More than fIve years after closing his popular Enoteca Marcello’s Wine Bar and Café in the Southdowns Shopping Center on Perkins Road, Gene Todaro is bringing the restaurant back to the same space, which has been home to a string of short-lived eateries ever since Marcello’s departed.
“We’re thrilled,” says Todaro, who also operates Marcello’s restaurants on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans and in Lafayette. “It’s kind of interesting how it worked out.”
The new Marcello’s will be similar to the former one but a little more casual, Todaro says. The Italian-inspired menu also will be similar to what local diners remember, but will include other types of dishes, vegetarian options and shared plates.
“We don’t want to be just Italian,” he says.
Todaro, whose family opened the first Marcello’s in Lafayette more than 30 years ago, moved into the Baton Rouge market in 2009 with the Southdowns location and did well there. He decided to close the restaurant in 2012, however, to concentrate on opening the New Orleans location.
“I had this lust to try my hand in New Orleans,” he says. “It’s sort of a credibility thing in the culinary world. You have to prove yourself in New Orleans, plus we had a great opportunity to buy a building on St. Charles Avenue so I knew even if the restaurant failed I’d have a good real estate investment.”
The restaurant didn’t fail, and more than four years later Todaro and his chef and partner in the venture continue to operate it. In the meantime, however, he decided to re-enter the Baton Rouge market, in part because his wife and younger son had moved back here, where his son preferred school.
“They were here and I was in New Orleans with my older son,” he says. “But now that my older son is in college it made sense for me to come back to Baton Rouge to be with the rest of the family.”
Todaro will split his time between the restaurants in Lafayette, New Orleans and Baton Rouge. He’s optimistic he will do well in the Southdowns location, which, subsequent to Marcello’s departure, has housed Romacelli, Portico and Table Kitchen & Bar.
“My customers have been loyal,” he says. “They’ll come eat at the New Orleans restaurant and invariably ask me to come back.”
The Southdowns space has been vacant since early this year, when Table closed. In March, Phil’s Oyster Bar owners Jordan and Anthony Piazza announced they would lease the space and develop a second restaurant in the shopping center, but they later decided against the venture.
Todaro hopes Marcello’s will be open by Mardi Gras.
—Stephanie Riegel
