Photo by Emma Delk Beau Catalano, center, celebrates being named the 2025 Italian American of the Year by the Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival Board with his fellow Undo’s Family Restuarants partners Nick Sparachane, left, and Anthony “Herk” Sparachane, right.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Undo’s Family Restaurants founding partner who created the taste of the restaurant’s signature bread and salad dishes was named the 2025 Italian American of the Year on Thursday by the Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival Board.

Beau Catalano received the honor during a ceremonial dinner with friends, family and Italian Heritage Festival Board members at Undo’s West in St. Clairsville. As attendees enjoyed the same bread and salad dishes Catalano helped create, Catalano recalled when he was told he was nominated for the award.

“I was in the middle of working in the kitchen when they [the Italian Heritage Festival Board] asked me to come to a meeting,” Catalano said. “It was a shock because everybody kept it pretty quiet.”

Festival President Michele Fabbro said the Italian Heritage Festival Board aims to select someone who has been “very generous to the people in our communities.” The six counties involved in the Italian Heritage Festival encompass these communities: Belmont, Jefferson, Brooke, Hancock, Marshal and Ohio.

Italian Heritage Festival Board members submit candidates for the award and vote to decide the recipient.

“Beau has always been under the radar, but he is always doing things for people,” Fabbro said. “If you need something done in a pinch, Beau will be there, even if he is really, really busy doing something else.”

Catalano was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1961, and raised in Ronkonkoma, Long Island. Coming to the Ohio Valley in 1985, Catalano opened “Little Anthony’s,” a pizzeria in downtown Wheeling.

That same year, Catalano met Nick Sparachane, a patron who would become his business partner, and became involved with the Italian Festival. Catalano noted the festival was only its third year at the time.

Catalano joined the Sparachane family’s restaurant venture in Benwood as a chef and eventually became a partner in the burgeoning Undo’s Family Restaurants. Undo’s was known at the time for its classic Italian American cuisine and family-friendly atmosphere, and Catalano provided his own culinary expertise to create Undo’s signature bread and salad dishes.

“With the Sparachane family and the Catalano family, we all have the same values, so it’s pretty easy for us to do business together,” Catalano said.

Catalano’s leadership and business acumen were instrumental in the company’s significant expansion. Under his guidance, Undo’s grew from a single location in Benwood to include multiple restaurants across the Ohio Valley, including establishments in St. Clairsville, Weirton and Elm Grove, as well as a dedicated catering hall in Wintersville and a presence at the prestigious Belmont Hills Country Club.

“There’s no job description of what we do because all do whatever it takes to get the job done,” Catalano noted. “We’re like one big family.”

As Undo’s has grown, Catalano said he has strived to instill the family values in his employees that he and his business partners Nick and Anthony “Herk” Sparachane maintain.

Catalano said his parents, Rosemary and Carmine Catalano, instilled these family values and taught him the importance of his Italian heritage. Catalano’s mother and father were Calabrese and Sicilian, respectively.

“Growing up in New York, my parents would have us eat dinner together every Sunday,” Catalano said. “I’ve tried to do that with my wife [Candy] and sons [Anthony, Shawn, Geno and Nicco]. It’s harder to do that these days because we’re so busy, but it’s just all about our families.”

Catalano brought this Sunday dinner tradition to the Italian Heritage Festival. Every year, Catalano serves a meal following the morning Mass on the final day of the festival. Under a tent at Wheeling’s Heritage Port, attendees gather on Sunday to enjoy traditional spaghetti and meatballs, salad and bread.

In addition to providing food for the festival, Undo’s is also a major sponsor. Catalano said the event was “very important” to him and the Sparachanes, noting that it was important to him to support the festival both financially and by providing “good food” for attendees.

Italian Heritage Festival Chairman Tony Filberto said Catalano has added “life” to the festival. He commended Catalano for his willingness to help at the festival and celebrate Italian heritage through the event.

“Beau is one of those people that fits the mold perfectly for our Italian American of the year — somebody who is caring, giving and works well in the Ohio Valley,” Filberto noted. “Beau is part of the Undo’s Family Restaurant business and no one gives more or does more for the Ohio Valley than Undo’s. Beau is one of the owners and has done so many things for everybody in the Ohio Valley.”

Catalano’s desire to provide “good food” for the community also motivated a recent achievement to his culinary and business career: spearheading the renovations and rebranding of The Alpha Tavern, a historic Wheeling establishment. Catalano said his main goal while carrying out the Alpha renovations in 2022 was “to give guests good food, whether that be Italian, American or German.”

Catalano modernized the restaurant’s atmosphere while striving to preserve its classic charm. He also reimagined the menu, introducing seasonal dishes with an Italian influence alongside Alpha Tavern favorites.

“When we renovated the Alpha there were many people saying, ‘They’re going to tear it down,'” Catalano recalled. “All we were trying to do is keep the tradition alive. We put in a new kitchen and added some new menu items, but we mainly wanted to keep that tradition alive. I think we did a really nice job with it and it’s really doing well.”

Catalano was working in the Alpha Tavern’s kitchen when he received a call from the Italian Heritage Festival Board informing him he may be named the Italian American of the Year.

“At the meeting, they [the Italian Heritage Festival Board] asked me, ‘Are you still going to do Sundays [dinner at the festival]’ and I said, ‘Yeah you know we’re in and I’m still going to cook on Sundays,'” Catalano recalled. “They said, ‘We don’t want you to cook anymore on Sundays,’ and I said, ‘Well, who’s going to cook if I’m not going to cook?’ and then they told me I was nominated for Italian American of the Year. It was a total surprise because everybody said a little bit of a fib to get me to that meeting.”