Lost Baby D's is Papalinos next?

https://www.facebook.com/papalinospizza

Papalinos Closing Baxter Avenue Location And Seeking New Ground In the Highlands

One of Louisville’s great pizzerias begins the search for new restaurant location in the Bardstown Road area to support growth

Louisville, KY: Today, Papalinos Italian Pub, voted Best Pizza in Louisville by Louisville Magazine readers, announces it is looking for a new home in the Highlands for its Baxter Ave. location. The Papalinos Baxter Avenue restaurant was the launch site for the brand and has a strong following from the Louisville Highlands community. Papalinos wants to enhance their brand and menu offering and experience, and will be closing the Baxter location operations on Friday September, 26th.

On the restaurant closing and search, Papalinos spokesperson Luke Blackburn said, “We love being in the highlands and want to continue to make the best pizza for our faithful followers. And while Baxter Ave. was our beginning, the site has experienced difficulties and is not the best for our new format in line with our new Italian Pub concept. We know it will be an inconvenient gap as we relocate and re-build, but we are confident that a new home will carry on our great Papalinos Pizza experience and then some.”

The new Papalino’s Italian Pub restaurant concept, one of which is located in Springhurst in Louisville’s east end, includes a full bar featuring special Italian cocktails, a variety of Italian regional wines, extended menu items from Italian-inspired pastas and salads to fresh made desserts, and of course their signature Papalinos pizza. “We don’t want to mess with what makes us a favorite, but we know we can do so much more with the brand in the right location”, says Blackburn.

The real question is if they are really looking for a new location or if this is just a convenient excuse to close the existing one on Baxter. If reports of the decline in their quality are true that I'm betting on the latter.

The real question is if they are really looking for a new location or if this is just a convenient excuse to close the existing one on Baxter. If reports of the decline in their quality are true that I'm betting on the latter.

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I discovered they were closed today... but I'm really interested in knowing what the beer situation is there. I may be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure that they haven't had beer since the Springhurst location opened. I've never purchased any beer there but I recall last November that they had a sign on the beer cooler saying that they couldn't sell beer due to the wrong address (the Springhurst location) being listed on their license. I don't recall seeing that sign ever again, but I don't remember ever seeing beer sold there again after that. What's odd, though, is that as far as I can tell, they did have a valid license at the time for the Baxter location and still do. I just wonder what the deal is here...

Also, wouldn't it make sense for them to scout out a new place and have it pretty much ready to move into right after the original location closed, thus making the transition more or less seamless? The sudden closing, combined with reports of them looking for a new place for reopening sometime in the indefinite future, strikes me as a sign of trouble. I know that they may not have the funds on hand to temporarily carry the extra location for even a little while, but couple this latest episode with the closing of the UofL location this time two years ago and it seems to me there may be a problem that runs pretty deep.

That said, the Philly Steak & Burger storefront appears to be available — and barely used.

Just read over on the Papalino's FB that some investors recently bought the company. Anyone know the story behind that?

[Robin Garr]

Eve, here's a little something from a while back ...

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22023

Interestingly, their Facebook page also shows that they are shortening the hours for the Springhurst store!

The Springhurst hours are remaining the same, as they have since they have opened. Which is 11am - 9pm Sunday-Thursday and 11am-11pm Saturday and Sunday. There is nothing on facebook that indicates the hours are being shortened.

The Springhurst hours are remaining the same, as they have since they have opened. Which is 11am - 9pm Sunday-Thursday and 11am-11pm Saturday and Sunday. There is nothing on facebook that indicates the hours are being shortened.

I thought I remember them being open to 11 o'clock.

[Robin Garr]

The CJ is reporting that Papalino's has closed. The story by Jere Downs attributes it to a lease issue, and also, curiously, likens Papalino's pies to ... Spinelli's.

Rift between new owners and landlord forces Papalino's NY Pizzeria on Baxter to close http://cjky.it/1x7qrmy

Looking forward to the arepas!

http://insiderlouisville.com/lifestyle_ ... inos-site/

I went to a Colombian arepa place in Rockaway Beach a few years ago. Are you sure arepas aren't Colombian?

[Robin Garr]

I went to a Colombian arepa place in Rockaway Beach a few years ago. Are you sure arepas aren't Colombian?

Iggy, this is a lot like asking where barbecue comes from.

The most famous stretch for arepa stands in NYC is probably Roosevelt Avenue.

But yeah, El Salvador is the home of the arepa. Honduras and Guatemala, right after. And then they're popular down through Central America to Colombia and Venezuela.

But let's give El Salvador some respect. It's such an effed country these days, it deserves a little love.