COLUMN: Luigi’s changes hands, changes little

Turnover’s a way of restaurant life, and we’re not just talking parties at tables.

Sooner or later you’re going to find somebody new behind the counter of a place you thought you knew like your own kitchen.

LUIGI’S CARRIES ON

It’s especially big news when a 50-year-old edifice changes hands after its most recent occupant — Luigi’s Family Restaurant & Pizzeria — has been around for more than 40 years.

It was 50 years ago that President Richard M. Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal and the first personal computer hit the hobbyist market.

Closer to home, Fishermen’s Village hadn’t even broken ground. On the Port Charlotte side, Murdock as we know it didn’t exist.

And a 6,000-square-foot Port Charlotte icon first went up at 401 S. Tamiami Drive, today’s 3883 Tamiami Trail.

Word has it the place was once a bowling alley. It’s certainly big enough.

But at one point early on, it became and remained a restaurant.

Once described as “Port Charlotte’s fashionable dining atmosphere for the entire family,” Nagy’s International Inn boasted swag curtains, brass lanterns, an arch-covered stage for live music (now a “stage” for Luigi’s pizza guys), and swanky souvenir matchboxes with stamped-metal covers.

For awhile in the 1980s, it was a Smitty’s Beef Room.

After the turn of the 21st century, it was briefly the Stage Door Restaurant until Ed and Ellen Piedmont, who’d had their eyes on the place for some time, bought it.

Ed and Ellen had started Luigi’s years before, at first in the Charlotte Harbor Publix plaza, where Hurricane Charley would destroy it.

Luigi’s, soon under the management of son-in-law David Coffee, went on to occupy its current home for the next 20 years, gathering nearly 20 Best of Charlotte and Harbor’s Hottest awards.

The Piedmonts sold Luigi’s in May, putting its legacy in the hands of a new owner who, for 15 years, had saved every penny for just such a growth opportunity.

A hands-on franchisee from scenic Banff, Alberta, Jay Patel says he now feels responsible for keeping Luigi’s the special family-owned restaurant that it’s always been.

This means a lot to fans like Lori Wilson of Port Charlotte, whose grandkids turned into pizza makers one recent Thursday.

“We absolutely love what Luigi’s represents to us,” said Wilson. “Good, wholesome atmosphere with amazing food and impeccable service.”

“I’ve been here 20 years, so things don’t change for me,” said longtime Luigi’s pizza man Tim Soyke, who’s tossed pies for 42 years, starting at his father’s upstate New York pizza parlor when he was 12.

With manager Dwon Stellwag, Soyke, and many other back- and front-of-house staff holding tenures of 10 to 30 years, Luigi’s has a solid crew.

“You hear ‘new owner’ and you get scared,” Soyke admitted. “We all had our staff meeting about the new owner, and we like Jay a lot. We’re here to keep a good product and a tradition going and make money. We all work really well together.”

They even know each other’s birthdays.

“It’s a good team,” said Patel, who plans to rely on their knowhow. “Without them, we’d fail. They’re my first priority.”

After welcoming the new owner and his family to town, the first words out of old customers are about bringing back the $7, line-out-the door, all-you-can-eat Wednesday lunch and dinner buffet, which showcased 10 different specialty pizzas, plus pasta, salad bar and drink.

No way it’ll cost $7 again anytime soon, and a new buffet would call for a heavy remodel of the old banquet room rather than keeping the former bar location. But it’s on Patel’s to-do list, right after mastering all the scratch recipes for which Luigi’s is known.

“With such an old building, we have other priorities, too,” he said.

First up, next summer, are two weeks of renovations including paint, touchup repairs, and plumbing and electrical upgrades.

Meanwhile, Luigi’s will keep up its famous specials, for lunch, dinner and daily, eat in or carry out.

One first-time visitor from Chicago, enjoying three Wednesday cheese slices, wings and bread, said, “Everything’s delish!”

One popular offer has kids not only eating free (with every adult entrée) on Thursdays, but also making their own single-topping pizza and picking out a prize to take home.

This summer also features two-for-$33 entrées plus garlic bread, soup or salad, and shared appetizer or dessert. Monday has half-price pizza; Tuesday, buy one large pizza and get a free cheese pizza; Wednesday, $1.50 slices until 4 p.m., 75-cent wings, and prime rib half-sub for $8; Thursday, kids’ deals and $9 hamburger and fries; Friday to Sunday, prime rib or New York strip dinner with two sides plus soup or salad.

Every month they’ll also offer a special that’s all Patel’s idea: Chef’s Special pizza, like this month’s Hot Honey Pepperoni Pizza with sriracha.

“That’s our same pizza from over 40 years, but with a little bit of Jay kicking in,” said Soyke. “If he’s got ideas, we want them. All of us old timers love him.”

Luigi’s Family Restaurant & Pizzeria ($-$$, 0), 941-624-3535, 3883 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte, is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, 3 to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.