Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Tom Jillo, owner and chef at Gardino Fresca, relies on fresh ingredients for his Italian cuisine.

Gardino Fresca offers trendy and traditional

By Suzanne Cristallo

Tom Jillo, owner and chef at Gardino Fresca in Los Gatos, might have been a prime candidate for an interpreter's position in the United Nations had he not become a busboy first. He speaks Armenian, Assyrian, Spanish, English and restaurant Italian.

Restaurants, however, gave him his start in the working world. Transplanted to Santa Clara from Chicago in 1979 when he was 16, Jillo worked his way through the ranks of the restaurant business clearing tables, then waiting them, and eventually was given the chance to prepare sauces at Nicolino's Garden Cafe in Sunnyvale.

Next it was Il Nido's in Los Gatos for three years; then he got his chance to become a chef at By- Th-Bucket in San Jose. Four years later, he came to Gardino Fresca (Italian for "fresh garden") in Los Gatos, which at the time was a deli. To the owners, he proposed converting the deli into a restaurant in exchange for a partnership. They agreed. The conversion has resulted in the creation of an authentic Italian garden court cafe, where patrons line up at lunch time to order osso bucco and mostaccioli with broccoli.

Tom, 34, does most of the cooking while attending to the details of the business, and his brother Pete, 21, waits tables. It is a 12- to 14-hours-a-day job. "People tell us there's no comparison for our food," Tom says.

For starters, there is fresh mozzarella and goat cheese baked between french bread on a bed of marinara or fried calamari. Or broiled Cajun chicken salad and minestrone soup.

Eighteen kinds of pasta include linguine and mussels tossed with red crushed chili peppers, garlic, olive oil, marinara and fresh tomatoes. Also offered are cheese or meat ravioli--good, old-fashioned Italian choices not seen too often on today's trendy menus.

Chicken in eight varieties, veal served in four, "a great halibut" and a variety of prawns, clams and scallops round out the menu. Cappuccino, latte, espresso, wine, beer and soft drinks are a way to accompany the settling meal while the sidewalk parade passes by.

Gardino Fresco Ristorante Italiano, 51 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Open for lunch Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; and for dinner Mon.-Thu., 5-9 p.m.; Fri., 5-10 p.m.; and Sun., 5-9 p.m. Eat in or take out. 354-8788. No reservations.