Less than a year after opening, Pecorino’s Italian Restaurant in Chichester has closed its doors. The eatery off Route 28 featured vibrant stripes of green, white and red lining — the colors of the Italian flag — promising fresh pizza and cheesy pollo parmigiana.
Owner Julian Pecorino assumed leadership over the location after Diomedes Restaurant shuttered last winter.
“I took it over with the premise that if I can find someone to take it over in the meanwhile, that’d be great,” he said.
Pecorino began running both of Paul Diomedes’s eateries, JJ Goodwins and Diomedes Restaurant, in addition to owning over two dozen businesses, he said, including multiple Zoo Health Clubs. Before Diomedes Restaurant, Dominick’s Pizza, Pasta and Things, which was also an Italian restaurant, ran for many years in the same location.
In September, Pecorino’s posted a closing message to its customers on social media: “We gave this restaurant everything we could and tried to keep our doors open for as long as possible. Unfortunately, it has reached a point where continuing to operate is simply no longer financially sustainable,” the message stated.
Although describing himself as “not a restaurant guy,” Pecorino took it upon himself to continue the restaurant, with the sole goal of keeping the staff previously working at Diomedes.
“The most important thing to me is the community,” he said.
With his friends and family in mind, he kept Pecorino’s running for over six months.
“All these employees are people from town, whether they’re kids that my kids are friends with, or they’re the moms that I know, who I’ve known for 17 years,” he said.
But the restaurant business became too difficult to manage.
Pecornio also said that running a restaurant like Pecorino’s, which serves authentic Italian food, is explicitly different from running a bar like JJ Goodwins.
“Restaurants are only successful if the owners can run it and cook,” he said. “Bars are totally different. Fried food isn’t elegant cuisine; you don’t need a professional cook to put something in a fryer.”
In its closing message, Pecorino’s announced that a Greek restaurant would be moving into the space.
“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us,” the restaurant wrote. “We hope you will welcome the new restaurant and support this family just as warmly as you supported ours.”
It is unclear when this restaurant will be opening its doors for business.
