Merichka's, Home of the Poor Boy, Celebrating Its 80th Anniversary

The reason Mary Zdralevich began serving sandwiches out of the building that is now Merichka's was the construction of Theodore Street.

"She started serving to construction workers from the road," Ryan George, Mary Zdralevich's great-grandson said.

In 1933, she and her son Joe officially began Merichka's.

April 18 is the restaurant's 80th anniversary. It has staying power and Mary Kay George believes she knows why.

"I think we have a unique product and we do so much of it here in the restaurant," she said.

She mentioned the house dressing and the garlic butter used on the poorboy buns that are made from scratch in-house.

"We have a butcher that cuts the meat and grinds our burgers," she said.

Merichka's is known today for its poorboy sandwich. But it isn't just the menu items that brings people back. It's the fact that generations have dined there and generations have worked there as well.

Today, Mary Kay George and her brothers George Zdralevich and Joe Zdralevich II run the restaurant. Mary Kay George's children, Ryan George and Becky Velasquez work there and the next generation in line is getting ready to add their stories to the family business. Mary Kay George says her granddaughter will begin working at the restaurant this summer when she turns 16.

It is the family atmosphere that Ryan George says helps to make the restaurant successful.

"Everyone here that works together is very close and I think that shows," he said.

The restaurant has been run by the same family for generations and generations of families have been coming to the restaurant to dine.

Becky Velasquez serves at the restaurant.

"Some people are like I don't even need a menu," she said.

She said in addition to ordering menu staples, a lot of adults will order the kiddie cocktail as a nod to their childhood. The cocktail is not just lemon-lime soda with grenadine. At Merichka's, it is blended and foamy.

When Merichka's began, it was just the home, which is now the middle part of the restaurant. Joe Zdralevich did a lot of the additions himself. The first one Mary Kay George remembers is the excavation of the ground under the dance hall, which now is the green room. That lower level served as a banquet hall for a time, but now provides storage, particularly for the various seasonal decorations that are used within the restaurant.

Merichka's will be celebrating the anniversary all month long. Mary Kay George said they ordered boomerangs for the kids who dine there, but they have not yet arrived.

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