Ventura’s Restaurant will celebrate its 75th anniversary later this month. Along with the Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce, the restaurant will have a celebratory ribbon-cutting with hors d'oeuvres at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 30. “In 1943 my parents Rufus Sr. and my mother, Marie, started Ventura's Restaurant,” said Rufus J. Ventura Jr., known to the family as "Nini."

“My mother loved cooking and running the kitchen while my father was the welcoming host.” Today, the second and third generations of the Ventura family are still running the restaurant together. We caught up with Ventura Jr., his son Rufus J. Ventura III, known as "R.J.," and his daughter Nina Ventura Leistto to talk about the restaurant.