Because this site focuses on news, the Spotlight feature is reserved for the businesses that have been around awhile and don’t get the coverage they should. But in this case, Pepolino, the Italian restaurant on West Broadway and Lispenard, *is* in the news: the building it has occupied since 1999 was recently sold (see more on that below). So it seemed like a good time to catch up with co-owner Patrizio Siddu. His business partner, Enzo Pezone, was in, appropriately, Italy.
How did you get started in this business?
It’s a family thing. My mom, she was a personal chef for a wealthy family. She left that job when she got married, but we grew up and she continued to cook like crazy – two pastas, three main courses, two desserts, every day. Sometimes friends would come for lunch and think it was a special event – but it was the usual thing. I fell in love with cooking because of her and I eventually went to the culinary school in Florence.
How did you end up in the States?
I moved here in 1994 to open a restaurant called Savore. The owner found me in Italy, at Cibrèo in Florence. A lot of Americans know that restaurant — it’s been there since 1979. Enzo also worked at Cibrèo as the pastry chef. After Savore, I worked at other places in Midtown and with a caterer before we decided to open our own restaurant.
Why Tribeca?
We loved the area. We thought there was something special here and we were right. We loved the people – we have met just about everyone in the past 25 years.
What are you known for?
Cibrèo was a really special place – one pf the only places that doesn’t do pasta. It was rustic countryside kind of place. Lots of soups. When we came to New York we wanted to keep that, but we had to add the pasta. When fall comes, we can do the real Tuscan cuisine – gamey, like homemade pappardelle with wild boar ragout, fettuccine with braised rabbit.
What’s the most popular dish?
Probably the pappa al pomodoro – typical Florentine bread soup. Spaghetti with braised meats and parmesan. The ricotta cheesecake – it’s my partner’s recipe and it’s amazing.
Your very favorite dish right now?
Wow, a lot of things. The ricotta meatballs – they are very fluffy and can’t compare to other meatballs. We serve it with basil and garlic tomato coulis. It’s very light.
Enzo Pezone
Aren’t you tired of cooking?
No, no. It’s an art craft for us. You are creating something different every day. We have five or six different specials so people don’t get bored. And I go quite often to Italy to find ingredients and recipes that help me create new things.
Patrizio Siddu
Tribeca has obviously changed a lot since you started. How have the changes affected your business?
Before a holiday we had 4 or 5 days that were quiet. Now it’s like two weeks. And of course since covid the business crowd has changed. At lunch we used to do 40 to 50 people a day. The AT&T building was full of people, and now I heard there are only five floors rented. Any area where there used to be offices, it’s missing that kind of business. And it’s not just restaurants – cleaners, bars, everyone. It’s a different New York City.
What percentage of your business is local?
Probably 60 percent. We have guests who used to live in the neighborhood and they are so happy to find out that we are still here. That’s the beauty. That we left a memory with them. Every time they come back to the city they come to Pepolino. We are a neighborhood restaurant — that’s what we’ve always been. We’ve seen kids here that were newborns and are now in college.
Where do you eat/drink around here?
To be honest, I am a family man – I don’t go out like I used to. But I like to get a drink at Grand Eleven or the Roxy Hotel. [He lives in Forest Hills.]
What has happened with the new owners?
They have raised the rent — about 40 percent more. It’s a company that wants to make money, and I understand that. I think they want us to be here. But we don’t have a lease right now. We are trying the best we can do to just go ahead.
How do you manage an increase like that??
We can pull it off but it’s hard. I don’t know if it’s worth it in the end. One way you do it is you come at 8 in the morning and leave at 10 at night. But you still have to make some money.
If this place ever closed, would you keep cooking?
For sure, forget about it. It’s not just a job for us. We grew up with this – it’s in us. We can’t stop doing it. There’s many things in our mind right now – it’s hard to see what’s ahead. But we love the area. We would like to stay here.
What didn’t I ask?
We have 30 people working for us that have survived with Pepolino – and we have kept a lot of them all this time since 1999. That means 30 families are still going. We went through the Twin Towers, we went through Sandy, we went through the crash in 2008 and then covid. A lot of people are complaining in the restaurant business now, but we just try to keep as many people as possible in these hard times. I think things will change for sure. It’s New York City.
