Review: Gaspare’s – good food, affordable prices

By Liska Koenig
CHIEF COPY EDITOR

If you are in the mood for some great food on a student budget, here’s the plan: Get in your car and drive to 20th Avenue and Geary Boulevard, or take the 29-Sunset bus from Ocean campus, get off at the corner of 25th Avenue and Geary Boulevard and walk five short blocks to 20th Avenue. That’s where you’ll find Gaspare’s Pizza House, a casual Italian family-style restaurant and neighborhood institution.

Gaspare’s is not just another Italian eatery. Even I, a confirmed pizza-hater, will make an exception for their awesome thin-crust pizza. Stephanie Orr, who has been coming back for more since 1988, calls it “super crunchy with a hugely authentic Italian flavor.”

It’s affordable too: A large house pizza, like the Bruce’s Special (linguica, salami, mushrooms, garlic, olive oil, oregano, mozzarella cheese, and tomato sauce), will feed you and your friends for less than $23. Small pizzas start at $9.50 and appetizers or entrees won’t set you back more than $10 – $15.

A large number of items on the menu are vegetarian. Vegans, however, have to request special dishes if they don’t want to be limited to salads.

Walking into Gaspare’s is a bit like taking a trip back in time. Not much has changed in the decades it’s been open. Square tables with red and white tablecloths furnish the center of the room and can easily be pushed together for larger groups. The walls are lined with cozy green Formica booths, which feature old-school music boxes. A mere 25 cents will get you three songs – only at Gaspare’s can you eat pizza while listening to “Hit the Road, Jack” by Ray Charles.

The murals inside the restaurant were painted in 1956 by Robert Lupetti, originally famous for his nude portraits in brothel settings. (No nudes here, just scenes of Italy and San Francisco.)

“I have seen people come here on their first dates and later got invited to their wedding,” server Angela Locke said. Loyal patrons who have moved away regularly return during their vacations to San Francisco. A relocated Gaspare’s fan even took a bunch of half-baked pizzas back to the Philippines.

Gaspare Indelicato himself is another reason why people like to go there. He’s a native of Siculiana, Sicily and it’s obvious that running an Italian restaurant is a way of celebrating his heritage.

“My dad has a special gift,” oldest son Daniel Indelicato said. “He walks into a place and somehow everybody becomes his friend.”
Daniel Indelicato, an alumni of the City College Culinary Department, recently opened a second restaurant in San Rafael. The menu at his place is similar to Gaspare’s in San Francisco and just as popular.

Gaspare’s Pizza House and Italian Restaurant, 5546 Geary Blvd. at 20th Avenue, San Francisco, (415) 387-5025 )open daily for dinner service.)

or

Gaspare’s Pizzeria, Ristorante & Bar, 200 Merrydale Road, San Rafael (415) 472-7101 (open daily for lunch and dinner service.)