An hour after the raid, we brought it back,” Conley said. We took the hearse over to Johnny’s and swept the place for liquor. “Dad (a funeral home owner) got a call one night from Johnny after he’d been tipped off about an impending raid. Johnny’s was my college education.”Ĭonley recalled that such connections were sometimes edgy. “Delores (Compiano) took me to see her brother Johnny, and that was all it took. “After high school I was working at Meredith in the printing department, but the ink was making me sick,” Foggia explained. When that didn’t work out, his plans changed, but he wasn’t able to bring my mom over here until eight years after they’d been married in Italy. He had it figured out that Italy would win World War I, and then he’d return. “My father came to Des Moines to work in the coal mine. Foggia explained how he “accidentally” entered the restaurant business. The stories that were told were even bigger treats. They were treated to Chuck’s magnificent pizza, Italian salad and pasta, and Sam and Gabe’s antipasto. Brook Smith (El Patio) called the group “a dying breed, and we’re all connected some way or another.” Guests covered four generations of restaurant families and owned Mexican, Greek and barbecue places as well as Italian. After 46 years at his namesake café and several more at Johnny’s and Chuck’s, Foggia has retired. Restaurateurs Linda Bisignano (Chuck’s) and Jerry Talerico (Sam and Gabe’s) and hotelier Bob Conley hosted a dinner last week for Gino Foggia. Everybody knew those owners because they all greeted their customers every night. Many cafes went by first names only - Babe’s, Vic’s, Rocky’s, Noah’s, Chuck’s, Gino’s, Gianni’s, Johnny’s. The 20th-century Italian restaurant culture in Des Moines was sustained by a mythic cult of personalities. A Margherita pizza at Chuck’s Restaurant.
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