If you walk into Rufful’s restaurant at Wayland Square any time outside the breakfast or lunch rush, you can see one or two of the cooks sitting in booths and shooting the breeze with customers.
Michael Rufful, 75, who co-founded the restaurant 50 years ago, might be chatting with Mrs. Lubrano, who says she is “105 and a half” years old (no one doubts this) and comes in sometimes with her 80-something son.
Peter Rufful, 47, Michael Rufful’s son, might be serving Julie and Loretta, two inseparable friends who always split an order – pancakes, a muffin, whatever – right down the middle. Or John Couris, 74, brother-in-law of Michael Rufful, might be yakking with Joe Calamari, 93, who drives in from Woonsocket for lunch most days.
“It’s not a restaurant; it’s a club,” said Dorothy “Dottie” Gilmore, a waitress who is famous for her no-nonsense opinions and heirloom-style jewelry, with a Hollywood-perfect wink.
Rufful’s has become known as a place to get solid, American breakfasts and lunches seven days a week (except Sundays in July and August). Daily specials are always the same: Italian on Thursday; fish on Friday, and so on. Pastries are baked from scratch and in season: blueberry pie in summer; pumpkin muffins in fall.
It is a place with comfortable booths where the waitresses put in a customer’s order as soon as he walks through the door. Many people never look at a menu. Conversations can leapfrog from booth to booth as the regulars discuss Providence politics or one another’s children, surgeries and vacation plans. Some years ago, a young couple, transplanted into the neighborhood from Texas, asked to be married in the restaurant. A waitress was their matron of honor.
Debbie Marsland, a waitress, said a dozen customers showed up for her father’s wake four years ago. “Relatives, they’ve got to come, of course,” Marsland said. “But then all these customers showed up – it kind of made me a little teary.”
Michael Rufful has the home phone numbers of dozens of customers, and he calls them to check in if he doesn’t see them for awhile, or to let them know when their favorite special is coming up. “We start off every morning with the same people,” he said. “It’s like clockwork.”
Peter Rufful knows exactly how many customers like their food cooked and served. A waitress might holler to him, “This omelet’s for Marie,” and he presents it just like Marie wants it.
The restaurant opened in 1957, when Michael Rufful, then 23, and his late brother Isaac were working at a bakery next to the deli where Rufful’s now stands. The brothers bought the deli and turned it into Rufful’s. A year later, John Couris, who was dating Michael’s sister, Vicky, came onboard as a cook (the two later married).
Michael Rufful says he learned to cook from his parents, who ran a couple of restaurants, and from cooking in the Navy in the 1950s. One day in the dining hall, he criticized the cook’s rolls. An officer nearby said, “You think you can do better?” Rufful replied, “As a matter of fact, yeah.” The officer retorted, “OK, you’re chief cook starting now.”
Wayland Square has changed a great deal since the restaurant first opened. Back then, Michael Rufful said, it and Newport Creamery were the only eateries in the area. Since then, several other restaurants have cycled in and out, many with a more upscale approach. In the 1960s and ’70s, it took four cooks, four waitresses and a cashier to handle the lunch rush; now, six people can do the job. Still, Michael Rufful said, business is healthy.
This month, Michael Rufful will retire and turn the business over to Peter, who has been working at the restaurant for 30 years and said he plans no changes. (His 20-year-old son, Shane, cooks at Rufful’s.)
One of the few other neighborhood businesses as old as Rufful’s is Dorothy Williams, a women’s clothing store. Bob Williams, son of the founders, said family-owned businesses take work, but the most of all, the key to success is caring for customers.
“My father said, ‘Make believe your store is your living room, and the bottom line will take care of itself,’ ” Williams said. “Mike and all the people at Rufful’s work very hard. The food is good. Dottie is great; she’ll tell you how she feels, and if you don’t like it, that’s too bad. You can’t get any of that at McDonald’s.” •
