STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Karl Reina says he will miss the loyal staff and customers of his St. George restaurant. Still, the chef is set to shut Karl's Klipper after a 12-year run.

Final meals and drinks will be served on Tuesday, Dec. 20.

As he and wife, Betty Ann, announced on Facebook late last week: "The time has come for Karl's Klipper to close our doors. It was a great ride filled with tons of good times and memories! We would like to thank all our loyal customers, friends, family and employees."

Karl's Klipper is located at 40 Bay St where the St. George Clipper once lived. (Note: That diner thrived from the early '50s until 1992 boasting of a cocktail lounge.)

Karl's has served lunch and dinner daily plus enjoyed a late-night bar scene. Betty Ann and long-time servers tended the front-of-the-house while Karl immersed himself in the kitchen, a pleasant routine for the proprietor that's gone on since his place opened in June, 2003.

Yet now, the building at 40 Bay St. is for sale. When word got out about the pending property, Reina says people took that as "the business had already closed."

With the address' ownership one day in transition, he says, "I would have run longer, but there's no payoff." And, whether or not The Wheel will come to fruition, he says, "The jury's still out on whether business will come to me."

He wonders, "Who's going to walk up the street to Karl's Klipper?"

ROOTS RUN STRONG

Reina professes love for St. George and has deep roots on the North Shore. He is a proud graduate of St. Paul's Elementary School, New Brighton, and Curtis High School in St. George.

"I love the area, love the diversity," says Reina. His restaurant has set the stage for various not-for-profit and political groups to meet. He participated in Project Hospitality's "Dine Out Against Hunger" each year and showcased local performers regularly.

The Sunday brunch proved a great draw for the 60-seat eatery. Reina credited the afternoon's continuous popularity to long-time Sunday bartender Laura Gardner who has become known for her Bloody Mary and craft cocktail recipes.

And Reina commands great respect in the borough's food community.

Says neighboring restaurateur Joe Guastavino of Pier 76, "Karl and his wife are some of the nicest people I have ever met. When we were moving into the neighborhood he was an absolute gentleman and a pleasure to meet and deal with in passing."

Chef Mike Campbell, fresh from culinary school, worked with Karl when he started out in restaurants.

"I have to say, I learned more from Karl than quite a few others I've cooked with over the years. The customer and the food were the focus. The staff is family. He respected both the front and back of the house," says Campbell.

Known as a humble guy who keeps his head down in the kitchen, Reina has seen a rich career on Staten Island starting at the Rustic Inn in Dongan Hills with the Caminiti family.

"I was sixteen and there for five years," says Reina. He left for Florida and came back to his hometown at the Beefsteak Charlie's located on Richmond Avenue at the Korvette Shopping Center. He went on to work the kitchen at R.H. Tugs in Livingston: As the opening chef at the waterside venue he stayed 18 years.

"Don't even add it up!" jokes Reina on his collective years in the business.

With some coursework completed at the Culinary Insitute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y., Reina nods to Karl's Klipper for his continued education in food.

"I'm in school every day. I'm always learning," says the chef.



As for his next chapter in life, Karl Reina plans to take a little time off.

"I just love to cook," he admits. And he likens the restaurant life to boating life where, as he repeats the saying, "The happiest days of a boat owner's life are the day he buys it and the day he sells it."

"Good luck and thanks, Karl," says Mike Cambell, adding, "He's just another one of those thousands of guys who go to the kitchen every day and are never recognized for it."

But Reina shrugs the closing off to a degree and says, "I'm OK. I keep all my doors open."