Butcher shop founder known for colorful stockings

Tag : children's stockings
OBITUARY
Roberto DePhilippis; butcher shop founder known for colorfulclothes, stories

By Blanca Gonzalez
STAFF WRITER
July 16, 2008
A gregarious and successful restaurateur, Roberto DePhilippis couldoften be found attired in one of his signature brightly coloredsuits, greeting customers by name.
And he had a lot of customers. His Butcher Shop Steak Houses inMission Valley and Chula Vista were the places to be. The food wasgood, the lighting dim and the atmosphere festive. Mr. DePhilippistold amusing stories, bartenders remembered customers' favoritedrinks, and waitresses wore short skirts and fishnet stockings.
A member of the Filippi's Pizza Grotto family, Mr. DePhilippishelped with the business his parents started in 1950, but he neverowned a Filippi's himself. Instead, he started and owned severalrestaurants over the years, including Roberto's Pizza, Caruso's andThe Continental on El Cajon Boulevard.
Mr. DePhilippis died Saturday of heart failure at Sharp GrossmontHospital in La Mesa. He was 82 and lived in the South Bay.
Longtime friend Mark Greene said Mr. DePhilippis' great personalityand business acumen made him a success.
“He was a funny, wonderful guy, and he just knew how to bringpeople through the front door,” Greene said.
He recalled that when Mr. DePhilippis opened the Chula VistaButcher Shop in 1968, the kitchen wasn't quite ready.
“He gave away free food for a week sandwiches, cold cuts,potato salad,” Greene said. “He sent out invitations,and people came in to get a sandwich, some coleslaw, and they'd buya beer or two beers or a few cocktails. The money was made in thebar. He was a phenomenal businessman.”
Mr. DePhilippis was known as a colorful character and sharp dresserwith his custom-made suits and two-tone shoes. Friends and familysaid he was one of the few men who could pull off wearing a brightred or powder blue suit with matching shoes.
“He was the essence of sartorial splendor,” said friendGeorge Ronis. “He should have been in show business. He was araconteur. He could sing. He could tell jokes. His stories werelegend.”
The Mission Valley Butcher Shop attracted celebrities in itsheyday, including Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Pete Rose andTommy Lasorda.
While Mr. DePhilippis had much success, not everything went hisway. In 1976, he served one year in prison for federal income-taxevasion.
“If everybody went to jail who cheated on their income tax,there'd be a prison on every corner,” Mr. DePhilippis said ina San Diego Union-Tribune interview this year after he sold his last restaurant, the ChulaVista Butcher Shop.
In 1986, Mr. DePhilippis reluctantly closed his Mission Valleyrestaurant after a lengthy legal battle with his landlord. He lateropened a Butcher Shop restaurant in Kearny Mesa and operated itfrom 1988 to 2002.
Roberto Peter DePhilippis was born June 18, 1926, in the Bronx,N.Y. He was the oldest of seven children born to Vincent andMadeleine DePhilippis. The family lived in New York andPennsylvania before moving to San Diego, where they opened a deligrocery on India Street.
Mr. DePhilippis quit high school in 1943 to join the Navy. Heserved in the Pacific until 1947. During the 1960s, when he ownedCaruso's, he would offer free dinners to military personnel andothers on Thanksgiving and Easter. Greene said lines snaked aroundthe block at Caruso's on Fourth Avenue on Thanksgiving when Mr.DePhilippis offered free spaghetti dinners.
He married the former Margaret DiPietro of Philadelphia in the late1940s. They divorced a couple of years later. He married the formerPatricia Tolbert in the mid-1950s. The couple later divorced.
Mr. DePhilippis is survived by three sons, Robert of Coronado,Michael of Temecula and Mark of La Jolla; two sisters, Gina Finchand Mary Johnson of San Diego; three brothers, Vincent, Alfred andRichard of San Diego; nine grandchildren; and threegreat-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a brother,William.
Viewing is scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. tomorrow at Memorial Bowl,373 Park Way, Chula Vista. A Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m.Friday at St. Rose of Lima Church, 293 H St., Chula Vista.