Nicolosi’s Italian Restaurant

EricS.

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Motorcycle delivery didn’t fly and a freeway nearly shut everything down, but this San Diego survivor keeps rolling with the punches.

nicolosis2After operating a bakery in Massachusetts in the 1940s, Sicilian emigrant Salvatore Nicolosi brought his family to Southern California in 1952 and opened Nicolosi’s Italian Restaurant (nicolosis.com), serving Old-World recipes handed down in his family. Salvatore passed away in 1958, only four years after moving his operation to a converted house in Mission Hills, but his wife and sons kept the business thriving and eventually expanded, opening three more locations—two in San Diego County and another in Mammoth Lakes, California.

“My uncle George was a real innovator,” recalls Ron Burner, current owner and grandson of Salvatore. “In the ’60s, he bought a van with a heated unit and a motorcycles with boxes on the back to deliver when no one else was doing that. It didn’t really take off; he was ahead of his time, and the system wasn’t perfected yet.”

One by one, the uncles eventually retired and closed their locations, but the original, operated by Burner’s uncle Sam, continued on, even after a move in 1992 when a freeway was built through the converted house’s neighborhood. However, when Sam retired and decided to close down this last location in 2009, Burner and his brother got together and decided to take over. Today, Burner operates the restaurant with his wife and celebrated 60 years in business last year by opening a second location in nearby El Cajon.


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The restaurant started out serving basic pizzas and homemade pastas, plus (true to Salvatore’s baking roots) homemade bread for its signature torpedo sandwiches, but the menu has tripled in size since those early days. “We’ve evolved into specialty and gourmet pizzas, as well as different pasta and seafood dishes, but everything is still homemade, with locally grown, fresh vegetables and bread from our 200-year-old family recipe,” Burner says.

Though the restaurant has changed ownership and locations over the years, it continues to thrive thanks to attention to quality, the familiarity of the Nicolosi’s name and a 60th anniversary celebration that earned a “Nicolosi’s Day” proclamation from the city of San Diego. “You can’t please everybody, but I’m proud that we’ve continued to evolve—and though we don’t want to be a factory-type pizzeria, the No. 1 thing we work on is consistency,” Burner notes. “Plus, dedication and loyalty are huge priorities for me, so we’ve always treated employees like family. That’s something to be proud of in today’s world.” —Tracy Morin

nicolosis.com

One Comment

  1. Cathy FaustReply
    August 23, 2017 at 4:51 pm

    I lived in San Diego 1972 – 1985 and ate at your restaurant many many times. I was recently trying to remember the address .. wasn’t it on El Cajon Blvd. ? Could you please tell me the address. I know it is not there anymore, but I am still curious and would like to know. Thank you !

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