The Wait is Almost Over

Old Town Italian cafe will re-open soon after lengthy two-year renovation project

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Running a restaurant and building a restaurant are two different things.

That's what Jon Gabelica, co-owner of Giovanni's, learned after closing his 900-square-foot Italian cafe in 2006 and moving next door on Pollasky Avenue south of Fifth Street. He expected to reopen eight months later as a 3,200-square-foot, full-service restaurant.

Instead, the doors of the Old Town eatery remain closed more than a year later, and former patrons are wondering when they can get their favorite sausage panini or frothy mocha again. Passerbys peak in the windows of the large, mustard building across from the former Department of Motor Vehicles wondering what's inside.

"People are starting to panic on us," Gabelica said. "The rumor is we're going belly up."

The restaurant has good news for the community.

Gabelica plans to open Giovanni's in July, serving the same drinks and paninis. The full-service restaurant will be in operation by the end of summer.

The expansion took longer than expected because Gabelica and his family did most of the remodeling themselves. They also hit several snags while getting their project approved by the city of Clovis. Gabelica couldn't find the building plans, which are required by the city before a project is approved. The city also tightened its sewer rules for restaurants, and Gabelica must install a 1,500-gallon system that separates water from grease before opening this summer.

In the long run, Gabelica said he saved about $200,000 by doing most of the work himself. Friends would drop by to tear out carpet, and family would paint window trimming.

"It's kind of turned into a barn raising," Gabelica said.

Clovis doctor Larry Moricca, who misses Giovanni's Italian sausage paninis, has offered to help.

He used to frequent the family-run restaurant during his lunch breaks.

"Every day I walk by and torment him about when he's going to open," Moricca said. "We've even offered to help."

Customers will be happy with the finished product.

The new Giovanni's will have a brick pizza oven, espresso bar, expanded menu, increased hours and additional seating. The restaurant already looks improved with antique chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, marble-painted pillars and a brick patio and fountain outside.

The restaurant is a family project.

Gabelica's mother, Mary Gabelica, stocked the eatery with family antiques and a chandelier of hand-blown glass from Morona, Italy.

Giovanni's is named after Jon Gabelica and his father John Gabelica, a full-blooded Italian who was raised on his mother's Southern Italian cooking. Giovanni means "John" in Italian.

Mary Gabelica, who calls herself "Italian by association," bought the original Giovanni's when she saw an ad in the newspaper four years ago. A cafe was for sale in Old Town Clovis, and she had always wanted to run a small family restaurant.

"She called me and said, 'Stop what you're doing and come help me. I bought a cafe in Old Town,' " Jon Gabelica said.

At the time, he was the bar master at Harris Ranch after a career working in various Valley restaurants.

On a recent afternoon, he finished tiling the espresso bar in his own restaurant. He plans to use his grandma's Italian recipes including the recipe for spaghetti sauce, also known as "the gravy."

There has been only one catch to doing everything himself, he said.

"Everything takes longer."

An official opening date has not been announced, but Gabelica promises it's coming.

E-mail Gabriel Alexander at galexander@clovisindependent.com.