880s to house the Roebken & Wittenberg business — with a furniture store on one side and an undertaker on the other. Now it’s home to Tomaso’s Italian-American restaurant with some of the best pizza and Italian dishes in greater Milwaukee, having been voted No. 1 pizza in Milwaukee Magazine in 1994 and 2010 and in Ozaukee County for several years running.
Ray Thomas had been a high school history teacher and basketball coach at Kenosha Tremper High School, but had always wanted to run his own business. Ray told his brother, Jerry Thomas, then vice principal at Cedarburg High School, that if he ever heard of a business for sale to let him know, and that is how DiQuardo’s became Tomaso’s.
Ray had experience working in a truck stop/café in Madison, South Dakota earlier with his wife Janene’s parents so he knew how to run a restaurant and bar. In the early years he actually worked Tomaso’s kitchen himself for the lunch crowd while Janene taught school at the former Pleasant Valley School in Cedarburg.
Growing up, siblings Nicole and Scott had fond memories of working in the restaurant, although both had other careers, Nicole in retail clothing and then as a teacher and Scott as a former baseball player at Oklahoma’s Cameron University, later working for a machine tool distributor. When Ray told them he wanted to retire and sell the restaurant they knew they wanted to keep Tomaso’s in the family, buying the restaurant in 2006 and then the entire building in 2009.
How challenging is it for two siblings to run a very busy restaurant together? Both Nicole and Scott said that they are good friends and couldn’t ever recall having a business disagreement since their personalities and areas of expertise are complementary.
The two of them, with a dedicated staff, keep the restaurant humming — still open daily for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. As with most small businesses, things changed radically due to COVID and because of required spacing issues for indoor dining they are doing carry-out only for the time being.
An evolving menu
Tomaso’s menu has evolved over the years, but one thing that former customers demanded remain on the menu was the signature sandwich from DiQuardo’s, a special sausage patty sandwich which used to be called the “DQ” and is now known as the “Special T”.
Using all fresh ingredients, and adding the cheese to the bottom to keep the crust crisp, is the key to their delicious pizzas. Although the cheese/sausage/onion/mus hroom pizza remains the biggest seller, they’ve added BBQ Chicken, Buffalo Chicken, Cheeseburger-Bacon, Margherita and Spinach Artichoke pizzas to the menu and also offer whole wheat, gluten-free or even a cauliflower crust. Bake at home and par-baked pizzas are available and many fans visiting Cedarburg from as far away as Chicago bring coolers to take them and bake them at home.
Their pasta menu has also evolved. Although Janene’s original lasagna recipe remains a favorite, newer specialties like chicken carbonara, veal parmesan, eggplant parmesan and spicy chicken cavatappi share the spotlight.
Community involvement
The two also keep Ray’s dedication to education in mind and partner with local schools with fund raising food stands. They sponsor four scholarships, three at Cedarburg High School and one at Grafton High School, as well as hiring dozens of high school kids over the years. They have also been supporters of the Rivoli Theatre restoration, the Cedarburg Chamber and the Cedarburg Fire Department.
One of the unique things they continue to do is run their homemade ice cream machine during Strawberry and Wine & Harvest festivals. This noisy contraption definitely draws a crowd and was first noticed by Ray at a festival in Alaska. Finding that it was an Amish-made piece of equipment, he tracked one down in Ohio, retro-fitted it with a John Deere engine and brought it back home to Cedarburg. This machine produces a rich ice cream product and before festivals Scott makes and stockpiles 30-40 gallons of French vanilla in advance so they won’t run out. Then a long line of clamoring customers can add caramel, hot fudge and other toppings to gild the lily.
Tomaso’s also offers pizza by the slice in their outdoor booth during busy festivals and both Scott and Nicole are in the restaurant by 6 a.m. to get a head start on pizza making by creating 100 or more in advance.
Many concerned and supportive locals remember the day in October of 2009 when Tomaso’s had a fire and although there was only smoke damage in the restaurant, they were closed for three weeks but the three upstairs apartments were gutted and it took them a year to rebuild.
But that was then. Today Tomaso’s continues to survive and thrive and keeps generations of fans happy.
