Community, family, tradition and a love of parties all went into Oriana and Larsen Oshana’s decision to buy The Elmcrest Banquets from the Biancalana brothers in 2019. For second-generation owners Jim and Al Biancalana, trusting someone with the family legacy was paramount, and the Oshanas were a perfect choice.
Oriana Oshana grew up in the business. Her father owned and ran The Thirteen Colonies Banquet Rooms in nearby River Grove. She remembers loving going to work with him as a young child and working events all through high school and college. Then, after graduating with a masters in biomedical engineering, she left the business and began a new career. But when her father called her to say he could use her help — but only if she wanted — she leapt at the chance to work with him again running Thirteen Colonies. She was there until he retired and sold the business. When the opportunity to buy Elmcrest presented itself, Oriana and her husband Larsen stepped right up.
The Elmcrest has over 90 years of history in Elmwood Park — originally started as an ice cream parlor in 1929 by Al Biancalana, Sr., it became a family restaurant and then in 1994 Biancalana’s Elmcrest Banquets.
“The Biancalanas are an amazing family,” says Oriana, “They really created an amazing institution of a banquet hall. It’s a community center. They were very philanthropic. They were very involved in their community. They were very much a cornerstone of Elmwood Park. So we came in and it was big shoes to fill, like, how are we going to live up to this? But they really held our hands the entire way.”
When Oriana and her husband took over, they kept as many of the original staff as they could as well as all the original recipes, planning to continue the already-thriving business as it was.
Five months later they were shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Oriana was pregnant with her first child, things were tenuous. But with the help of the Small Business Administration and their own perseverance they kept almost everyone on board and began hosting parties again in 2021. Since taking over they’ve added Latin cuisine to their traditional Italian menu to serve the needs of the community today.
The Elmcrest seats from 50 to 500 people for a variety of events from weddings and anniversaries, bridal and baby showers to quinceañeras, fundraising galas, sports and school banquets. The business is still very community-based with many repeat customers. “I love this business because they’re life events … everyone who has grown up in Elmwood Park knows The Elmcrest, “ says Oriana. People have a need to celebrate and for the Ohanas, making sure they can do so with quality and trust is their mission. “Growing up in this business I saw that people get taken advantage of and it bothered me. I try to keep things reasonable and establish transparency and try my hardest to take care of everyone.” The thank you notes she receives from clients after their wedding or anniversary saying it was everything they’d hoped for are her reward.
Larsen Oshana was a computer engineer before joining his wife in the family business. She reports that he was skeptical at first but today he loves it, using his engineer’s mind to plan ahead and problem solve to keep the facilities in shape and everything running smoothly. While it was a leap of faith, there has been no looking back. For Oriana, it’s the fulfillment of a dream she’s had since she was a child, made more special by running it with her husband.
And her six-year-old daughter? She got her first taste of the business helping her mom in the office this summer — and she loved it!