The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Photograph by Skye Dunlap Nicolino's manager Luko Buich is prepared for an event-packed holiday season. 'Jewel' of area restaurant chain glitters for holidays By PAM MARINO Nicolino's Garden Cafe, the "jewel in the crown" of the local restaurant empire of the D'Ambrosio brothers, will be glittering once again for the holidays. Like every year, the restaurant is decked out in twinkling lights, wreaths, a big tree and other Christmas decorations to enhance the dozens of holiday lunch and dinner events held there, along with the culminating New Year's Eve celebration. "It's very, very festive," said spokeswoman Mary Anne Fallon. "It makes it one of the popular places for holiday lunches and banquets." Nicolino's is one of seven restaurants owned by Don, Nick, Frank and John D'Ambrosio in the Bay Area. The most well-known of the restaurants are the more casual Frankie, Johnny and Luigi Too sites, the most recent of which opened on Prospect Road near the Westgate Shopping Center. The brothers also own Giorgio's Italian Food and Pizzeria in San Jose and Milpitas. Nicolino's offers some of the same kind of Southern Italian cooking as the Frankie, Johnny and Luigi, Too restaurants, but the menu and restaurant have a distinctive upscale flair, according to Fallon. The wait staff wears tuxedos, and some of the desserts come flaming to the table. It's part of why the family and staff consider Nicolino's the jewel of the restaurants. The brothers opened Nicolino's in 1981, next door to their New York Style Sausage Company, in what were at the time pear orchards. "Everything grew up around it," Fallon said. Now the restaurant sits next to a Sunnyvale business park. As it turns out, Nicolino's staff spends a lot of time hosting business events, as well as weddings, anniversaries and other special occasions, in their banquet rooms. The large restaurant is laid out like a palazzo in Bari, Italy, the D'Ambrosio family's hometown. On Saturday nights, Nicolino's features "That's Amore," by professional singers. The first part of each show features Neapolitan and Italian-American love songs performed by Angelo Butera, accompanied by the Nicolino's Italian Trio. The second half of the show is a combination of opera arias and Broadway show tunes. The singers have professional opera experience. Shows are at 6:30 and 9 p.m. There is no cover charge to see the shows, but a slightly more expensive menu is offered Saturday nights, Fallon said. "It's well worth the price," she said. "The D'Ambrosio brothers are well known for their portion sizes." Reservations are recommended; for seats near the performers, reservations should be made up to two weeks in advance, Fallon said. On New Year's Eve the restaurant is featuring shows at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. The shows and fancy decorations are all about "making memories for people" said Fallon, who added that customers often come again and again, bringing friends and out-of-town guests with them. Nicolino's Garden Cafe is at 1228 Reamwood Ave., at the corner of Tasman Avenue and Reamwood in Sunnyvale, 734-5323. The restaurant is open for lunch on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is open for dinner Mondays through Fridays from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and from 5 p.m. to midnight on Saturdays. The restaurant is closed on Sundays for private parties, wedding receptions and banquets. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 2, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.