Kenny began his restaurant career at the early age of 8, along with his brother Johnny, age 6. The helped their dad Norm with small tasks and in later life, management of Norm’s many restaurants. Kenny’s mom Peggy, remembers them barely being able to see over the tops of the tables, but despite the setback, they were a big help.
Kenny left college to work for the Edison Company in So. California. Five years later Norm was opening his 5th restaurant at the Mountain Meadows Country Club in Pomona, CA. It was then that Kenny decided to follow in his dad’s footsteps. He left Edison and went to work for Norm managing the Country Club restaurant. He worked seven days a week, doing everything from cocktails to banquets.
After many years of vacationing at the river, Kenny decided to he wanted to live in Lake Havasu and spend his time on the beautiful lake. With that in mind he started looking for a restaurant location. It took a couple of years before he found the perfect spot.
When he brought his family to see what he had chosen, they looked a little worried, and said, “What are you going to do with this?”
Two months later, and with a lot of hard work from family and friends, you wouldn’t have recognized the place. . . It was beautiful and ready to open. All the restaurant needed was a name!
On July 4th, 1993, permits and lease in hand, sitting on his pontoon boat, Kenny was struggling to come up with a name for his new venture. Surrounded by friends and family, including 8 nieces and nephews, all anyone could here was “Uncle Kenny”, “Uncle Kenny”!!
Uncle Kenny’s opened September 29, 1993. The first cup of coffee on opening day was served to Bud Grabski who can still be found at Uncle Kenny’s every morning, that is unless he is in Laughlin.
Including visiting family members, you just never know who you might be sitting next to at Uncle Kenny’s … Rock Stars, politicians, advertisers, clergy, or just nice hungry people!! There has even been a rumor that Elvis is occasionally spotted having breakfast at Uncle Kenny’s.
There may be more “Chefs” in the next generation of nieces and nephews since it’s already been a family tradition for rover 60 years.