Less than two weeks after closing because its lease was not renewed, a La Grange area restaurant that saw its business boom during the coronavirus pandemic has found a new home.
Enzo’s Pizza, 5396 S. La Grange Road in Countryside, right near the La Grange border, became an area favorite after people started raving about its Italian beef roll on social media, particularly on the La Grange Area Restaurant Take-out & Delivery Group Facebook page, which was started in March 2020 to encourage people to support La Grange area restaurants with carryout and deliver orders during the pandemic and now has more than 7,600 members.
Owner Ezno Marino, who had his La Grange Road business for about 17 years, was disappointed to lose his storefront, which has been sold and will be demolished to make way for a parking lot. He had planned to take some time off and then look for another location in the area.
Marino still plans to seek another location in, or nearby, La Grange. But an opportunity to join forces with two childhood friends means that Enzo’s will reopen sooner in Villa Park. Enzo’s Pizza will now be part of Crazy Pour Sports Bar, 105 E. North Ave., just west of Route 83.
“It’s about a 20-minute drive from La Grange, so I am hopeful we’ll still get some of our wonderful customers stopping in,” Marino said. “I do want to open again in the (La Grange) area, but this is a great opportunity right now.”
Marino, who grew up in Elmhurst, said his two childhood friends who have owned Crazy Pour Sports Bar for about seven years, reached out to him when they found out he had to close his restaurant.
“They said to let them know if I needed anything,” he said. “I really wasn’t planning to open again right away, but they already have so many things I can use, including a huge, commercial kitchen and walk-in freezers, which is something I didn’t have before.”
Marino said the extra freezer space will allow to him par bake many more items to have available for sale, including the beef roll.
“The only bad thing is that La Grange won’t be in the delivery zone,” he said. “We will have a separate entrance for carryout, or you can enter from the bar, and our food will be available in the bar, too.”
Marino said he plans to bring much of the working staff he had on La Grange Road with him to his new location.
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“I feel really good about that,” he said. “I have had a lot of great, dedicated people working and am pleased to be able to have this opportunity for them.”
Marino was open for about 17 year on La Grange Road, and La Grange resident Victoria Reed has been a fan, and a regular customer, since the beginning. She also was very pleased to learn that Marino is opening in Villa Park.
“That’s fantastic,” she said. “I’ll definitely go. I do a lot of my shopping in Villa Park, and it’s not far at all.”