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By Valerie Harris, Contributing Writer
Antiques Shopping
and Fine Dining at
Angelica’s Bistro
*
When you first walk up to Anjelica’s at 863 Main St., a
sign directs you away from the front door. Instead, you
walk through the garden patio filled with Greek statues,
water fountains and plants. Once you enter the double
doors, your eyes are drawn to the myriad antiques.
There are statues, teacups, cases laden with European
cut diamond rings, necklaces, dining room sets, armoires
and even a grand piano. You have definitely entered an
antiques store. The incongruous pairing of antiques with
sumptuous kitchen aromas initially makes you forget why
you are there.
The back part of the establishment holds
tables with people drinking pub beers; this
is the bistro area of the building. The bar
displays a well-stocked variety of wines
and beers, coffees and teas. Turning
toward the front doors, the main part of the
establishment opens into a large room with
high ceilings, dining tables and a stage.
At first, you’re struck by the fact that this
could be a business struggling to find its
identity. Where am I? And what’s with all the
antiques? And what on earth smells so dang
yummy?
All these questions come to a
screeching halt with the first taste of cream
of mushroom soup, or a forkful of the fresh
green salad with homemade dressing, or a
bite of the Irish pub-style corned beef pie
with a thick, flaky, golden-brown crust. You
quickly realize you are in one of the finest
dining establishments on the Peninsula,
maybe even the whole Bay Area.
While waiting for your meal, you can
window-shop the thousands of antiques.
Many jewelry pieces are on consignment.
While I was there, one patron asked to view
a white pearl ring for his daughter. Store
owner Anjelica Cuschieri bartered with the
gentleman, which escalated into a back-andforth
contest, with other patrons soon joining
in and taking sides. The man ultimately
passed on the ring, but the scene was highly
entertaining. It’s never happened to me
before, not ever at any dining establishment
here in the U.S. It did make me insanely
homesick for my days of employment in
North Yorkshire, England. A lot of businesses
have tried to capture the charming and social
atmosphere of an English village pub, but
none have been able to do it with the totality
that Anjelica’s has. Perhaps the presence of
all the antiques makes you drop your guard,
and you don’t feel like you are in an upscale,
snooty restaurant; you feel like you are in a
pub where it is perfectly okay to chat up the
people sitting at the next table. I don’t know
how owners Peter and Anjelica Cuschieri
have done it, but they have captured
lightning in a bottle.
The Cuschieris bought the establishment
in 1999 from an antiques dealer named
Frank Bizzarro. Peter Cuschieri had been
a good customer of Bizzarro’s antiques
store, and when Bizzarro decided to sell, he
approached Cuschieri and asked him if he
wanted to buy. At that time, Cuschieri was
retiring from his business of selling home
purification systems from Rainbow and
decided to take Bizzarro up on the offer.
Cuschieri was expert at reselling antiques.
Once he bought in to the shop, he started
trading in antiques. He also expanded to
selling garden statues and fountains. Then
he expanded to a pub/bistro and restaurant.
Currently the business functions as an
auction house, a consignment store, a retail
store, a restaurant and a garden store. They
even handle eBay drop-off items and sell
items as well.
Because the business was originally
an antiques auction site, people continued
to show up to purchase antiques. The