August 28th at 5:30pm The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Penello’s Italian Cuisine will have a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand opening of Penello’s Italian Cuisine located at 4217 Lafayette St. The hours will be Wednesday-Thursday 10:30am until 9pm, Friday-Saturday from 10am until 10pm, and Sunday’s from 11am to 5pm. For more information you can call them at 850-546-5200. After the ribbon cutting on the 28th they will have their grand opening with the first dinner service being served at 6pm. The public is invited to help celebrate this occasion.
Penollo’s is owned by Arty, Paula, and son Bryan who will be cooking New York Style Italian Cuisine from family recipes passed down over time. The family was born and raised in New York where Arty worked for the transit authority. Arty and Paula owned some property in Compass Lake and in 2006 someone made them an offer. So the family decided to come to the area and take a look at their investment. During the visit they fell in love with the area and moved here in July of 2006. Bryan’s love of cooking developed early in life and continued into high school where he was part of the culinary program at Marianna High School for 3 years and later at Gulf Coast State College. Bryan is not the only one in the family with culinary experience. Dad Arty operated a successful catering business for 10 years serving a wide variety of events.
The sauces they will be cooking will take between 12-24 hours to prepare. They will be sweetened with natural ingredients, no sugar, and very little salt. They plan to have New-York style cheesecake that stands 2 1/2 inches tall. They are focused on doing business locally. They are working with Southern Craft Creamery to create a specialized surprise ice cream for the restaurant. They will have zucchini and squash noodles to provide healthier options as well. The owners plan to server locally grown vegetables for side dishes. Wine and beer will be available.
