Lazzaroli Pasta Building Sells, Shop to Close June 22

When somebody smarter than me writes the grand history of Nashville’s culinary scene, I hope they dedicate at least a chapter to the brave urban explorers who planted flags in neighborhoods that weren’t necessarily ready for them, and held out while their clientele moved in around them. Margot McCormack opened her eponymous bistro in East Nashville when there was hardly even any fast food to be had in the neighborhood. It seems hard to believe, but when Tandy Wilson started up City House in a former sculptor’s studio, parking on the street on Fourth and Monroe was enough to make many patrons nervous. (And Lyft wasn’t an option then.) Heck, even Gabby’s opening in the old Hap Townes space across from Greer Stadium seemed like a risky move at the time.

When Tom Lazzaro opened his quaint pasta shop Lazzaroli more than a decade ago in the former Enchanted Gingerbread Bakery at 1314 Fifth Ave. N., the neighborhood was definitely not clamoring for a specialty Italian grocery. Lazzaro had earned a reputation for making toothsome pastas that he sold at the Nashville Farmers’ Market and provided wholesale to restaurants like City House, but it was a huge gamble to move into retail in a primarily industrial section of Germantown. I visited him often to pick up specialty salumis, his delicious ravioli filled with chianti and short ribs, or the perfect sauce to accompany an admittedly inferior homemade pasta. We talked about how difficult it was to attract the neighborhood residents to make the trek up Fifth to visit his shop, but I always considered Tom and his shop to be a local treasure.

Eventually the neighborhood matured around him, with townhouses springing up and filling with new Nashvillians who didn’t balk at paying 20 bucks for a really good olive oil and who knew the value of a splash of barrel-aged balsamic on your scrambled eggs. Even as business picked up thanks to his new clientele, Lazzaro had a different problem on his hands: How long would he be able to survive in a neighborhood that had grown so white-hot that the property he sat on would have to fall prey to development eventually? The answer to that question is, unfortunately, not much longer.

Our Nashville Post colleague William Williams recently reported that the Lazzaroli building finally sold for $3.3 million on June 5. Lazzaro was not surprised. “We knew it was coming," he says. "There had been a for-sale sign in the front lawn for four years, and my landlord had already turned down other offers.” The new developers plan to raze the building this summer to construct 13 Nick Dryden-designed townhomes on the site, and Lazzaro has already received his notice to vacate. He plans to close Lazzaroli for good on June 22. (A sad day for local foodies.)

Lazzaro had already started to share the news with his customers when the story broke. “One girl started sobbing,” he says. Since Lazzaroli was such a small operation, people assume he can just find another space and reopen right away, but he explains that’s not necessarily the case.

“We had the perfect kitchen to be able to make pasta and then convert to cooking fillings in the afternoon. Commercial leases for space are ridiculous right now, so I’m not going to rush. I’ll be looking for space, because some other places are going to close.”

In the meantime, Lazzaro may offer some cooking classes, and he plans to offer to sell Tandy one of his pasta machines so that City House can make its own pasta (Lazzaro previously supplied pasta for the restaurant). “We’ll keep our main equipment, so we’ll just see what’s next on the horizon for us," Lazzaro says. "My biggest fear is for the people that make the trek from out of town to visit us. I hope they can find out in advance.”

Speaking of in advance, you might want to keep an eye on Lazzaroli’s Facebook and Instagram pages for upcoming sales over the next few weeks before closing. Lazzaro plans to move some of his specialty inventory as part of special deals, so make room in your olive-oil drawer. What? You don’t have an olive-oil drawer? You’d better stock up until we see Lazzaroli open again somewhere, hopefully sooner than later!