Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Carolyn Martin enjoys the regular customers who come to Gallo's in Los Gatos. She describes them as just 'basic' people.
Owners of Gallo's started out with delis in business parks
By Suzanne Cristallo
Carolyn and Gary Martin have grown with the Silicon Valley. They're not techie types; they're food buffs. But as anyone knows, techies need food, too, and that's how the owners of Gallo's in Los Gatos got their start.
The Italian restaurant on Blossom Hill Road near Harwood opened three years ago and remains a special eating out place for the surrounding neighborhood. But there were 20 years of making sandwiches before the Martins plunged into the world of raviolis.
In 1977, after 10 years of Carolyn working as a medical technician and Gary managing the service department of a Mercedes dealership, they decided to change their lives. At the time, Coll Company was developing business parks around San Jose. Each time a new business park opened, the Martins would start a sandwich deli.
"That's what we did--make sandwiches for the people in the park and cater their business luncheons," Carolyn says.
As soon as a business flourished, the Martins would sell it and start another in a different park. By 1997, they had opened 10 delis with names like Sandwich Construction, Sandwich Garden, Sandwich Board, Sandwich Express, Sandwich House and Sandwich Works. During those 20 years, their delis grew alongside the thriving young computer companies settling in the parks.
"I remember when Tandem Computers was just starting out down the street from us in Cupertino on Highway 9," Carolyn recalls. "The owner--it was privately owned then--came in and set up an account with us to handle all their Friday night parties. They were known for their parties."
The Martins also made sandwiches for the fledgling Intel and for Cirrus Logic. "I can always remember them waiting for the day they would go public," she smiles. While they did, they munched away on Martin fare.
Meanwhile, Gary Martin Jr., now 26, who sustained disabling injuries during a promising professional baseball career, suggested the family open a restaurant featuring his maternal great-grandmother's raviolis. In 1997, they purchased the former Gaetano's Restaurant and renamed it Gallo's. With the help of Gary Jr.'s wife Cheryle, the four hand-made thousands of Nonna Gallo's spinach, meat and cheese raviolis in anticipation of their opening.
They were overwhelmed by the response. "I'm afraid we upset customers who came in such numbers that we couldn't handle them smoothly," Carolyn says. But the past three years have brought a rounding out of their menu and a steady growth of regulars.
"We serve the same people over and over," Carolyn notes. "For three years they've been coming. They've kept us going."
Gallo's is a warm, family kind of place. Hungry patrons stepping in the door are greeted by a smiling Carolyn, Cheryle or Crissie, 15, the youngest member of the Martin family to join the staff. Strains of 1950s music crooned by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin provide an ambiance comfortably pervaded by the baking aroma of Gary Sr.'s calzones.
Spacious, upholstered booths provide intimacy and lead to spirited exchanges among groups enjoying dishes of chicken marsala--fillets sautéed in mushrooms and Sicily's famous fortified wine; or of something called The Italian Feast, which is made with Nonna's raviolis, Chicken Parmesan and Fettuccini Alfredo. It includes soup or salad and sourdough bread, all for $16.95. A "bambini" pasta menu makes the kids happy.
Customers also like the baby back ribs, a pork special that has become a successful staple on the menu.
Gallo's regulars are older folks, younger families whom Silicon Valley businesses have brought to new houses in the neighborhood, and lots of neighbors.
Gallo's, 14180 Blossom Hill Road., Los Gatos. Open Sunday and Monday 4-9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday 4- 10 p.m. Call for catering specials and reservations 408.358.3661.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
