“Did Peppino’s on Curry Ford Close?”
– Khalil Makdah
Peppino’s Organic Italian Kitchen and Pizzeria (Facebook) has closed.
Pete, the former owner, named the pizzeria after his father, who taught him the craft back in New York where he grew up. Peppino’s opened for business in December 2017 and we covered it HERE.
According to the property owner, Giovanni Fernandez, Pete was forced to close Peppino’s, located at 2420 Curry Ford Road [GMap], after some health complications forced him to out of the kitchen and into recovery. Without Pete to man the ship, the restaurant suffered and he was forced to make the decision to close up shop and sell the business.
Fernandez told Bungalower that the business was sold to Charly Robinson of F&D Kitchen and Bar (Website) in Lake Mary. Robinson will be transformed into a new concept under the banner of F&D Italian Wood-fired Kitchen, run by his wife and two sons who will serve as chef and operations manager, respectively.
The building is being completely renovated, again, and the front parking will be moved behind the building to be replaced by a front-facing patio/porch space. In fact, Fernandez told us that most of the new businesses will have front-facing patio spaces facing the street and all of the sidewalks and right-of-way will be replaced with hard-scaping to allow more pedestrian and cycling access in the fledgling, privately-owned district.
The new concept is expected to open on September 1. Grease traps, hoods, and new plumbing were all added pre/ post-Peppino’s which should help the construction timeline to stay on track.
Side Note: Fernandez also told us that the new Foxtail is expected to open in July of this year with the Tamale Truck/Patisserie opening in October.
Do you have a question you want answered? Reach out to us at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to find the answer!
Okay so no this not correct from former manager of Peppino’s. what actually happened is Pete backed out of his lease told all of his employees he was closing for a week and then never told us he was not opening again he always paid us like 3 weeks late there as some people who in their months working there did not ever get paid and still have not to the day the owner was a abusivr brute who never stopped trying to save face and his accomplice and lover Gio is just as bad