Years after owner John “Sparky” Pearson refurbished the old Argyle fire station on Hwy 377 into Earl’s 377 Pizza, the eatery reopened on Monday as “Earl and Isabella’s Taverna” following weeks of renovations.
The renovations were supposed to be simple: move around the women’s restroom, the dishwashing area and make space for a secondary kitchen while upgrading some interior decorations and light fixtures.
Krit Enciso, the president and COO of Earl’s owner Radical Hospitality Group, said the 10 days the renovations were supposed to take turned into five weeks.
On top of that, the secondary kitchen that will allow the restaurant to make a more than a dozen new food items, including fried items like fried calamari, isn’t available for use until proper inspections can be done. That process is expected to be done the first week of August.
Eventually, Enciso said ownership decided to go ahead and reopen the pizza joint while finishing some of the other, smaller renovations.
Inside, the seating has been updated and a lot of new décor has been added, such as tabletop flowers and some new, dimmer, softer light fixtures.
The concept is to allow give “Izabella,” the wife of “Earl” in the fictional backstory of the restaurant, to take over more of the store’s interior design and decoration.
Outside, a portion of the patio seating is currently being enclosed and covered to become an area for private parties and events.
Enciso said some new dishes were already added to the menu. As far as desserts go, the tiramisu is now made in-house.
There are also new wines and cocktails available on the drink menu.
Enciso said a lot of the changes were intended to bring some more Italian authenticity to the restaurant. She said the restaurant will have a playlist of Italian music playing.
