Bitter Closure Leads Replacement for Sheffield's Pompei

After an unexpected closure in December, Pompei Pizza will soon be replaced by City Dough, a new Italian restaurant and bakery.

Located at 2955 N. Sheffield Ave. in next door Lake View, just steps from the Wellington Avenue Brown Line station, the 5,300-square-foot building is owned by Loukas Development, but the restaurant is being developed by a third party.

A source with the project says it will be open soon, but could not give an exact date.

While representatives with Loukas Development couldn't share any details on the project, the business already launched its website. According to the site, City Dough will be a fast-casual Italian-American restaurant and bakery:

“Menu items will include focaccia-style pizza, pasta dishes with vegetables, meats and fish, soups and salads,” the website reads. “Additionally, there will be a bakery component. The bakery menu will include tiramisu, ricotta cheesecake, biscotti, danishes and other irresistible sweets. City Dough will have delivery service and catering options.”

But issues with Pompei’s closure continue, says former owner Ralph Davino. In 2004, Davino sold the business rights to the restaurateur behind DMK Burger Bar and Fish Bar across the street. As a part of the deal, Davino kept his name on the paperwork for eight years while the new team managed the restaurant.

After first clearing it with his litigators, Davino said he’s suing the former managing group.

“Over the life of the eight years they had it, it progressively got worse for them,” Davino said. “He opened DMK and the Fish Bar, which are still open, and my restaurant closed. They took a business that was doing tremendous and ran it into the ground. … I’m very bitter. They tried to destroy a name that was almost 100 years old.”

Davino says when he was approached by the other owners to buy Pompei, they entered into a five-year deal where he would still hold the legal paperwork, and the new owners would pay him interest to do so. At the end of the five years in 2009, when the recession hit, they came back to Davino and asked for a three-year extension.

Davido says he signed the paperwork, but the new contract didn't include the former rule where he would collect interest or royalty payments like the previous one.

"At the end of the next three years, they went bankrupt and screwed me out of $3 million," Davino said. "They couldn't make it and ran my name into the ground."

David Morton, owner of DMK Burger Bar, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Davino, who still owns two other Pompei Pizza locations, says he may open another restaurant in Lake View in the future.

At this time, the business license for City Dough reports the restaurant will not serve alcohol and will employ 20 people. The owners are already accepting resumes on their website.

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