Co-owners Jeff Ender, left, and Frank McGrath pose for a photo Friday, Feb. 12, outside Milano’s Pizza and Italian Restaurant, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary in Hemet. Valley News/Diane A. Rhodes photo
When Frank McGrath opened Milano’s Pizza and Italian Restaurant in 1991, he was realizing a dream, he said. He began working at a pizza restaurant in Orange County when he was 16 and told himself that if he didn’t own his own restaurant by the time he was 30, he was going to get out of the business.“We bought Milano’s (from brothers Sam and Mario Ataie) in February 1991, and I turned 30 in March,” he said.Jeff Ender began working at Milano’s in 1997 and has been a co-owner for more than 15 years. The restaurant, whose name pays homage to the city of Milan, Italy, has long been a destination for families and friends, they said. The walls are decorated with family photos from the past and present.“In the beginning it had more of a bar atmosphere, and we wanted to ma
