The San Antonio Italian eatery is located at 22250 Bulverde Road.
SAN ANTONIO — Italy may be thousands of miles away, but San Antonians don’t have to drive that far to find some authentic pasta.
Tutto Pepe Osteria, a neighborhood restaurant on the far north side is quickly becoming the local spot for pasta lovers.
The beloved Italian restaurant opened its doors soon after the pandemic in October 2023 by Charlie Gonzalez and his wife Gabby who saw a need for an Italian eatery in their tight-knit community.
The husband-and-wife duo love all kinds of food, having traveled across the world perfecting various types of cuisines including Italian. They currently own various restaurants like Panfila Cantina, their Mexican brunch restaurant and are expected to open up a burger and taco shop in the Medical Center area.
“We joke around, you know, because we’re always like thinking of what’s our next move, what’s our next business. We just like cooking so much that every time we have an opportunity to open a new concept we always try to do something unique with it, something different instead of just copying our previous restaurant,” Charlie said. “If we could, I think we would just open one of each cuisine.”
But Tutto Pepe is personal to Charlie, whose great grandmother was Italian and taught his grandmother to make authentic pasta from scratch.
“I guess some of that passed on to me. Our dishes are fresh, you know, made from scratch, so it resembles a lot of home cooking, ” Charlie said.
At Tutto Pepe, the menu is full of traditional dishes like bolognese, shrimp scampi, and tortellini, but customers have quickly come to realize that these signature dishes are quite unique.
“We always like to tweak whatever we can to make it our own,” Charlie said.
Some of these changes include starting off with a refreshing goat cheese and beet salad – accompanied with oranges.
Or adding croutons to their Orecchiette Alla Bolognese.
“It’s just nice that when you’re eating the pasta to have that one crunch,” Charlie said.
And creating their Trottole Al Pesto with pistachios instead of typical pine nuts.
“We worked in numerous restaurants across the U.S. and overseas and we worked under very talented chefs. We had teachers, you know, that passed on a lot of their knowledge and we just like to bring that to the table,” Charlie said.
And their decadent desserts are handmade by Charlie’s mother – including their noteworthy tiramisu.
“It’s ladyfingers soaked in coffee, then we got mascarpone cream and topped with cocoa powder. It’s one of the most famous desserts in Italy,” Charlie said.
Customers who walk into Tutto Pepe should expect a casual vibe with lively plates that pay homage to the restaurants name.
“So, Tutto Pepe means ‘all pepper.’ And it’s slang – it’s a saying they use in Italy to describe someone that is very outgoing. It means you’re very lively, outgoing and charming. And that’s just how we want to be with our food and the way we treat our customers,” Charlie said.
“We really wanted to focus on our neighbors and we wanted it to be a place where you don’t have to only go for your birthday or anniversary or special occasion. We wanted people to be able to just come in and have a nice meal,” Charlie said.
Tutto Pepe is located on Bulverde road right next door to Panfila Cantina.
