BEDFORD – A black and white photo of Charlie and Frances Grecco hangs on a wall near the cash register at Grecco’s Pizza, a reminder of the restaurant’s humble beginnings as a mom-and-pop that didn’t even serve pizza for the first 10 years of its existence.
The quaint restaurant has been a local favorite for decades for its pizza, calzones, stromboli, and pasta dishes. It has been in the same location on Bedford’s Lincoln Avenue since the Greecos opened it in 1945, and except for a wayward car striking the east side of the building, very few structural changes have been made.
In 2022, the restaurant began a large expansion of its kitchen and stock area. An adjacent house was torn down to allow for the expansion. The project added 1,300 square feet to the building, creating a large kitchen and storage area, office, and customer restroom, something it had always lacked. Construction was done in phases and took about one year.
While the dining room was renovated, the business moved to delivery and carried out for about six months.
Although refreshed, the dining area still looks like it did. The booths are still red, and the tables are white. All the framed pictures of tomatoes and pasta shapes were rehung. And, yes, the little electric fireplace in the corner niche is still there, as is booth No. 9, tucked in a quiet corner.
The dining room reopened in December. Dave Sabatier, owner since 1990, said customers wasted no time returning to the restaurant. On a busy Friday night, about 12 employees staff Grecco’s.
“Everybody loves it, and they love that we have a bathroom now,” said Jaclyn Sabatier, Dave’s daughter. “We wanted to freshen it up but still keep that nostalgic feel of the red booths and white tables.”
Before the dining room renovation, Jaclyn took photos to use as a reference point. The 1970s faux wood paneling couldn’t be saved, so the pair went to great lengths to find paneling that was a close match.
“Neither one of us wanted to change anything. There are people who came in here today, and they had their first date here,” Jaclyn said. “We could’ve got rid of booth 9 to get more space, but I couldn’t get rid of it just for the nostalgia.”
Dave, who is now semi-retired, has turned over the day-to-day operation to Jaclyn.
Jaclyn used her background in interior design and art to design the new kitchen.
“The new kitchen is awesome. It’s so nice having the extra space. We have two ovens now, so we can get things out quicker. We were in such a cramped space before,” she said.
Besides giving the kitchen staff more room to work, the Sabatiers were able to add another pizza oven and walk-in coolers, allowing them to prep more dough. They also had room to add a commercial dishwasher, which was a first for the restaurant.
Renovating an almost 100-year-old building revealed a few surprises, said Dave. There were parts of the building that had never been touched.
“Some of the windows were from 1929,” Dave said.
Jaclyn added, “We found newspapers from Nov. 26, 1929, that were rolled up and used for insulation around the windows.”
The Sabatiers are the third owners of Grecco’s. Dave bought the business from his good friend and Jaclyn’s godfather Frank Wenzel.
Dave, who was living and working in Bloomington then, recalled Wenzel asking him to join him in checking out a restaurant in Bedford he was looking to buy. Wenzel was also considering buying a burger at a place in Bloomington.
“We sat down at that booth over there with Frances,” Dave said, motioning to the other side of the restaurant. “I told Frank later, don’t bother with the burger place in Bloomington. This is the one.”
Dave, who at the time was working for Noble Roman’s, helped Wenzel as he took over the restaurant.
Dave never imagined he would one day become the owner, but when Wenzel was ready to sell, he jumped at the opportunity. He said that as a teenager growing up in Bloomington, he loved going to Cafe Pizzaria on Kirkwood and always thought it would be a cool job.
Now, 34 years later, the Sabatier family has owned it longer than Charlie and Frances. Wenzel was the owner from 1975-1989.
The Sabatiers take great pride in being owners of one of, if not the oldest, locally owned restaurants. They remain committed to the quality standards set by the Grecco family, in particular, the sauce, which has been the same for 79 years.
Owning an institution like Grecco’s is “a labor of love,” said Dave. “If it hadn’t been for Jaclyn taking over, I’d probably be here until I died, and that’s not facetious. It takes a lot to start an independent restaurant. It would be really hard to find someone who could buy you out.”
‘Consistency and quality’
Jaclyn collected her first paycheck from Grecco’s when she was 9. Her job was washing dishes and busing tables. Even though she pursued an education in interior design, she was eventually led back to the family business and, for several years, managed the Judah location of Grecco’s.
These days, she oversees the Bedford restaurant, taking great care to ensure every pizza, calzone, and pasta dish meets customers’ satisfaction.
“That’s what keeps us going,” Jaclyn said. “Consistency and quality control is why we’ve stayed in business so long.”
“It’s a good feeling providing this to the community for so many years,” Dave said. “Outside of Grecco’s, which has been here since 1945, I can’t think of anywhere else in the area that’s been doing it longer.”
Grecco’s history
Charlie and Cleopha “Frances” Grecco opened Grecco’s in 1945 at 519 Lincoln Ave. with a menu of plate lunches, Italian spaghetti, and salads. Charlie later got the idea of serving pizza at a time when most people in Bedford had never heard of pizza.
When the Greccos decided to serve pizza, they traveled to New York City to get the recipe from Charlie’s Italian relatives there. That recipe, still made with the same sauce, has become a local favorite.
Charlie died in 1961, leaving Frances with the restaurant. Grecco’s sold to Frank Wenzel in 1975. Sabatier bought Grecco’s from Wenzel, retaining the same atmosphere and recipes that have endured for decades
Article and pictures credits: SIBR News.
