Prepare to prep your own food, clear your own tables, and wash your own dishes. That’s what the Boston restaurant scene might look like without any foreign-born workers — legal or otherwise — in these days of immigration angst. One restaurant owner has come up with a solution, at least for legal immigrants — workers with green cards who aren’t yet citizens. Sal Lupoli employs more than 400 people at his 40 Sal’s Pizza stores and two fine-dining restaurants, including Salvatore’s in the Seaport District. Many if not most of his employees were born elsewhere. Working with the city of Lawrence, Lupoli launched the Pathway to Citizenship program, which finances the thousands of dollars now required for a restaurant worker to start down the citizenship path — a process that can take upward of nine months. The program fronts money for application fees, English-language and citizenship classes, and attorney fees. “For most of my workers, a thousand dollars might as well be a million,” says Lupoli, who explains that as a result of immigration enforcement and the cost of becoming a legal citizen, “the local workforce is shrinking, and it is very difficult for the food industry to maintain quality help. In New England, we need the immigrant community or we can’t function. A large proportion of our workers are people with green cards from Brazil, Ireland, the Dominican Republic. They are people who need a good job and are willing to work hard. Right now, immigrants are so scared they are afraid to breathe. People go underground or they go back home. And that doesn’t help anyone.” The program is in the pilot stage right now, with 10 people enrolled. Lupoli hopes it will become a model for others in the hospitality business. For more information, visit www.salspizza.com. >> Tony Susi and the Sage team are now offering Domenica Classico, inviting all of us to eat like we’re family. Every Sunday from 5:30 to 10 p.m., Sage serves three courses of family-style Italian comfort food for $28 per person. >> There’s a little slice of heaven in Cambridge: the Inferno Brunch on the patio at Dante, overlooking the Charles River. The prix-fixe $20 Italian brunch is served on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. as long as the good weather holds out.
