It's the oldest family-operated restaurant in Reno-Sparks, maybe in the entire state. It started on East 4th Street with handmade takeout raviolis in 1937, then a restaurant since 1941. The place hasn't changed since. Her son Tony says, neither did the matriarch who held it all together. As he put it, "It was her job to be that consistent touchstone to the community."
A change did come last Saturday, a sad one. Inez Casale Stempeck, best known as "Mama Casale" passed away peacefully at 93. Her whole life was here, serving Nevadans and working in the kitchen with family since she was 10 years old. Tony says, "She did the same things we did: wash dishes, cut vegetables, grind tomatoes...."
Mama's staff? About 90% her children and grandchildren. The recipes are the real deal, brought straight from Italy by her parents who started a market here. Tony says “The people would come here and ask 'Would you mind making me some ravioli? Would you make me some ravioli?' And when my grandmother got ill, she thought 'Hmm, maybe somebody would make a living doing this.'"
The Halfway Club, half way between Reno and Sparks, has 2 slogans: "Nothin' halfway about it" and "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." Make no mistake, Mama was a tough boss. Tony remembers, “When I was little, kids weren't even allowed outside of the kitchen. This was a bar. This was a restaurant. Kids back there, we all had jobs."
Her constant presence here, working in the kitchen into her 90's, ensured consistently high levels of food and service. Tony and the rest of the family promise that no changes will be made. "It'll be the consistent place that she loved it to be. When you come through that door, it's just like you remember it."
But the huge void is already unmistakable. "You know, you have that question, whether it’s 'Mom what was the name of that bar downtown that used to be here?' Or 'What's old whats his name's sister-in-law's daughter's name?' And she always knew it."
A legend, not just in food or business, but in life.
Casale’s Halfway Club is closed tonight and will reopen tomorrow (Wednesday the 30th).
