When Steven Pizzini opened Lala’s Gorditas, it appeared like his birthright. Not solely was the tiny Southside joint named after his maternal grandmother, but it surely was constructed on generational restaurant know-how that dates again to the 30s. After 5 turbulent years, that legacy is being minimize quick.
Through Fb, Pizzini introduced he would shutter Lala’s after service on December 24. Though the submit doesn’t absolutely clarify the reasoning behind the closure, it capped one of many restaurant’s most turbulent years.
“We hope everybody will come by and share fun or tear and ship Lala’s off in grand model,” Pizzini writes. “On behalf of my employees and myself, it has been an honor and a pleasure to serve you these final 5 years. You may see my employees in different nice eating locations, little question, and I plan to get pleasure from my retirement.”
Opened in March 2019, Lala’s continued his household’s lengthy historical past within the San Antonio hospitality group. His aunt Ernestine Pizzini Chapa based Teka Molino in 1938. His father and uncle, Herman and Eddie Pizzini, established Taco Hut in 1958.
The straightforward menu was aptly time-honored, providing San Antonio favorites like guacamole cups, bean rolls, puffy tacos, and signature gorditas. Pizzini did not take shortcuts, nixtamalizing corn on web site. It was, at first, a formulation for achievement.
Sadly, Pizzini confronted challenges from the get-go, together with a scarcity of parking and an out of doors eating area. The COVID-19 pandemic hit earlier than he might have fun his first yr. In 2022, he informed the San Antonio Present that provide availability and prices had been wreaking havoc on his enterprise.
Prior to now yr, the restaurant has twice appealed to the area people for help. The newest plea, on June 11, admitted most of the restaurant’s shortcomings. Regardless of the struggles, Pizzini expressed no bitter grapes.
“On a private notice, I’ll miss the fantastic group Lala’s has created with our genuine meals and pleasant service,” wrote the longtime San Antonio chef. “It has been a unprecedented expertise attending to know so lots of you and sharing my household’s legacy by means of our conventional Tex-Mex recipes.”
