| R 149 |
| 2024 -- H 8065 Enacted 03/14/2024 |
| H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N |
| JOYOUSLY CELEBRATING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF "NICK & JOAN'S PLACE" IN WARWICK |
Introduced By: Representatives Vella-Wilkinson, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Solomon, McNamara, Bennett, Shanley, Place, Kennedy, and Ajello |
| Date Introduced: March 14, 2024 |
| WHEREAS, Forty years ago, on March 14, 1984, Nick Degaitas and his wife of now 46 |
| years, Joan Degaitas, opened their restaurant "Nick & Joan's Place" and have conducted business |
| every day based on the Golden Rule of treating each and every customer like a valued family |
| member and close friend. Abiding daily by these rules as well as offering delicious food at |
| family-friendly prices explains why "Nick & Joan's Place" has become a fixture and beloved |
| institution in Warwick; and |
| WHEREAS, Nick Degaitas learned the skill of cooking as a youngster while watching his |
| father and working in the family's restaurant, John's New York System in Providence. At the |
| urging of his wife Joan, the Degaitases went about looking for a place to open a restaurant |
| despite, in the words of Joan, only having $100 dollars to their name; and |
| WHEREAS, Thankfully, a suitable place was found, and on March 14, 1984, "Nick & |
| Joan's Place" opened on Warwick Avenue in the Gateway Shopping Center. Through the years |
| the interior has pretty much remained the same, with the exception of a few repairs, while the |
| menu changes on a daily basis, offering everything from the best wieners anywhere, thanks to |
| Nick's father's special meat sauce recipe, to what many say is the best breakfast in town; and |
| WHEREAS, "Nick & Joan's Place" is a true family-run business with Nick manning the |
| grill daily, and Joan waitressing, simmering soups, cooking the daily specials and whipping up |
| delectable baked goods. Through the years, their four children and nineteen grandchildren have |
| all contributed to the restaurant's success, learning about cooking and conducting business; and |
| WHEREAS, Over the years of running the restaurant and conducting business, Nick and |
| Joan have never wavered from their moral and religious principles. They were the first local |
| restaurant to ban indoor smoking, to their customers' applause, and never wavered from closing |
| for business on Sundays, in order to keep the day for family and worship. The Degaitases are also |
| devoted to making their community a better place in which to live. They have brought soup to |
| sick customers, many of whom are shut-ins, regularly visit hospital rooms, and even attend the |
| funerals of departed loyal customers. "Nick & Joan's Place" is a restaurant that truly puts its |
| customers and the community first and that's why it has been such a success for the past forty |
| years and assuredly for the next forty years; now, therefore be it |
| RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby |
| joyously celebrates the 40th anniversary of "Nick & Joan's Place" in Warwick. We thank Nick |
| and Joan Degaitas for all they do to enrich the local community on a daily basis and wish them |
| many more years of success; and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
| transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Nick and Joan Degaitas. |
| ======== |
| LC005690 |
| ======== |