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Business & Tech

Nicky Rottens' Tomasello Bows Out of Coronado

The restaurant co-owner sold his interest in the Orange Avenue eatery to his partner after months of tension with a group of area residents.

Embattled businessman Nick Tomasello has sold his share of  to partner Tim Aaron, a change that will not affect the restaurant itself.

“What we built here will stay. The great food, the great service, will still be here,” Aaron said. "The only difference is that I now own 100 percent of the business.” 

With , Aaron is looking forward to expanding his dining area, a part of the restaurant's original plans.  

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He has brought in his cousin, George Green, 81, as a partner. Green is an accountant who has business connections in the community, Aaron said.

“He’s a CPA and has audited books for people in Coronado for many years,” he said.   

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The sale took place Jan. 30, though Tomasello and Aaron had been discussing the possibility for some time. “We just needed to come up with a price,” Tomasello said.

Tomasello and his family will continue to own and operate the original restaurant in San Diego's Gaslamp. “It’s our flagship,” he said.

Aaron was never part of the operation in San Diego.

The continued battles with a small, but vocal group of neighbors wore Tomasello down. Copies of , and when business about Nicky Rottens came before the council .

“I got tired of being drug through the mud, so I decided to be the bigger person and move on and look for other opportunities,” he said.

At the same time, he expressed deep appreciation to the restaurant's fans. Despite the controversies, business has continued to flow into the eatery, on the site where a laundromat and bar once stood.

“I valued the people who supported us,” Tomasello said. “I want to thank them, especailly the military who ate at our restaurant, for their support.”

Far from sounding discouraged, Tomasello talked excitedly about future plans.

Eventually he would like to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and take the Nicky Rottens’ brand around the state, maybe even the country. “I want to follow his lead,” Tomasello said.

His maternal grandfather, Richard J. Silberman, and his partner Robert O. Peterson were the driving forces behind Jack-in-the-Box more than 50 years ago.

“It was always part of my business plan,” he said. “I just didn’t think I would start on it this soon.” 

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