User:Valereee/Comisar family

The Comisar family are a prominent family of restaurateurs in Cincinnati and other nearby towns in the American midwest.

Nathan L. Comisar (d November 23, 1949) was a restaurateur in Cincinnati, Ohio. Comisar immigrated from Russia to the United States in 1907 when he was 13.

Comisar started a deli in Cincinnati, followed by several restaurants from the 1920s including La Normandie in 1931 and in 1949 The Maisonette, which he opened in the basement of La Normandie.

He and his wife Vallie Karrick Comisar had two children, Lee and Michael. Nathan L. Comisar died November 23, 1949, a few months after opening The Maisonette, at the age of 48.

According to Fortune the family were "the premier restaurateurs" in the city and were influential beyond their own restaurants. Former Maisonette chef Maurice Gorodesky and maitre d' Donald Whittle opened Pigall's. Jean-Robert de Cavel, who at the urging of Daniel Boulud took the executive chef's position at The Maisonette in 1993 when it was the longest-running Mobil five-star restaurant in the country, went on to open multiple restaurants in Cincinnati and himself mentored many local chefs.

In addition to The Maisonette and La Normandie, the family also owned Golden Lamb Inn in Lebanon, Ohio. Nathan Comisar's brothers Max and Ben were also restaurateurs in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Indianapolis; Dayton's King Cole was among their restaurants.

In 1978 Michael Comisar's 3-year-old son was abducted during a break-in at the family home; the child was later returned unharmed.

In 1978 The Maisonette was one of only five Mobil five-star restaurants in the country.

Joan Comisar, wife of Lee, was a prominent local golfer.