IF YOU GO
Pappa Luigi’s, 23 North Third St., Hamilton
(513) 889-1902
On the Web: www.pappaluigis.com; www.Facebook.com/PappaLuigisLLC
Free delivery downtown. Minimal charge for other areas.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Pappa Luigi’s new menu includes much of what drew customers during the eatery’s first go-round, plus new options to broaden the restaurant’s appeal.
Owner Mindy Muller reopened the downtown eatery at 23 N. Third St. last Friday, keeping the same starters, entrees, sandwiches, wings and salads on the menu, but adding several dine-in choices, including a spaghetti dinner.
The eatery’s previous owner closed the restaurant in October after six months to better tend to his primary business.
Muller has also reduced the cost of a 16-inch pizza pie from $16 to $10 and added a kid’s menu.
“It’s a little bit of a break (in pricing) for kids,” she said. “I have four kids, so I appreciate those breaks.”
Desserts are the only items absent from the revised menu, partially because they weren’t a best-seller under previous owners but mainly as a sign of solidarity with another new small business.
“We want to support Jelli’s Fudgery next door and … (desserts) are their thing,” Muller said. “That’s worked out very well, so far. A lot of people go from here to over there.”
The restaurant also added the Papa Zone Challenge, which entails a customer devouring a 5-pound calzone stuffed with meat and vegetables in one hour to earn the title of “Pappazonian,” receive a Pappazonian T-shirt and get their photo displayed on the restaurant’s Wall of Fame.
The restaurant now offers a dine-in, table-service option at all times. Muller said future amenities may include a salad bar and formal dining ware.
To involve itself in the community, Pappa Luigi’s will donate 10 percent of Sunday proceeds to a different area church each week. Each Tuesday is Non-Profit Appreciation Day, when anyone who works for a nonprofit organization can receive 15 percent off of their bill.
“We’re trying to do some things to show people that we appreciate them and the work that they do in the community,” said Muller, who serves as president and CEO of Community Development Professionals.
Laura Brooks and Cora Gray ate lunch at the new Pappa Luigi’s Thursday, Brooks opting for a Luigi’s Steak submarine sandwich in a mushroom sauce and Gray for the same in a pizza sauce
“It’s very tasty,” Brooks said. “I like seeing small places open … because it’s a little bit more personable. It’s nice to have an option of many places when you’re eating out pretty much every day.”
Gray said the area needs more small businesses like Pappa Luigi’s. “I work off of Martin Luther King (Jr. Boulevard) and there’s no place to go there,” she said.
Muller said her love of small business and its economic impact is what led her to purchase the business and hire eight part-time employees.
“I didn’t want to see the jobs go,” Muller said. “I looked at his sales numbers, I looked at the amount of support he had. The food was really good … and I just wanted to see it continue, if that was at all possible.”
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