Pizza And Pan-Asian ... More EG Restaurant News

The former pizza place next to the old Butcher Block deli is going to be a pizza place once more. Al Olerio of North Kingstown is opening a brick oven pizza restaurant at 5637 Post Road, across from the Benny’s Plaza. The Town Council granted him a victualing license at their meeting Monday evening.

“I’ve been out of it for a long time,” Olerio said. After retiring recently from a sales job, “I decided I had to itch again.”

Cobblestone’s will serve thin-crust pizza and there will be table service as well as takeout, he said. He's got a pizza oven coming from Italy. “The pizza will be light – you don’t load it with toppings.”

Olerio is not applying for a liquor license. People can bring their own wine or beer, he said. While the space isn’t large, that’s OK with Olerio.

“I want something small so I can be hands on,” he said. He expects to open in two to three months.

The building right next door has also been leased.

Jacky Ko of Jacky’s Galaxy fame confirmed Thursday that he’s signed a lease for the former Butcher Block, former Cruisers building at 5647 Post Road.

Ko owns four Jacky’s pan-Asian-style restaurants already and his brother owns a fifth. Ko’s signature restaurant is Jacky’s Waterplace Park in downtown Providence. His other restaurants are in Cumberland, North Providence, and Bristol. His brother’s restaurant is in Johnston. Ko said he used to own Jacky’s Galaxy on Cowesett Avenue in West Warwick but sold that restaurant two years ago.

Ko said he’s still got a ways to go before he will be ready to open – he has not yet applied for any permits or licenses with the town. But he said the restaurant will serve the same mix of Southeast Asian, Chinese and Japanese fare featured at his other restaurants.

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