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Blauvelt native George Jamieson has spent more than four years building the Italian restaurant, but is hoping for a Monday, July 8 opening.
All that's left to do for him and his wife Renee to do is pave the parking lot.
The Italian villa-inspired restaurant will specialize in Neapolitan pizza and other authentic delicacies, which Jamieson said he learned to make working at Rockland County pizzerias growing up.
One of Jamieson's first jobs was at Orangeburg's Volante's Pizza folding boxes and honing his pizza-making skills until he was 16 years old.
In his early 20s, Jamieson worked at Julie’s Pizza in Valley Cottage, learning innovation from the owners and making specialty pizzas.
Although Jamieson grew up in the restaurant industry, pursuing it full-time never appealed to him until he was in his mid-40s after years of the packing industry.
He had been selling equipment to restaurants, when he saw how well his customers were doing.
"I figured if I couldn't beat 'em, I'd join 'em," Jamieson said.
Jamieson spent the next two decades bringing gourmet delis in New York City, and currently runs dozens of delis, cafes and fine-dining restaurants across the U.S. Some of those include Pulse Restaurant at Rockefeller Center, Blu Restaurant Boston, Blu Restaurant San Francisco and a Washington DC café.
Novino will be more a retirement project for Jamieson, who named his restaurant after his wife's maternal grandmother. It also happens to be a play on the words "no vino," implying you can bring your own wine, Jamieson explained.
Jamieson credited his many teams for the success of his many businesses.
"You can't do it without the people," he said. "I go up to Boston once a month, for example, and everything is running fine. That wouldn't be the case without the people.
"I'm looking forward to building another great team here in Mahwah."
Novino, 64 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah
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