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It's no surprise that in our world of longer workdays, racing freeways and fast-food lines we find ourselves cherishing the restaurants where we feel the hospitality we knew in a quieter time. They can be singled out as "landmark restaurants" because they have survived decades, and they're still strong. They have "it" or what some might call "the X Factor."
Whatever it is, it calls us back.
Quaint and elegant dining establishments alike share several attributes: They are still family-owned; food is excellent and served in abundant portions; most have booths and full-service bars tended by personalities; the ambience is warm and the service attentive. Generosity goes beyond the extras on the plate. There are also some intangibles that are best left to customers to describe.
Pezzella's Villa Napoli,
Sunnyvale
"It's consistent, and it's authentic Italian," says Roy Ferrari of Portola Valley, who speaks with the authority of a San Francisco Italian upbringing. He loves Pezzella's.
"They cook dishes just like my mother used to make," he says.
Pezzella's has been serving food to eager patrons such as Ferrari since 1957, when founders Maria and Raffael Pezzella left Brooklyn, N.Y., where they had emigrated from Naples, to open a pizza and pasta shop in Sunnyvale. The family includes sons Vince and Pat Pezzella, who moved their way up from dishwashing to staffing the kitchen and working the tables.
The restaurant in the Mary El Center was small, and boisterous crowds clustered at big tables under a grape-lattice ceiling. After 21 years in its original location, the family built and moved to the restaurant's current location on W. El Camino Real in 1978. The "new" place features a lofty, Italian style and cozy booths along the walls.
While Pat works the front of the house, Vince heads the kitchen alongside his 32-year-old son, Raffaele. When he started in the family business at age 11, Raffaele washed dishes after school and was encouraged by his grandfather's admonition, "You don't work, you don't eat."
Together, father and son have expanded the menu to include "everything from lasagna to ahi," serving up to 600 dinners on the weekends. Charlie Benson of Sunnyvale says he's been coming to the restaurant for 40 years.
"I have a fix on osso buco," he smiles, adding with a wink, "and also on Pat and Vince's cute wives."
Le Papillion, San Jose
For nearly 30 years, Le Papillion has been serving from a menu that has evolved from continental to a specialized, more contemporary French cuisine. It's a place recognized by many longtime residents of the valley for the stability and elegance it represents.
Members of the waitstaff are chosen for their experience in formal dining, which the restaurant augments with an emphasis on special people skills. Founding owner Mike Mashayek says the staff knows how to please and make sure guests are always satisfied. But it's the "intangibles" that Mashayek says are key to his restaurant's enduring success.
"We make sure that when guests pull in, the lot is clean and parking is available," he says. "People are there to help, and the path is well lit. There are gracious people to greet them and seat them. Service begins immediately with a wine list and a menu. There should be no need to flag down a waiter; things like that should not have to happen."
Mashayek, 58, started the restaurant in 1977. He was joined three years later by Johnny Davudi, a friend from military service. They became partners in both Le Papillion and La Forêt restaurants, with Mashayek overseeing Le Papillion and Davudi heading La Forêt in New Almaden.
La Forêt, San Jose
A leisurely drive to the old quicksilver mining town of New Almaden brings with it a surprise: La Forêt (The Forest) restaurant. The old house by a creek occupies a neatly manicured clearing in the woods. Starting in 1848, it once served as a boarding house for mining crews. Today, it beckons to a fan base of diners wanting fine wines, exquisite French cuisine and pampering. Hosted by Davudi, who started the restaurant in 1980 with Mashayek, the restaurant caters to people who have a penchant for Grand Marnier soufflé and yearn for a romantic setting.
Rich and Chigiy Binell of Los Gatos chose the restaurant garden for their marriage. On the day of the wedding, Chigiy recalls, "I was very nervous, but Johnny made me so comfortable and brought me a glass of wine."
She says the 95 wedding guests were able to order from the menu.
"The food was phenomenal," she says, "and the chef received a standing ovation at the end."
Henry's World Famous Hi-Life Bar and Grill, San Jose
It's an aged red and white building on the corner of N. Almaden Boulevard and W. St. John Street. Built in 1907, it housed the Torino Hotel for decades. Today, it's the home of Henry's Hi-Life and most likely is "World Famous"--words added to the restaurant's name by a bartender some years back and kept because everybody liked them.
In the middle of San Jose's oldest neighborhood, the venerable bar and grill attracts a crowd of regulars, downtown business types and Sharks fans from the HP Pavilion a block away.
In 1950, Henry Puckett first opened his restaurant on First and Market streets, moving in 1960 to the present location, where his widow Doris took over in 1987. For all those years, folks have been coming for a variety of good things: steaks, baby back ribs weighing 2 1/2 pounds, barbecued chicken or a pound of prime rib on the weekends. They like to belly up to the bar for a little plain talk, trade a few jokes with the barkeep and soak up the neighborly recognition given by the folks who have been keeping the place humming for years.
Manager Richard Aranda says some of the attraction is the food, "but a lot of it is our people. We get to know our customers, and they like being recognized."
There's a kind of raucous affection for the place.
"It's a great dive," says Roy Bigge, who escapes from his duties as a vice president at the downtown Wells Fargo to have lunch at Henry's. "There's always a cold beer, and the bartender knows your name."
Tao Tao Chinese Cuisine,
Sunnyvale
The old building housing Tao Tao has large front windows that have been tinted to appear dark from the outside. Because you can't see in, the place looks empty at first. But open the door, and a rush of noontime chatter from the full house inside surrounds you.
A low, sculpted ceiling creates intimacy. Waiters pass quickly with deep, steaming bowls of soup, served family style. Heaping plates of Chinese chicken salad are carried to table after table. In the bar--unusual in a Chinese restaurant--bartender Kingman Ng has been mixing a special mai tai since the late 1970s.
The restaurant has been on S. Murphy Street since 1951, when it served American and Chinese food. The current manager is Susan Woo. Frank Wong and Susan's father Chuck Woo, who are both semi-retired, became owners along with three other partners in 1974, and changed the cuisine to the strictly Chinese menu the restaurant serves today. Ten dollars can buy a big meal, and many customers leave with leftovers in a to-go box.
Donna Abelson of Los Gatos remembers going to the restaurant at least once a week with her parents, Bill and Jay Rassieur of Los Altos.
"It was my dad's favorite place," she says.
So, when Bill Rassieur retired from Lockheed, the natural place to hold a celebration was at Tao Tao. The guests filled 10 tables.
"When it came time to settle the bill," Abelson says, "Frank Wong wouldn't take a dollar."
Original Joe's, San Jose
It's been called an Old World restaurant. The male waiters--friendly but busy--dress in tuxedos, with a linen napkin usually draped over one arm. If a customer wants to know about a certain item on the menu, the waiter will give a frank assessment.
There's an open, "honest" kitchen along one wall, where customers can dine at a counter and watch several chefs grill meats surrounded by leaping flames from dripping olive oil. There are booths where diners have privacy, and a long bar in the back with tables where regulars hold court during lunch.
Today, brothers Matt and Brad Rocca run the restaurant, patterned after the San Francisco Original Joe's their grandfather Louis Sr. opened on Taylor and Eddy streets in 1937. Their father, Louis Jr., opened the San Jose location in 1956, where the brothers, as children, started as bus-boys and janitors and worked their way up.
"We're a very, very honest restaurant," Brad says. "We serve large portions at a fair price."
The large portions were slimmed down a bit in deference to the recent diet mania, but so were the prices. There's also more chicken and pasta on the menu. But the lure remains.
"It's mostly camaraderie," says Tony Sortino, 74, who has been coming in since the restaurant opened. "There's always somebody I know. The food is good, and there are so many things to choose from on the menu that I never get bored."
The Plumed Horse, Saratoga
"It has impeccable food and service," says Los Gatos resident Dave Abelson, recalling the times he hosted corporate dinners for Lockheed there. "It was a nice place to bring folks from other countries. And that [banquet] room can handle 12 to 15 people in an intimate way."
From its stable origins, The Plumed Horse became a restaurant in 1952. In 1975, Yvonne and Klaus Pache bought the establishment, which serves organic and seasonal French-California cuisine, with entrees averaging $29 a la carte. Rack of lamb is the house signature dish.
In a full-service bar in the lounge, live music plays on the weekends. Greg Pache grew up in his parents' restaurant. Today, Greg, 36, is the manager. He and his father serve as hosts each evening, maintaining a constant presence as they stroll through the dining room greeting guests.
"It's important to do what makes people feel noticed and welcome," Greg says.
The personal attention can go so far as Greg driving a diner home after a long evening or escorting guests to concerts. It involves decanting wine, hiding gifts for presentation at the right time during the celebration of a special occasion, always pulling out a chair for a lady or refolding the napkin of a guest who has briefly left the table.
When they are hired, servers are given two weeks of special training for the purpose of ingraining these amenities.
"Extra touches run rampant around here," Greg says.
The Cats, Los Gatos
From the smoke-stained ceiling over the oak wood barbecue to the mismatched wall coverings, The Cats displays the heritage of generations. For nearly 40 years, the old eatery and bar has been the place for locals to relax--in flip-flops or wingtips.
Smoke rising from the barbecue is the marker for The Cats, located alongside Highway 17 just south of Los Gatos. Ordering is simple. Walk in the door. Pick chicken, ribs, steak or a combo at the lectern-like ordering table for $13.95 to $29.95. Sit for a bit at one of those little, stray tables just big enough to clear your knees. Be escorted to your table, probably by Terry Christianson, the daughter of owner Diane Ogilvie.
Your salad is waiting. Meat, a big baked potato with a melon scoop of butter, garlic bread and a small, flat dish of bright red sauce will appear. It's a routine made comfortable by decades of repetition. Mountain and flatland types will gather for an evening of dinner and live music for an average of less than $25 a head.
"We don't advertise," says Chris Hickey, who's been waiting tables and flipping steaks for 27 years. He says it's a "no-pretense place." Ed and Shirley Burke come in once a week after tending their Los Gatos Athletic Club.
"It's for the consistency--the same surly service and food," she jokes.
El Burro, Campbell
As many as 24 waiters serve up to 1,200 dinners on a Saturday night. The buzz and energy generated inside the hacienda-style restaurant go on seven days a week. Star bartender Dan Dabley keeps a blender at full tilt with gallons of margarita orders.
When April comes, the cobblestone patio upstairs will open. Then, the fans of El Burro can enjoy their frosty drinks and platters of chicken enchilada suizas, fajitas and chile verdes in the spring sunshine. It's been this way since 1971, when Mario Uribe first opened his Mexican restaurant in the Pruneyard. Since then, three generations of the Uribe family have continued a tradition: generous portions of good food at a reasonable price.
"It's been an old family standby because my dad has a hearty appetite," says Shari Barbella of San Jose, who recently celebrated her 40th birthday there with 60 friends and relatives. "You never leave hungry and always have leftovers."
Barbella has been enjoying the eatery's consistency and authenticity for 30 years.
"As a kid, I always had a bean and cheese enchilada. Now my 11-year-old son orders it," she says.
By th' Bucket, Santa Clara
It has the widest-variety menu in Santa Clara, says owner Jim Furiosi. There's seafood, Italian entrees, steak, veal and pizza, and you can buy fresh fish and pasta over a counter if you don't want to wait for a table. The restaurant has a 250-person capacity, and the tables are often filled with families. That's one of the keys to the 46-year-old restaurant's success, Furiosi says.
Prices are family-based and less than those of corporate chains. Furiosi, with brother Paul, the chef, and sister Natalie, bought in 1998 what was once a seafood restaurant specializing in clams, served in cast-iron buckets at picnic tables. They dropped entrees such as tripe, brought in more fish and increased the wine list.
"We added booths, which are a huge draw," he says.
A menu with so much variety is maintained by using foods in many dishes, such as fish filets used as entrees or in cioppino.
"But we'll make whatever a customer wants," Jim says.
By th' Bucket, 4565 Stevens Creek Blvd., Santa Clara, 408.248.6244.
The Cats, 17533 Santa Cruz Highway, Los Gatos, 408.354.4020.
El Burro, 1875 S. Bascom Ave., Campbell, 408.371.5800.
Henry's World Famous Hi-Life, 301 W. St. John St., San Jose, 408.591.8411.
La Forêt, 21747 Bertram Road, San Jose, 408.997.3458.
Le Papillion, 410 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, 408.296.3730.
Original Joe's, 301 S. First St., San Jose, 408.292.7030.
Pezzella's Villa Napoli, 1025 W. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, 408.738.2400.
The Plumed Horse, 14555 Big Basin Way, Saratoga, 408.867.4711.
Tao Tao, 175/181 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale, 408.736.3731.
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