‘Steaking’ his claim
Immigrant shares key to success
The owner of one of Manhattan’s most popular steakhouses has some advice for migrants chasing the American Dream just like he did: work hard but “follow the rules.”
Jack Sinanaj, co-owner of Midtown’s Empire Steak House, knows a little something about making it in the Big Apple after coming into the country as an illegal immigrant himself.
“I came through with an American passport which was not even my picture,” Sinanaj, 53, told The Post on Wednesday. “I paid $9,000 to come here, and I didn’t have the money. I had to make the money here and give it back.”
Sinanaj, who got his US citizenship in 2006, fled his home in Montenegro, in what was then Yugoslavia, in March 1991 for what he said are many of the same reasons that today’s migrants leave their Central and South American homes.
Yugoslavia was descending into the civil war that would eventually tear it apart. But perhaps more important, the country’s communist regime had stripped away the means for people to make something of themselves, he said.
“Everything was owned by the government,” Sinanaj said. “You couldn’t get a job, there were no opportunities. If you were a busboy there, you were forever a busboy. You couldn’t grow.”
Today, Sinanaj and his brothers Russ and Jeff own seven restaurants, including three Empire Steak Houses in Manhattan and one in Tokyo. And he has some thoughts about the current wave of immigration, which he says will benefit the US in the long run.
“These immigrants who come today, a lot of them they can be something [such as a doctor or lawyer] tomorrow,” he said. “Which is going to be good for this country.
Still, recent arrivals searching New York’s streets for a bright American future have to do the right thing, he said.
“Everybody has a right to come,” Sinanaj said. “But you have to follow the rules. You have to respect police. Do the right thing. Migrants have become like spoiled kids . . . if it’s a line, stay in the line! If you don’t stay in the line, we’re going to send you back!” Sinanaj added, “We can bash on things, but New York City is the greatest city in the world.”