New Lemont pizzeria wants to be family destination

LEMONT – When Ed Gricus opened Gelsosomo’s Pizzeria and Pub in downtown Lemont last week, he fulfilled a longtime dream of owning a restaurant.

“Years ago, back in 1974, a partner of mine and I were going to open up a restaurant,” he said. “Somebody caught wind of it and they went around us. They put a pizzeria in there and it’s still in existence, which really ticked me off.”

Gelsosomo’s, part of a franchise whose other locations are in northwest Indiana, is a family style, sit-down pizza restaurant also serving pasta, sandwiches, salads and appetizers.

Gricus, a Lemont resident, co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Peggy.

Besides owning the restaurant, they each have their own full-time jobs. Ed is vice president of operations and sales for iit/SourceTech and Reinhart Food Service. Peggy is vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer at Silver Cross Hospital.

Ed said there is a need for a place like Gelsosomo’s in Lemont.

“We talked to people from Lemont,” he said. “They said, the restaurants here, there’s some great restaurants, but there wasn’t a venue you could sit down and have [pizza] pie.”

From his decades in the food service industry, Ed knew the owner of Gelsosomo’s, Tom Gelsosomo. He also knew the owner of the building at 206 Main St., the former location of restaurants This Must Be the Place and Mindflow Cafe.

Ed said they had hoped to open the restaurant in July but ran into some unexpected obstacles while rehabbing the building. When grinding down the concrete floor, they discovered yellow lines left over from when the building was a motorcycle garage.

Now that the restaurant is open, Peggy said she is glad they were able to hire people from the community.

“He have 60 people now that we’ve hired, and I would say 90 percent, maybe a little higher, are from Lemont,” she said. “People just know each other.”

One of the first people they hired in April was general manager Jim Thompson, who has 12 years of experience with the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group.

“Jim has been our best ambassador,” Peggy said. “He’s been ingrained in the community.”

Ed and Peggy have been surprised by the immediate response from the community.

“We purposely chose to do a soft opening – just kind of open the doors, see what happens,” Peggy said. “Friday and Saturday, we had lines an hour-and-a-half long. It was amazing.”

The restaurant also hosted several Lemont High School sports teams during the weekend.

“Many of the comments, especially when all the coaches were here, were that they always after games typically would have to split up because there wasn’t one place that could accommodate 22 people,” Peggy said.

Gelsosomo’s has received a warm welcome from other Lemont restaurants.

“They’re thinking it’s just going to bring more people into Lemont,” Peggy said. “And if we’re successful, maybe tomorrow night [customers] have a taste for Mexican.”

Ed said he wants the restaurant to be a family destination where parents also can grab a beer and watch a game.

They also have made it a family business. Their three children – Heather, Tim and Jennifer – all work in various positions with the restaurant.

“Over the weekends, we’re always going to have a family owner on the floor,” he said.

Ed said he was once involved with a restaurant his brother-in-law owned in Vernon Hills during the 1980s.

“A lot of the Chicago Bears used to go up there when it first opened up,” he said. “The reason they went there was no one would find them. So, that wasn’t so good.”

At least so far, Gelsosomo’s has shown better signs.

“Since Friday, everybody’s found us,” he said.