The South Bay area is full of restaurant owners who learned their trade in the traditional manner, working their way through the kitchen until they got to the top. Others took the academic route, going through culinary school so they learned every aspect of cooking and management. Giorgio Borelli, of the reopened Giorgio’s restaurant in Rolling Hills Estates, did both, taking classes for years despite growing up in a local restaurant dynasty.
“There used to be Borelli’s restaurants in Manhattan Beach, Redondo, Torrance, and Lunada Bay. They were owned by my uncles, my dad’s brothers. My dad came over from Italy in 1962 and worked in those restaurants before he started his own.”
That experience of growing up in an extended family of Italian immigrant restaurateurs is at the core of Giorgio’s world – conversation on nearly every topic leads to some reminiscence about family and culture. The culture in this case is of the region that created the most popular style of Italian food in America.
“My family came from the island of Ischia, which is near Capri, close to Naples. That’s the kind of food we specialize in – 90% of our menu is Southern Italian, with the exception of a few items with cream sauces that are from the North. In my house we spoke Italian – English was my first language, but my grandparents never learned a word of it. If I was talking to my grandmother and tried to use an English word in a sentence, she would interrupt and ask, “What does that mean?”
While growing up on the Peninsula, Giorgio spent days speaking English in the local school system, nights with his Italian family, and graduated with a firm career goal.
“I went to Peninsula High, and started working in the restaurant business as soon as I got out. I joined my dad that summer… He was a hard worker, six days a week, and I rode in with him in the morning, came home at night, and spent the time in between learning. After that I went to culinary school at Orange Coast College, and I came up here to work at the family restaurants – mostly at my uncle’s place in Torrance, across from Texas Loosey’s. I also worked at the Manhattan Bar & Grill from ’94 to ’97, when my family owned that. I remember there were always a lot of people hanging around and listening to the pianists … that was the place to go for martinis and piano music. After a few years of working with my uncles, my dad opened Giorgio’s across the street in 1999. It wasn’t named after me, exactly – his first name was Carlo, his middle name was Giorgio, so there were two Giorgio’s in the family. We might have used our last name instead, but my uncle still had his restaurant in Torrance called Borelli’s. We didn’t want to confuse people, so we called this restaurant Giorgio’s.”
That period from 1999 to 2010 was a happy time for Giorgio Borelli, and he sounds wistful about the experience of working with his father then.
“We got along very well – he was in control of the kitchen, I ran the dining room. I’m more of a people person, he was happiest cooking. I was 25 when that opened, and my dad and I ran the place until it burned down.”
The fire that consumed the first Giorgio’s started late at night on October 28, 2010.
“There was a fire, nobody has ever determined what caused it, but it started upstairs and traveled down to our place. We all took it hard – we had many memories from that establishment. My brothers and sisters grew up with first communions, baptisms, family gatherings, memorial services, all happening at the restaurant. To see that go down in flames wasn’t a pretty sight. My dad retired, and I started working in other restaurants but kept in touch with our clientele.”
Giorgio always planned to eventually reopen the restaurant, and in 2013 he saw his chance when a space opened up on Deep Valley Drive, just a few minutes walk from both his original location and the place he had been working. Giorgio’s father Carlo came out of retirement to run the kitchen, so it was a return to old times for the family. The word got out, and long-time patrons had a chance to compare their memories of the old restaurant with the new one.
“When I opened, customers who had been with us at the old Giorgio’s and followed along to other places found me here. This room is half the size, and it’s brighter and warmer – the previous Giorgio’s was old-style and the menu was traditional as it is here. We offer fresh fish, veal chops, rack of lamb, but no fusion, nothing like that. It’s classic Italian with every few modern dishes. There are a few things that aren’t on our regular menu, but that we still do when people request them. There’s a seafood platter – a Pacific lobster taken out of the shell and cooked with extra virgin olive oil and lemon, served up with crab legs, clams casino, fried calamari, grilled shrimp, and abalone, all on one plate, and we can make it for two, four, or six.”
Like its predecessor, Giorgio’s is a special occasion restaurant for many people, with birthdays, anniversaries, and other celebrations on a regular basis. The intimacy of the little restaurant makes it a natural for a particular special event.
“Working the front of the house, I’ve seen a lot of wedding proposals… one time the gentlemen was sure he knew which dessert his fiancée would choose, so he had me put the ring on top of it when I brought the tray. Sure enough she did, and he presented it to her. It was a yes, they’ve been married about five years now and have two kids, and they still bring them here. I’ve never seen anybody say no to one of those proposals – I’d feel so bad for them if that did happen.”
The romantic feel of the restaurant was very successful for one particular couple.
“I met my wife at my restaurant – she came in for her birthday with some friends. She was drinking iced tea, and she found time to talk when I came over with refills. We’ve been married for two years now. She’s my hostess, a second set of eyes on the house when I’m busy with customers.”
Giorgio is taking care of those customers so often that he has little time for his principal passion unrelated to food.
“I’m an avid sports fan – tennis, basketball, I watch it all. I like going out to games – Wednesday is my day off, and I like it when there’s a local game that day. Otherwise, I can adjust my schedule a little – you can do that when your name’s on the wall.”
Like many restaurant owners, he doesn’t get many chances to dine at other restaurants. When he does, he likes to sample cuisines other than Italian, though he makes an exception for those owned by a particular group of people – his former co-workers.
“When I do dine out, I sometimes go to a place where the owner learned their trade from my dad or my uncles. A lot of people started as servers or kitchen staff in their restaurants, and when I see them we chat about food. Not talking shop, the business side of things, but food. Those guys are still friends, and I trust their food to be good.”
Giorgio Borelli still loves the restaurant business, but he doesn’t minimize the effort involved in making it a career.
“When I was in culinary school, the first day of class the teacher said, “This is an industry where you have to put work first. It’s a lot of commitment, and you’re going to be there twelve, thirteen hours a day. If you can’t handle that, don’t bother stepping into this industry.” Those words were correct… My dad eventually owned his own place because he accepted that commitment, and I’m like him.”
