One of the oldest restaurants in the Valley, Antonio’s was old-school before old-school was cool, though it might surprise even some regulars to learn that it opened its doors under the name Miceli’s. Buoyed by the success of their Italian joint on Las Palmas in Hollywood, which had opened in 1949, brothers Antonio and Carmen Miceli — plus Carmen’s wife, Sylvia, and the rest of the Miceli clan – decided it was time to take their brand of Italian food and decor over the hill to Sherman Oaks.

However, it was barely a year after Miceli’s part two opened in 1957 that a rift opened up in the family, as current owner Alex Lunardon explained. “There was a lot of friction back then,” she said diplomatically. “Carmen and others wanted to change the recipes, start cutting some costs, and basically try to change what Antonio thought was their magic formula.”