Downtown Goldsboro restaurant closed
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on November 19, 2009 1:46 PM
Only a little more than a month after Pupetta's Italian restaurant catered the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp.'s annual dinner and awards banquet, owner Sal Coppola closed its doors.
DGDC executive director Julie Thompson said she was saddened when word that Pupetta's was no longer open for business reached her more than a week ago.
"We're going to miss Pupetta's," she said. "We love the food. We love the location."
But she and other downtown officials are not worried about the fate of 100 N. Center St., a spot Mrs. Thompson said has always been a prime business location. It was occupied by Billie's Restaurant several years previously.
"I think the location of Pupetta's, not Pupetta's itself, will always be one of the anchors downtown," she said.
And property owner David Weil is already courting several eateries that might be interested in relocating to the site, she said.
Weil was not available for comment by press time, but Mrs. Thompson said a combination of tough economic times and new opportunities led to Coppola's decision to move.
"With the economy, he had been struggling for a while. And he got an offer from a restaurant in High Point he just couldn't turn down," she said.
Several attempts to reach Coppola for confirmation of his reasons for closing Pupetta's failed.