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Restaurateur adding flavor to Janesville

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

Edmund Halabi

JANESVILLE — Edmund Halabi's eyes twinkle when he talks about food.

It could be the African and Lebanese food he ate as a child growing up in Liberia.

Or his own creation: the 17-inch sub sandwich that has endeared his Italian House restaurant to thousands of Janesvillians.

Halabi came to Janesville 21 years ago with an idea: bring Italian dining to a city that knew little more than pizza, steak, hamburgers and fish fry.

Today, it would be hard to imagine Janesville without him.

For two decades, the Italian House has been packed each weekday with customers from next-door Craig High School. Students literally grew up on Halabi's pasta, sauce and Gondolas.

The restaurant now has drive-up service, supplies Gondolas to the Woodman's grocery story and caters widely. It also supplies lunch programs at Craig and the Catholic schools.

There's even a Facebook group with 834 members, who all think Italian House is "fricken awesome."

Success was not immediate. Halabi, his wife and 4-year-old son slept on the floor of his original restaurant on Milton Avenue for nine months, he said.

He worked as a lab technician to supplement his income, but still he couldn't pay his bills.

"I think people were taking bets on me in Janesville: 'This guy ain't gonna make it,'" he said.

Then a real estate agent told him about a location next to Craig High.

That's when he came up with an ambitious idea: educate the taste buds of an entire generation, who would become customers for life.

It worked, but only after Halabi worked long hours for years to save on payroll and keep his costs down.

Early on, teachers from Marshall Middle School contacted Halabi. They wanted to know if he would employ at-risk students. He continues to do that to this day. He seems to relish the chance to teach the value of work to large numbers of teen-agers.

Halabi is known for giving back in other ways.

Homeless families in the House of Mercy shelter frequently benefit from Halabi's leftovers, for example

"He does that without any fanfare," said House of Mercy Director Ron Del Cello. "He just shows up. And I bring the pans back the next day."

The YWCA is one of many organizations whose fund-raisers have benefited from Halabi's food, said the YW's Allison Hokinson.

"The impression you get from Edmund is that he truly believes this community has given him something, so he has to give something back," Hokinson said.

"He has been known to be so giving that he has run out at the store," she added.