Truck-Stop Italian

Big Humphrey's serves up all the comforts of home - assuming home is a double-wide

Comments (0) By Carol Rust Thursday, Jul 27 2000

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The restaurant was a success almost from the day it opened in 1948. But in the early '80s, Jasper Vitale started noticing that customers' checks bore addresses in Pearland and other bedroom communities. He and his family had already built a house in Pearland in 1979. Neighbors at civic functions constantly asked him, "When are you going to open up here?"

"My wife and I were driving one day along here and saw this little hole-in-the-wall and said, 'Why don't we give it a try?' " Vitale recalls.

Troy Fields

Full-nelson Italian: Jasper Vitale, the son of a professional wrestler, has a firm grasp on the restaurant his father opened in 1948.

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Big Humphrey's Pizza and Italian Restaurant

5627 Broadway St.
Pearland, TX 77581

Category: Restaurant > American

Region: Pearland

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(281)485-0392

5627 Broadway, Pearland

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"Delivery only," his wife replied.

In 1986 they started renovating. Friends, neighbors and longtime customers stopped by during construction and asked if they were going to put in tables. So they did.

"We closed the Park Place location for two weeks to open the Pearland restaurant, and we had so many customers -- so many of our old Park Place customers -- that we decided to close the Park Place restaurant permanently," Vitale says, squeezing the bulb inside the cash drawer to make his spider jump.

Big Humphrey, the wrestling restaurateur who knew a thing or two about seizing opportunities, would no doubt be proud.