Family Night At Capo’s: A Chat With The Riveras

by Joe Bonadio

Sitting as it does, just a couple of blocks off the main drag of Columbus, for the last dozen years Capo’s has kind of been North Beach’s little secret. And that’s fitting: after all, the place was built to emulate a 30’s Chicago speakeasy, an atmosphere by its very nature covert and cloaked. The vibe inside of Capo’s is intimate; you might almost say sheltered. Always welcoming and warm, on the right evening Capo’s can feel just like the neighborhood’s living room.

Lending to that experience is the revolving cast of loyal regulars at the bar. Of course, there’s nothing more important to a restaurant than its regulars, and Capo’s has them in spades. You see them here night after night, the familiar faces that show up no matter what. But important as they are, regulars typically go uncelebrated. For that reason, every once in a while we like to dedicate a post to a regular (or regulars) that we really, really like.

This week we talk to Julio and Jamie Rivera, who have been bringing their daughters into Capo’s for over five years now. When I spoke to Grace Fentress, the restaurant’s gracious General Manager and one of the kindest people in the business, she was quick to name the Riveras as favorites. So on a recent chilly evening, I had the chance to sit down at Capo’s and talk with them, one at a time—because the kids, you know. Lightly edited for clarity, our conversation is below.

Joe Bonadio: Julio, thanks for taking the time to talk with me.

Julio Rivera: Thank you for doing this.

Joe: When I asked Grace about her favorite regulars, you guys were the first ones she mentioned. Why do you think that is?

Julio: Well, everything started with Grace, you know. She’s been a sweetheart, that’s all I can say. She’s just an awesome person.

Joe: Tell me about the first time you came to Capo’s.

Julio: Oh man. Well, it was just the two girls at the time, Nyssa and Talia. It was during COVID time, so we sat outside because like everyone we were being careful. But from the beginning, how everything was here: the pizza, the kind of family style, all of it. It was just fun, good food and really good vibes. It was just a blast.

So pretty soon we were here all the time, like once a week.

Joe: You’re here once a week?

Julio: Yeah, in the beginning we were coming like every other Friday. And after a while we just made it a thing, to come out and have pizza: it’s family night. And pretty soon we started getting to know everyone on staff here, getting to know their names. It just makes us happy.

Joe: You’ve got a beautiful family, man. Your kids must love coming out here.

Julio: Oh yeah. My two oldest, they already know what to order. They know exactly what to tell Grace, or whoever we’re talking to. Hey, we’re going to order this: We want lasagna, pasta, not-spicy cheese pizza, six chicken wings, no sauce. Caesar salad with extra dressing. It’s pretty funny.

Joe: That’s a solid order! This place must be paradise for a kid. I don’t know about you man, but I didn’t get to eat like this when I was that age. They didn’t have s**t like this back then!

Julio: For real.

Joe: So now we move on to pizza. Tell me, what are your favorite things to get when you come here?

Julio: Oh man, the Dillinger all the way.

Joe: But what style?

Julio: That’s gonna be either cast iron or deep dish. Usually we prefer a cast iron, because that’s how it won its trophy for Best Pizza.

Joe: That’s the one with the broccoli on it, right?

Julio: Yeah, and the chicken? It’s so awesome!

Joe: That’s right, Matt [Molina] won Best Pizza in Vegas with that one.

Julio: Yep.

Joe: That’s one of the first pizzas I had when Tony opened this place.

Julio: It’s awesome. Good flavor overall, just a great pizza. Then there’s the cracker thin, and we get the Detroit style too. The cracker thin we do because we like to go half and half, so we’ll go half Cal-Italia and half….man, what’s the one with all the meat on it? My wife orders everything for me!

Joe: (Laughter) I’ll ask Jamie.

Julio: So we go half half, and for us that’s a pretty good setup. We love to do Detroit style, but with the kids, it just takes a little bit more time.

Joe: It’s also like the deep dish, it’s a commitment.

Julio: It’s a lot. But we can feed the kids leftovers for a week! And the sandwiches—the sandwiches are great. They’ve only got two sandwiches here, but they are on point.

Joe: I was just talking about the Italian beef sandwich. That is my jam, it’s absolutely amazing.

Julio: I might have to order one too real quick!

Joe: Have you ever brought half home and had it the next day? I swear it’s better the next day…

Julio: And my girls eat the fries. And the meatball sandwich! I love all of the stuff here.

Joe: Me too, Julio. Hey, thanks for taking the time, and enjoy your dinner. Would you be kind enough to ask your wife to come over for a couple of questions?

Julio: Sure thing.

At this point, Julio returns to the table with the kids, and his wife Jamie joins me at the bar.

Joe: Jamie, how are you doing?

Jamie: Good, how are you?

Joe: Good! Thanks for taking a minute to talk to me. Can you tell me about the first time you came to Capo’s?

Jamie: Yes. The first time we came here was actually a date night for my husband and I. We had just had our second child, and really needed a night to break away from just all of parenthood. So my mom came over, said that she would watch the kids for a little bit. Julio had found this place, and he said let’s try something new, because we don’t really get to try new places with the kids very often.

We tried it, and we loved it—and we realized we could actually take the kids here, too.

Joe: Yeah, this place is great for kids.

Jamie: So then it kind of became a regular thing for us to do, to go and have dinner with the kids and spend some quality time after a long week. The kids love it.

Joe: That’s so cool. That’s what I was just saying to Julio—these kids are lucky.

Jamie: Yeah, to have this kind of pizza, and wings and meatballs, and all this stuff.

Joe: When I was a kid we were going to Papa John’s.

Jamie: Exactly, or just getting McDonald’s or Taco Bell or something like that. You know before we even had kids, that’s one of the things that Julio and I talked about: making sure that our kids were exposed to different types of food. And we wanted to take them out to eat with us, so they knew how to behave in a restaurant. That was one of the things that we were really big on.

Joe: Well, if you can teach your children to behave well in restaurants, all the other environments should kind of fall in to place.

Jamie: Exactly. Because you have to mind your P’s and Q’s. I mean, we first came here during COVID, so we started off outside, which was probably better having two little kids. And then as all of the COVID stuff died down, then we came inside. And at that point, they already knew the routine. So it’s been really great.

Joe: Grace really seems to love you guys.

Jamie: Yeah, we love her too. She’s so awesome. I mean, it really has made a very welcoming environment for us.

Joe: She’s the best hostess.

Jamie: Yeah, the kids just love her.

Joe: Incredibly sweet lady.

Jamie: Yes. Our littlest one Thea, she doesn’t really like to leave my side. And Grace was the first person that wasn’t family that Thea was okay to have hold her. I think that just shows you how good of a person she is.

Joe: I agree, and I’m not surprised. All right, so we’ve got to move on to the obvious topic: Pizza.

Jamie: Yeah!

Joe: What is your go-to? What’s your favorite thing to have?

Jamie: I really like the Old Chicago.

Joe: That’s the one with all the meat on it?

Jamie: Yeah.

Joe: The one that Julio couldn’t remember! Thank you for that.

Jamie: I’m usually the one looking at the menu before we get here to decide like which ones we’ll order, so that makes sense. I also like….which one is it? Oh, the Cal-Italia! That’s what it’s called.

Joe: Julio mentioned that one too, I love that pie. With the fig and balsamic? It’s a different pizza altogether. What style do you like to get that in?

Jamie: Thin crust.

Joe: The Tavern Style.

Jamie: Yeah, it’s really good! But the one we are currently hooked on is the new one: the Pizzaweizen.

Joe: Yeah!

Jamie: That’s the one that we got tonight.

Joe: That pizza is another outlier. What a funky combination of ingredients.

Jamie: Yeah. It’s definitely something different.

Joe: Definitely. Have you had it with Tony’s beer, the Hefeweizen?

Jamie: I actually haven’t, because I’m nursing. No alcohol.

Joe: Oh, okay. What about Julio?

Jamie: Julio hasn’t had it yet.

Joe: No? He has no excuse… (Laughter)

Jamie: He always ends up getting something else.

Joe: You know, it’s funny. When I first had the Pizzaweizen, Tony asked me later: Did you have it with the beer? And I said no. He’s like, Damn it. You gotta have it with the beer! I did, and he’s right.

Jamie: Maybe Julio should have it tonight.

Joe: Perfect, you can remind him. Meanwhile, I’ll let you go eat your dinner. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. You’ve got a lovely family.

Jamie: Thank you, Joe.