Family Carries on Korean Traditions in Former Italian Restaurant

Donna Boffa Mabee (L), Yi Shan's younger son (C), and Yi Shan in front of YiShan Korean Restaurant in Middletown, N.Y., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Since Yi Shan moved to the Middletown, New York, area about five years ago, she has dreamed of sharing her traditional Korean culture and home cooking with the community.

Once married to a descendant of King Gyeongsun of Silla, she was trained by her former mother-in-law in traditional Korean rituals and cuisines.

Her dream has come true inside an old storefront on Railroad Avenue, which she bought last year from the owners of the legendary Italian restaurant Tony Boffa’s.

Donna Boffa Mabee, a former co-owner, still goes to the restaurant from time to time to indulge in old memories.

The interior and food have changed, she said, but the family atmosphere remains.

Master chef Yi Shan gets busy in the back kitchen, just like Mabee’s father once did, while Yi Shan’s daughter Kimmy serves customers at the front desk.

Like Mabee, Kimmy also grew up helping at her mother’s restaurants in Korea.

Yi Shan's daughter Kimmy at YiShan Korean Restaurant in Middletown, N.Y., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

In addition to maintaining the tradition of family running the business, the tradition of hospitality has been preserved in the new restaurant too.

Impressed with the work ethic and friendliness of the restaurant staff, Yi Shan retained almost all of them and trained them in Korean cuisine, table setting, and etiquette.

Most of them, having worked at the old restaurant for more than 15 years, genuinely enjoy serving customers and treasure the business as their second home, she said.

Marie Pagliaro, Yi Shan’s manager, worked under Mabee for more than 20 years and learned from her former boss not only about work ethic but parenting skills.

The Boffa family put all their hearts into the business, and Yi Shan has that same heart, Pagliaro said.

Marie Pagliaro (Left center) and Yi Shan (Right center) with other restaurant workers at YiShan Korean Restaurant in Middletown, N.Y., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Yi Shan said she hopes to bring delicious and healthy Korean food to the community through the restaurant and add to the diversity of the fast-growing city.

Immigration Waves in Middletown

Mayor Joseph DeStefano said at the YiShan Korean Restaurant’s Feb. 23 grand opening that the ownership transfer reflects a new immigration wave in the city.

It was Germans who first settled in the neighborhood that the restaurant sits in, then Irish and later Italians during the first half of the 1900s—an immigration wave that included Mabee’s parents.

In 1951, Tony and Antoinette Boffa moved to the United States from Italy and opened a two-table Italian eatery in the area and, with their hearts and old-fashioned Italian cooking, grew it into one of the area’s most popular restaurants.

Mayor Joseph DeStefano (R) and Yi Shan (2nd R) cut a ribbon in front of YiShan Korean Restaurant in Middletown, N.Y., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Now, the city is experiencing yet another immigrant wave, that of the Latino and Asian populations.

“Middletown has always been an immigrant city,” DeStefano said. “We’ve been incubators of the immigrant community, and that’s what makes cities livable, populous, and diverse.

“We enjoy the opportunity to encourage people to experience different cultures in the city, and the best way to do that is through food.”