Gennaro’s Trattoria is an Italian villa perched among the rolling hills north of San Antonio in the placid community of Startzville by Canyon Lake. And on a Friday night, it’s packed with cars, buzzing with families drawn by solid Italian cooking at reasonable prices. The waiters are dressed in black and white, formal but not too formal. The muraled dining rooms are fancy, but not too fancy.

And the food comes to the table with just the right amount of flair. Stylish, but not too stylish. This is the legacy of Gennaro Di Meo, an Italian native who came to Canyon Lake from Antonio’s near Houston to start Gennaro’s almost eight years ago. A New Braunfels location followed a few years later.