“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 nearly 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. Gloria’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 North Dayton’s Salem Avenue, and it was there that the restaurant hit its stride and served large crowds. Gloria helped develop dishes for the restaurant’s menu and served as hostess, handling the front of the house 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 went on to open 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.
Arrangements are pending at Baker-Hazel & Snider Funeral Home. A funeral service will be held at Precious Blood Church, although the date and time have not been determined.
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