Joseph Di Rienzo; Rockin' Baja restaurant co-creator
Robert Feigel (aka Bob)
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 3, 2004
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/obituaries/20040103-9999_1m3dirienzo.html
Joseph Paul Di Rienzo loved to take his family on trips to Baja
California and stop for lobster meals in Puerto Nuevo.
Although Mr. Di Rienzo already owned a successful restaurant in
Bonita, after years of making such trips he decided to take the food
he loved across the border.
The result was the Rockin' Baja lobster restaurant chain that has
delighted the taste buds of San Diegans and tourists.
Mr. Di Rienzo died Dec. 26 in his Corona del Mar home of pancreatic
cancer. He was 87.
He was born in Burlington County, N.J., one of eight children born to
first-generation Italian-American parents.
Mr. Di Rienzo served in the Army during World War II and was an
artillery instructor and a sergeant before he finished his duty in
Honolulu.
In 1942, he married a "Jersey girl" named Mary Jane Fouch, and in 1946
they moved to Indianapolis, where he became an executive of a jet
engine division of General Motors.
But Mr. Di Rienzo always wanted to have his own business, and in 1961
he moved with his family to Chula Vista to start a new life.
He purchased a 7-Eleven store and Taco Bell restaurants. But it was
his purchase of the Old Bonita Store that made him a well-known
community figure.
The market had a meat counter, and Mr. Di Rienzo was the butcher. But
he also was always cooking in back, and people who walked in could
smell the aroma of meats simmering in various spices, daughter JoAnn
Wood said.
And being from New Jersey, he also made hero sandwiches and hoagies.
"People would just line up and there would be my dad, making all the
sandwiches," Wood said.
To his customers and new friends, he was known simply as "Mr. Di."
"You could rest assured in knowing that as long as Mr. Di was around,
quality control was at a premium," said his granddaughter, Kris
Prince.
But his biggest success came later. In 1985, he and his son Rick
converted the menu and the decor at the Old Bonita Store into that of
a Puerto Nuevo lobster house. They served Baja-style lobsters and some
specialties they created.
Soon after, they expanded the concept, opening Rockin' Baja
restaurants in Old Town, downtown San Diego, Oceanside, San Marcos and
Newport Beach.
Mr. Di Rienzo also was known for giving to many charities and being an
avid book reader, a gardener, a frequent traveler, especially to
Italy, and a devoted family man.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Jane, of Corona del Mar; sons,
Gregory Di Rienzo of Corona del Mar; Richard Di Rienzo of Poway and
David Di Rienzo of Laguna Beach; daughters JoAnn Wood of Bonita and
Dee Dee Elchesen of Coto de Caza in Orange County; 10 grandchildren
and four great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. today at Glen Abbey
Memorial Park in Bonita.
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
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