A downtown Durham pizzeria will close next month. There’s time for a goodbye pie.
After nearly a decade in business, a Durham pizzeria will close its doors before the end of the year. Downtown Durham’s Pompieri Pizza[1] announced Sunday night that it will close for good next month, with Dec.
10 as its last day of service. Pompieri opened in 2014 in a former fire house as part of the Bull City Burger family of restaurants owned by chef and restaurateur Seth Gross, which also includes Bull City Solera.
In an email to customers, Pompieri announced it had decided to close after being unable to strike a new lease agreement with the building’s landlord. “I want to thank you all for the last 10 years of making Neapolitan-style pizzas in Durham,” the email reads. “It has been a true privilege to make pizza for our community, to promotes great paying jobs, and to make people happy with food.” Pompieri is located at 102 City Hall Plaza, next door to another vacant restaurant space, the former Dos Perros Mexican restaurant on Mangum Street.
Pompieri made its name as one of Durham’s best Neapolitian-style pizzerias, cooking its pies in a blisteringly-hot 800 degree wood-burning brick oven. The pizzas were fresh and vibrant and diners would cut slices themselves at the table using scissors. The restaurant helped make cooking accessible for the next generation of pizza-eaters, with a “Build Your Own” pizza day for kids every Tuesday.
Gross declined to comment further on the closing beyond the restaurant’s email, but did express sadness over Pompieri’s closing.
The email suggested Pompieri’s closing may not be final, by calling it “The end…for now.” Gross said a possible move is something he’s exploring, but that there are no details at this time.
Pompieri gift cards will be honored at Gross’ other restaurants, Bull City Burger and Bull City Solera until March 31, 2024.
References
- ^ Pompieri Pizza (www.pompieripizza.com)