“She was the heart of the restaurant,” Leo said of her sister’s role in the success of Anticoli’s restaurant, which operated on Salem Avenue in Dayton for a half-century until 2000.
“She never married, so the restaurant was her family,” Anticoli said. “She made many, many, many friends there, and she took care of them as if they were family.”
The Anticoli family is believed to be the longest-established, continually operating restaurant family in the Miami Valley. Ms. Anticoli’s affiliation with restaurants began on New Year’s Eve 1931 when her parents, Antonio and Sarah Anticoli, opened a restaurant on East Fifth Street in Dayton, offering sandwiches, spaghetti, hamburgers and meatballs, the first day’s sales totaled 5 cents.
The Rendezvous restaurant 20 years later became Anticoli’s restaurant after it moved to Salem Avenue, and it was there that the restaurant hit its stride and served large crowds. Gloria Anticoli helped develop dishes for the restaurant’s menu and served as hostess, handling the dining area with her brother, Tony, while brother Leo oversaw the kitchen. Tony retired in 1995 and died in 2005, while Gloria stepped away in 1999.
After Anticoli’s closed in 2000, Leo and his son, Chris, opened Caffe Anticoli on North Main Street in Clayton and now operate Giuliano, an Anticoli Tavern, in downtown Miamisburg, while Leo’s other son, Michael, operates La Piazza restaurants in Troy and New Bremen.
Visitation will be from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at Precious Blood Church, 4961 Salem Ave., followed by a funeral Mass at 6 p.m. A private graveside service will be held Friday.
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