The General Store restaurant, whose chef Gillian Clark and her partner Robin Smith were renowned for serving up a side of rudeness with the fried chicken, closed in March after about two years in business. And in its place at 6 Post Office Road is coming Pacci’s Trattoria and Pasticceria, owned by Spiro Gioldasis, the landlord of the historic building and also the owner of Pacci’s Neapolitan Pizzeria and the general manager of Mrs. K’s Toll House, both in Silver Spring.
Gioldasis’ new place, which he hopes to open by the end of June, will offer fresh pasta dishes, a few pizzas, sandwiches and homemade Italian pastries. “It’s basically an everyday casual eatery,” says Gioldasis. “Fresh food at a reasonable price.”
Dinner entrees, which will be under $20, will be conceived by Naples-born Rosario Granieri, currently the executive chef at Pacci’s Neapolitan Pizzeria. “He’ll be doing a lot of his mom’s and grandma’s recipes,” says Gioldasis, who added that two apprentices will be firing the pizzas at the Georgia Avenue restaurant while Granieri oversees the two kitchens.
Gioldasis is also negotiating to hire two well-known pastry chefs to prepare the Italian desserts. The restaurant will have table service and an espresso bar, and be open from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. everyday. Carryout will be offered as well.
After The General Store closed, Gioldasis said he had the space up for lease or sale for a few weeks. “There was some activity, but not what I was looking for,” he said. And since he said he had “already lost so much money with the previous tenants,” he decided to launch his own concept.
When Clark and Smith’s restaurant closed, they posted a note on their Facebook page saying: “For the entire 4+ years we’ve been involved with this building we have been bullied by the landlords. The landlord has not paid his back taxes and the county is taking back the building.”
But Gioldasis said that for much of the time the restaurant was in business, he was either paid no rent or incomplete rent. “If they didn’t pay me rent, how was I going to pay the taxes?” he asked. Meanwhile, Clark is working on a new restaurant, The Kitchen on K Street in the Loree Grand at Union Station. “I wish their new landlords a lot of luck,” Gioldasis said.
