I’m no longer a partner in Valentino’s, I only get free pizza now, but reopening this with my former business partner was the coolest thing I’ve ever done.
Valentino’s opened in 1981 and achieved something that only a handful of restaurants can do: It became more than restaurant; it became a part of San Marcos history. People met their wives and husbands there, lifelong friendships and memories for 40 years of Texas State Alum and locals were forged at Valentino’s. The pizza was good, the beer was cheap, and their ranch dressing was famous, but it was never about the food and drink. After four different owners and years of neglect, Valentino’s closed in 2018. Our landlord for Industry bought the building in 2020 and told us it’s probably become a Starbucks unless we wanted a crack at reopening. It was 2020, we were thriving during Covid, we thought we were invincible. We knew nothing about pizza.
What we envisioned as a fresh coat of paint turned into us maxing out our credit cards, borrowing way too much money, and restoring a 130-year-old building that paid tribute to the old Valentino’s; recreating it in its condition was impossible. Every piece of equipment was used; the entire project was truly bootstrapped. Along the way, realizing how sensitive the community was to someone re-interpreting their first love, I tracked down old owners and employees and found photos and merch for years past. We brought them all together on opening day. I’ll never forget that night.
A good friend of ours with experience in pizza taught us how to do it. We knew nothing about New York style pizza, and the old Val’s recipes were not in line with the times. I joke that we accidentally made the best pizza in Central Texas. Pizza is all about the dough, and the old Valentinos used dough that was made the same day, the best pizza places ferment their dough for maybe two days. Valentino’s ferments its dough for 3 DAYS. That’s how a big slice doesn’t droop when you hold it. Outside of the east coast, people hadn’t had pizza this good.
More on the story of the revival of Valentinos and the history of the building can be seen below.
Being a part of its history was a truly humbling experience.