Like most days, Emiliano arrived at the restaurant before 7 a.m. In the 50 years since Tio’s opened, little has changed. Its heyday-when it stood with giants such as Marconi’s, the Chesapeake, Haussner’s, and The Prime Rib (the only one that remains) has passed-but the present is pretty dulce. In the midst of this reality, Tio Pepe’s has thrived, withstanding the migration of diners away from downtown toward Harbor East, Hampden, and a host of other newer, hotter ’hoods. Culinary tastes evolve populations shift, age, and transform what was once cutting-edge suddenly feels stale. “We got old,” Galvis, 65, replies with a hearty laugh.įifty may be middle-aged for most of us, but it’s downright antediluvian by restaurant standards. Ashtrays remain mounted above the urinals in the men’s bathroom, even though they haven’t been used in years. It’s served by a staff that turns over once a generation, if that, and consumed in many of the original cavernous maze’s stone-walled and wood-paneled dining rooms. The food-richly spiced, seasoned, and sauced and generously portioned, caloric consequences be damned-is prepared by Emiliano, a man who has devoted 48 years of his life to the place. Pedro, who presided over the kitchen during its glory days in the 1970s and ’80s, passed away in 1989, but the paella, cochinillo asado estilo Segovia (suckling pig), gazpacho, and of course, sangria, that have drawn diners for a half-century continue to intoxicate them today. 26, 1968, precious little has changed at Restaurante Tio Pepe, its official name. In the 50 years since it first opened on Dec.
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