2 Italian Restaurants Wage Spicy Little War

They’re calling it the South Bay Pasta War.

It’s a dispute between the owners of two Italian restaurants over their dining establishments’ names, menus and decors.

Joseph (Pippo) Calderone, owner of the 2-year-old Viva La Pasta! in Palos Verdes Estates and a branch in Playa del Rey, claims that Satish Dewan, owner of the 6-week-old LA Pasta in Hermosa Beach, has copied his restaurant’s name and menu--right down to dishes he named for his mother and sister.

“He has made another Viva La Pasta!--without the Viva, “ Calderone said indignantly.

Dewan said he named LA Pasta to reflect its location in the Los Angeles area, and he said his menu contains only “generic” dishes available in most Italian restaurants.

“Should I be informed that he has the trademark, I would gladly take off my menu the Canadian bacon, the Italian sausage, the bell peppers,” Dewan said sarcastically. “If he is the only one who can use those things, I will gladly take them off. I’m a peace-loving guy.”

The dispute is a public relations man’s dream, generating plenty of conversation and publicity about the restaurants. Although the owners have threatened to sue each other, they both may find South Bay pasta lovers deciding the merits of the case over a big plate of spaghetti.

The battle started when Dewan opened his restaurant on Oct. 3, after an unsuccessful attempt to get a Viva La Pasta! franchise from Calderone. Several days later, he received a letter drafted by Calderone’s attorney, Jeffrey L. Parker, challenging the new restaurant’s name and stating that it “must be changed.”

The letter, dated Oct. 8, said the change “must be effected within one week upon receipt of this notice.”

On Oct. 14, Dewan said, a man identifying himself as Calderone’s son came into LA Pasta and created a disturbance among patrons and employees. According to a letter by Dewan’s attorney, Dale S. Frank, the intruder “proceeded to disturb the patrons of LA Pasta by hurling loud accusations at LA Pasta employees and taking many photographs within the restaurant despite being asked several times to leave.”

Calderone has denied that his son, Vincent (who operates the Playa del Rey branch of Viva La Pasta!) visited LA Pasta. But he said his secretary and a friend did go there to take pictures of the restaurant’s large exterior signs, which were attached above the entrance and lighted at night.

On Oct. 15--exactly a week after the warning letter--Dewan discovered that his restaurant signs had been stolen.

Detective Wally Moore said the Hermosa Beach Police Department is investigating the early morning theft of the signs, which Dewan valued at $2,200.

“We have leads and we’re following them,” Moore said. Calderone said he knows nothing about the signs, which Dewan has replaced.

In an Oct. 15 letter to Calderone, Dewan’s attorney said his firm conducted “extensive research” to be sure there was no prior claim to the name LA Pasta. He dismissed as “totally without legal merit” Calderone’s claims that Dewan copied the restaurant name, signs, menu and decor. He also objected strongly to the visit by Calderone’s associates.

Both restaurants are decorated in green, white and red, the colors of Italy’s flag.

Calderone said he is sure that Dewan tried to duplicate his restaurant because Dewan included on his menu dishes that Calderone said he named for his mother, Nizzarda, and sister, Zingara. Dewan “thought they were names of food,” Calderone said.

Dewan said on Thursday that he has removed from his menu the insalata Nizzarda, a tuna-based salad, and the cannelloni Zingara, a veal-stuffed pasta dish, in an attempt to resolve the dispute. Dewan’s attorney said the changes would be made “to avoid any possible confusion among the public.”

But a week ago, Dewan’s menu still included the Zingara dish, which is described almost identically at both restaurants as crepes or pasta “filled with veal, spinach and topped with fresh tomato sauce and cheese.” Both restaurants price the dish at $6.95.

The wording of the menu provided by Dewan last week bore a strong resemblance to that of Viva La Pasta!

The lists of pastas on the top of the menus are nearly identical, including the order of the varieties.

Calderone’s menu boasts “49 unique varieties of fresh pasta & pizza.” Dewan’s original menu also used the phrase “unique varieties of fresh pasta & pizza,” but these words have been deleted.

The 25 selections of pasta toppings on LA Pasta’s menu are listed in practically the same order as those on a larger list at Viva La Pasta! The only dish on LA Pasta’s list that is not on Calderone’s is a chicken curry invention by Dewan, who was born in Bombay, India.

“Imitation, it’s flattery, but if somebody copies you 100% . . .,” Calderone said. “I don’t know whether to laugh or get upset.” He claims that he gets as many as 10 calls a day from customers who want to know if he has opened a new restaurant in Hermosa Beach.

A former executive of the restaurant chain Two Guys From Italy, Calderone said he retired about five years ago but decided to open his own restaurant in the Lunada Bay area of Palos Verdes Peninsula in September, 1985. Born in Palermo, Italy, Calderone said most of the recipes he uses are his mother’s creations.

Dewan said he came to this country 17 years ago and for 12 years worked as a waiter in an Italian restaurant at the Marriott hotel at Los Angeles International Airport. He later acquired the franchise for a Two Guys From Italy restaurant in Hermosa Beach. (Ironically, Dewan said, he paid his Two Guys franchise royalties to Calderone, who then was still associated with the restaurant chain.)

Dewan said he sought to obtain a franchise-type agreement with Calderone to open a Viva La Pasta! restaurant, but Calderone said he wanted to maintain control of the restaurant. Dewan closed Two Guys From Italy, remodeled the restaurant and reopened it as LA Pasta last month.

Like Viva La Pasta!, LA Pasta has tables set with white linen, green napkins and china with a green stripe, and both places have green carpets and a profusion of plants. Calderone claims that Dewan copied his decor from Viva La Pasta!

Said Dewan: “I didn’t know he has the trademark on green carpet and green napkins.”