Pizza Fresca is coming to a long-vacant restaurant space on Chestnut St.
Aldo Lamberti is bringing a casual version of Positano Coast and Caffe Aldo Lamberti to a larger space where he will offer an extensive grab-and-go food selection.
Closed for more than three years, the restaurant space at 707 Chestnut St. will see a new tenant. Aldo Lambertiwill open Pizza Fresca, a casual version of his more polished Positano Coast and Caffe Aldo Lamberti, perhaps as soon as next month.
It’s a move, in a way. Lamberti operated Pizza Fresca at 703 Chestnut St. from late 2016 until it closed last month. (It opened in 2015 under Marco Iannuzzi, owner of Luigi’s Pizza Fresca in Fairmount.)
That end of the block is desolate with the closing of Pizza Fresca and the demise earlier this year of Souped Up next door, at 705 Chestnut. The pandemic has also cut foot traffic in the neighborhood with the idling of a large office building at 615 Chestnut St. and the nearby Independence National Historical Park.
Lamberti plans an extensive grab-and-go section and much more seating, when indoor dining is allowed again.
The space at 707 Chestnut, once a dollar store, housed a series of restaurants since its renovation as a restaurant in 2007. First was 707, a bistro, which lasted two years. Then came the Jose Garces restaurants Chifa and Rosa Blanca, which closed in 2015. It also housed a short-lived diner called Nico’s.