When Susan and I were walking back from lunch, we spotted huge shrink-wrapped benches inside the soon-to-open Aldo’s Pizza Pies, so we poked in to check out the renovation. The restaurant, owned by Aldo Dean of Bardog and Slider Inn, is located on South Main Street on the ground floor of Barboro Flats.
Dean’s dad, also named Aldo, was patiently filling and staining the restaurant’s refurbished oak counter tops. The counter tops are beautiful, and he reminded me of my own Dad who also loved working with wood.
The walls above the wainscot are papered with newsprint, another cool touch. The original idea was to work with Italian newspapers, but that didn’t work out, Aldo Senior said. “Since this is going to be a New York-style pizza place, we went with The New York Times ,” he explained.
The restaurant also includes a small room enclosed by glass walls so customers can watch the dough-making process. The room was a little like an in-house brewery, but for making pizza instead of beer.
I asked Aldo Senior about the restaurant’s opening date. “Aldo says the 20th, but I think it will be the end of the month,” he said.
Susan also took photos and got the pizza ovens. To read the Hungry Memphis post, click here.