Μichael Yaccarino has a treasure trove of family photographs, placed in a chest in his apartment, that compound memory after memory of his long and storied life. As he shares these stories, he proudly boasts about the people who have meant so much to him. But if you’re around him long enough – just a few hours in a day – you’ll easily pick up how much “Brother Biggie,” as he’s known by many, has meant to those people; by the phone calls; the visits from his daughters; and the innumerable gifts and awards he’s accumulated that surround his apartment at The Chelsea at Washington Township, an Assisted Living community in Bergen County, NJ.
Yaccarino partially inherited his nickname from his father, whose stage name as a comedian was “Biggie.” But his father eventually got into a different kind of business, selling clams in 1941, and took his son along with him. Five years later, they opened Biggie’s Clam Bar, originally located on Madison Street in Hoboken, the city where Yaccarino was born and raised.
Former Biggie’s owner Michael Yaccarino is a resident at The Chelsea at Washington Township Assisted Living in Bergen County, NJ.
“It means everything to me,” Yaccarino said. “Whatever I got, it came from Hoboken.”
Growing up, people referred to him as “Brother,” and he soon became Brother Biggie. And you always knew exactly where to find him.
“I couldn’t play ball in the summertime because I had to work,” he said.
He estimates putting in 90-hour weeks. But he loved it.
The only time he was away from the restaurant was when he was drafted into the Korean War in 1952. He earned the rank of Corporal in three years.
Upon returning home, he went back to his roots. He took over the family business in 1965.
His wife opened up the restaurant in the morning and helped in the kitchen. Married more than 60 years, Yaccarino said they worked as a team.
“That made the business,” said Yaccarino, whose wife passed away several years ago. “I dealt with people in all walks of life.”
Yaccarino regularly received rave reviews of his food and service, but there’s one letter he’s kept from a young girl that touches him to this day.
I love to eat at Biggie’s. They have the best cheesesteaks. My mom likes them. I like the burgers. Daddy likes the clams. Everyone is very friendly, and Brother is very nice. He opens the clams very fast. That’s why Biggie’s is my favorite place to eat.
His obsession and mastery with clams led to publicity and another reverent moniker, “The Clam King.” He’s shucked more clams than likely imaginable.
“I cut them with perfection, really,” he said.
He’s had streets named after him, Biggie’s Way, in Hoboken and Secaucus, one of his former residences. He’s won awards from esteemed organizations, once named ‘Man of the Year.’
One of Brother Biggie’s restaurants. He is now a resident at The Chelsea at Washington Township Assisted Living in Bergen County, NJ.
Biggie’s expanded at one point to five locations from Bergen County to the Jersey Shore, even all the way to Tennessee. But the only location now is in Carlstadt, NJ.
Yaccarino, 93, passed the business down to his oldest daughter, Rose Marie, and son-in-law, Steve, nearly 30 years ago. Their two sons work with them, keeping the long tradition of family ownership intact.
“You cut me open and it’ll be Biggie’s,” he said.
The staff at The Chelsea at Washington Township had the chance to experience Biggie’s firsthand with Yaccarino. And, as expected, they were treated like every patron in the past and present, with high-quality service and food, including, undoubtedly, the clams.
It’s another memory you’ll find in his apartment at his new Assisted Living community where we know he’ll have another passionate story to tell.
