A landmark restaurant in Mahoning Township known for its good food and quaint atmosphere has been sold.

Normal Square Inn, at 30 Fritz Valley Road, will be open yet from 4-9 p.m. this Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Mike D’Amico Jr., owner/chef, who bought the business in 2005, said he plans to hand it over to a distant relative.

Sal DiMaggio, owner of Don Corleone New Tripoli, has agreed to purchase the building.

D’Amico, who said the building can seat 85 patrons throughout its two dining rooms and a bar, explained why he chose to hang up his apron.

“I’ve been cooking for 44 years,” said D’Amico, of Lehighton. “My body’s telling me I’ve got to stop.”

D’Amico said the decision was bittersweet, as he’s built a lot of friendships in that time.

“Me with my guests, a lot of them paid my mortgage more than once,” he said. “We have a good clientele that comes here.”

Known for its steaks, seafood, and veal, D’Amico said he’s trying to set things up so that his eight employees have work.

“I plan on helping him (the new owner) with the intricacies of a (roughly) 175-year-old building,” D’Amico added.

D’Amico said he’s glad the building will remain a restaurant.

“I want it to succeed,” he said. “The community needs to keep this restaurant.”

D’Amico had already built quite the resume years before he took over Normal Square.

He previously worked at Cherry’s Family Restaurant in Kresgeville when it was the Sunset Diner, the former Platz’s Inn (now PJ Whelihan’s in Lehighton), opened the PJ Whelihan’s in South Whitehall Township, worked at Shenanigans in Lake Harmony for 10 years, and owned the former The Palace Restaurant in Lansford from 2001 to 2005.

A culinary graduate from Atlantic Community College, Atlantic City, in 1987, D’Amico originally hails from New Jersey.

“I went to college, got my associate degree,” he said. “My grandparents did it; my first relatives came over on a boat from Italy, they had a restaurant.”

D’Amico explained what he believes is the key to running a restaurant.

“Consistency’s a big deal, you got to know how to manage people; if you can’t manage people, you’re done,” he said. “You got to understand people, and be fair.

“I always tried to make sure that they went home with something. My portions were big enough so they could think about me the next day.”

D’Amico said he was especially grateful to his customers.

“I’d like to thank the community,” he said. “I always took pride in that fact that I never did any gimmicks; I never had a gimmick; everything worked for me through my food.”

D’Amico noted that ever year they used to do Meals on Wheels in which people delivered the meals and he would give them a free meal every fall, and added they also did a lot of things for The Shriners.

“I enjoyed being part of the community in the aspect that I was,” he said. “I was here to feed the community, and I took pride in that.”

D’Amico said he’s looking forward to retirement after all these years.

“The hardest thing is being able to let go of 44 years of the same pattern,” he said. “I’m finishing helping my mother and father build their own house (in Lehighton), and I’m glad I can help them.”

D’Amico described his greatest senses of achievement.

“My greatest accomplishment is making people happy; that’s all I ever wanted to do,” he said. “And raising my kids (two sons and two daughters).”