09/11/2026
On September 13, 2001, Antonio “Nino” Vendome opened his family’s New York City restaurant, Nino’s, to a new clientele.
Before the 9/11 attacks, the Italian eatery on Canal Street served a couple hundred lunches and dinners a day to Manhattan diners. Only 48 hours after the attacks, however, Nino’s had a different mission. The restaurant, located a mile from Ground Zero, transformed into an around-the-clock operation, providing weary rescue and recovery workers with thousands of hot meals every day.
Over the course of the next nine months, Nino Vendome, his family, and an army of volunteers would serve more than 500,000 meals to the police officers, firefighters, military personnel, sanitation workers, ironworkers, laborers, and countless others working at Ground Zero. Children’s drawings and thank-you cards papered the walls of the restaurant, offering gratitude and encouragement. Volunteers included local residents and victims’ friends and family members, along with beauty pageant queens, professional athletes, and famous actors.
Well, I drove nonstop from Chicago and volunteered alongside the surviving chefs, and restaurant workers of the "Windows of the World " top floor restaurant in the twin towers at Nino's restaurant. We fed the heroes of ground zero in NYC. We saw their pain, their comraderie, and chose to try and lift their spirits. Its an experience I'll never forget. I was escorted into the ground zero where I could feel the souls that were loss that horrific day on 9/11. To the man Nino Vendome that opened up his restaurant to serve those working at ground zero....you are my hero. Thank you for giving me a place to go and help 25 years ago.
