The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Lorenzo’s Pizzeria plans location
Oberlin-based business coming to Broadway before 2024
To get closer to downtown Lorain’s events, Oberlin eatery Lorenzo’s Pizzeria will set up shop this year at 818 Broadway.
Although the shop has no set opening date yet, owneroperator Alison Cariglio expects to have things up and running within the year.
Cariglio will follow in the footsteps of her father, Larry, who opened the first Lorenzo’s location decades ago.
Sitting at 52 S. Main St. in Oberlin, the pizzeria has become a mainstay in and around Oberlin College, she said.
Cariglio said her passion for pizza, and therefore the family business, came from working in New York City pizza restaurants.
“I think that my story with pizza kind of continued when I moved to New York and started in some pizzerias there,” she said. “In 2010, my dad and I also kind of came up with this idea for a food truck.
“That’s when I really started to get involved, was with the pizza truck.”
The pizza truck carried the Lorenzo’s brand name into Lorain through the city’s various events, Cariglio said.
She noted that she also ran the shop’s catering service.
From the pizza truck and catering service, sprang the idea for a new location.
After researching quite a few locations, Cariglio said the family decided on downtown Lorain.
“We bought the building, I want to say it was 2022, at the start of the year,” she said. “A large reason we chose Lorain was the festivals we had been doing down there for the past I guess it’s been 10 or 11 years. We really saw the potential the city has.”
Over the course of the year, the family has worked on how to make the Lorain location distinct, yet familiar enough to the original in Oberlin.
The solution, Cariglio said, was to present customers with a new option.
“We’re still going to have a lot of the fan favorites on the menu, but in addition, we’ve added a wood-fire pizza oven,” she said.
The new wood-fire pizza is available on Sunday nights in Oberlin, Cariglio said.
Although the Lorain location project may take some time to come to fruition, she said the family believes the city will have their back.
“I’ve never met people who are more passionate about their city than people who are from Lorain,” Cariglio said.
The location likely will open by the end of the year, she said.
However, Cariglio said to be on the lookout for other pizza-related opportunities before the official grand opening.
“We were actually thinking that the most logical way to handle it might be to phase it open,” she said. “Start with some carryout, so that we can start getting it open sooner than later.
“Slices, so people can try the product. Full-blown opening … I would say within the year.”