Figs, the quaint BYOB in Fairmount, is closing after 25 years, and a new restaurant is moving in

“This is like show business,” chef Salvatore De Cristofaro was saying Friday afternoon, sweeping his hand around Figs, his Fairmount BYOB, in the quiet hours before dinner service. “You’ve got to leave when you’re on top.”

Chef Sal, as he’s known, has sold Figs to Landi Prendi, a longtime private chef and cooking instructor. Figs’ last day will be Sunday, and Prendi plans to open it as Valentina Italian Ristorante by the end of May.

The sale caps a nearly six-decade kitchen career for De Cristofaro, who declined to give his age. He came to the United States in 1967 as a teenager from San Paolo di Civitate, in Apulia.

“I had a ticket, $14, and a big dream,” he said. His first restaurant job was at Pavio’s in Northeast Philadelphia’s Somerton section, where he started as a cook and became executive chef within a few years.

Over the decades, De Cristofaro opened or operated more than 20 restaurants throughout the region, including Pinocchio Ristorante, Kristopher, San Remo, Ristorante De Cristofaro, Avanti, Arrivaderci, Sandro, and Chef Salvatore. In addition to cooking White House dinners for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, he cooked for future President Donald Trump while executive chef at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, a post he began in 1999.

“I got everything I ever dreamed of,” De Cristofaro said. “We’re talking about a kid who came from a village in Italy and ended up being a guest chef for the president of the United States.”

Figs — with 45 seats inside and about 20 outside, tucked into a rowhouse neighborhood — was different from his previous restaurants. Most obvious is that the cuisine is not Italian. Chef Mustapha Rouissiya opened Figs in 2001, on the former site of Cafe Flower Shop, with a menu inspired by his native Morocco. De Cristofaro said he decided not to change too much when he bought the restaurant in 2015 “because it was working.” Gradually, he shifted the menu to include a broader Mediterranean accent.

“I have never had a restaurant where people clean the dishes like they do here,” De Cristofaro said. “The lamb shank [tagine] sells like crazy. The [sesame-crusted] salmon sells. I always make a joke with the waiters: ‘If I were the dishwasher, my job would be very easy because the dishes come back clean.’”

De Cristofaro said the place still charmed him, partly because the open kitchen put him in front of customers. “This ended up being my baby,” he said. “I love this location. I come in before we open, sit in the dining room and do my work on the computer. With these windows, it’s like you’re in Paris.”

De Cristofaro also said he has no plans to open another restaurant. “It’s a tough job,” he said. “It’s not just about you. You have to have a family that supports you, a wife who understands the time you put into it. The restaurant is not your girlfriend. It’s your job. You have to be there.”

He has also developed a new career as a TV chef, shooting a series of videos under the banner “That’s Amore With Chef Salvatore” for Eat This TV on Roku. He calls that “the cherry on the cake of my career.”

De Cristofaro is turning over the corner of 25th and Meredith Streets to first-time restaurateur Prendi, 54, who is from Albania and lived in England before coming to the United States in 2001.

Prendi, a personal chef who also leads cooking classes from his home, said he would remake the dining room into an Italian BYOB named for his mother, Valentina.

“Everything will be made from scratch — pasta, pizza, focaccia, you name it,” Prendi said. He also plans Monday cooking classes and a menu including lamb shank, duck breast, seafood pasta, carpaccio, tiramisu, and crème brûlée.

Valentina’s hours will be 5 to 11 p.m. daily, with brunch Saturday and Sunday.

Billy Creagh of National Realty Commercial represented De Cristofaro, and Emilio DiCicco represented Prendi.