Business & Merchant

Last Updated on Sunday, 01 September 2013 01:16

Brother and Sister Combination Maintain a Family Owned Restaurant at Uniontown Area Landmark
By Earl Bugaile

A road trip along US 40 between Uniontown and Cumberland, MD is arguably one of the most visually pleasing and historic trips one can make.
It’s especially true between the months of September and October, as fall colors create a breathtaking panorama, which attracts many hundreds of travelers to experience the change of seasons.

At the top of the mountain at Uniontown, another historic attraction has captured the appetites of visitors for many generations, in the form of Fabrizi’s Restaurant, located along Jumonville Road, about 1.5 miles off Route 40 at the summit. The restaurant is located in what was a former summer home owned by Nick and Adeleine Fabrizi. Nick owned an Italian restaurant in town called the “Tripoli”. The summer home served as a location to entertain friends and family during the summer months. As time passed the friends and family turned into guests and patrons, the house into a restaurant, and the food into time honored tradition. The location is now owned by the brother and sister team of Brad Thomas and Jennifer Richmond, but it maintains the family-owned atmosphere and quiet ambiance it had when it was owned by the Fabrizi family.

Taking a break at the outside seating area are new Fabrizi's Restaurant owners, Brad Thomas and Jennifer Richmond.

“It was a lifelong progression for me,” Thomas recalled over lunch at the restaurant on a sunny afternoon last month. “We grew up three houses down from here, and I used to work here during high school. I was probably 13 or 14 years old when I had my first encounter with the place. We had been playing basketball down the road and we decided to go inside because we were hungry.” The food instantly made an impact on him, “There was something that was just different, intriguing, I had never tasted anything quite like it, the taste was warm and inviting as a bowl of soup on a cold winter’s day. It made a significant impact on the way I viewed food from there on out”

Tucked away on Jumonville Road, Fabrizi's Restaurant offers a peaceful and inviting northern Italy appeal.

Thomas pointed to the exact table where he and his friends sat that day where they ordered lunch. “When it came time for the bill we didn’t have the money to pay. Jerry (Krofcheck) the owner at the time put us in the back peeling potatoes. Ever since then we became friends,” he recalled.

Thomas said he helped out at the restaurant during the summers and during busy times of the year. “We hung out with him after work, and he was very nice and fun to be around.”

One of the spacious dining areas inside Fabrizi's Restaurant.

After moving away for a short time, Thomas returned to Fabrizi’s in 2003 as a bartender, and told Krofchek (a nephew of original owner Nick Fabrizi) at the time that he would make it a life-long goal to buy the restaurant if he ever decided to sell. It happened in 2012, just as Jennifer and her fiancé were moving back to the area, after working elsewhere in the food industry.

Without missing a day in the transition, Brad and Jennifer assumed control of Fabrizi’s that same year, with the vision of maintaining the family atmosphere, and the home made selections the restaurant had become famous for since 1942. Their main focus has been on food quality and service. “We try very hard to ensure that we please our guests, we want them to not only enjoy the food, but also the staff that prepares and serves it. We want them to look forward to the service they receive as well as the food they order.

Seating located next to the detailed wall mural adds to the cozy atmosphere.

One of the most famous stories about Frabrizi’s occurred in the days prior to the restaurant owning a liquor license. Original owner “Nicky” Fabrizi would offer customers who were of legal age cups of “red coffee”, which was actually a homemade wine.

Brad and Jennifer bring their own skills to the ownership which would appear to be a winning formula.

A graduate of Johnson and Wales University in Virginia, Jennifer is a Navy veteran and is a chef. Her fiancé, Adam Thorpe, is also a chef from the Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts. Adam prepares most of the main dishes and all the home made sauces and pastas. Jennifer specializes in preparing the deserts. Brad, a Marine Corps veteran concentrates on the business and marketing end of Fabrizi’s.
Fabrizi’s offers a menu much like the one that has been provided by the restaurant for generations.

The dinner menu includes choices of appetizers, soups and salads and an array of home-made pastas and the restaurant’s signature sauces. They also offer a number of entrees from the grill, including steaks, breaded veal cutlets, pork chops Portobello mushrooms and more. It also includes an array of pasta entrees. Items on the menu marked with a signature “z” indicate they are made from scratch and hand-made at Fabrizi’s.

“All of our sauces are hand-made along with our salad dressings,” Jennifer said. “Our mozzarella is hand-pulled. Our appetizers are made from scratch, as well as our desserts. We make our own tiramisu, chocolate, caramel and cherry sauce and cheesecake. There’s not much we don’t make from scratch.”

For the first time in its history, Thomas and Richmond began offering a lunch menu beginning in July, which Jennifer said has begun to grow in popularity. The lunch menu also includes an assortment of home-made appetizers, soups and salads, pastas and enormous and delicious sandwiches. They include a meatball sub, Italian hoagie, steak sandwich, and Italian chicken sandwich, a chicken parmigana sandwich and an Italian BLT and their famous Fabrizi Sub, which is so large that part of it will be taken home for a meal later in the day.

Jennifer said Fabrizi’s tries to keep the portions large at a cost that is surprisingly affordable. “We try really hard to make sure that we’re offering an honest, higher quality product and serving it in a unique atmosphere.

Thomas and Richmond said business has grown substantially, especially from people who visit the Nemacolin Gaming Resort, and from the business community from Uniontown.

Fabrizi’s has also expanded its catering services, and continues to offer the restaurant as a venue for parties and special events.

The approach of autumn weather and more travelers along US 40 is expected to bring not only new customers, but continue to bring back the local patrons who have dined at Fabrizi’s over the years.

“We’re really not that far from places like Elizabeth and communities on Route 51,” Jennifer said. “We want to create a place where even large families can come for dinner as well as parties and anniversaries. We can do it well.”

Fabrizi’s is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:30 am until 9:00 pm. Reservations are recommended for parties of more than five guests.

Fabrizi’s is located 534 Jumonville Road, which is located at the summit along Route 40 above Uniontown. Information and menus are available at the website: www.fabrizis.com or by calling 724-437-3060.