A Palo Alto Italian restaurant once known as a favorite meeting place for Steve Jobs and other tech executives is closing after 36 years, as first reported by Palo Alto Weekly. Il Fornaio, located in the el PRADO Hotel at 520 Cowper St., is set to serve its final rigatoni alla vodka and wood-fired pizzas on Sunday, Jan. 18.
The storied restaurant first opened in 1989, mere days before the Loma Prieta earthquake. The timing was fortuitous, according to restaurateur Michael Mindel, who worked for Il Fornaio for 27 years (although he is no longer involved with the company). Michael is the son of Larry Mindel, the man who took over Il Fornaio in 1986 and turned it into a successful chain with restaurants and bakeries across the West Coast.
“Prior to the earthquake, in some people’s estimations, if you wanted to get a really great, urban upscale restaurant experience, you had to drive to San Francisco,” he said. “But after the earthquake, you couldn’t really get in and out of the city. So people started looking for restaurants outside of San Francisco.”…