By John Schwing

WESTPORT — The site of a shuttered downtown restaurant, for three decades a favorite Westport dining destination, may return to the menu of culinary options with permission to operate more hours than previously allowed.

The property at 36 Riverside Ave., formerly home to Da Pietro’s restaurant, had been restricted to operating from 6 p.m. to midnight under a variance approved for the site in 1989.

The tiny restaurant closed in July 2020, with owners Pietro and Janine Scotti saying their business could not overcome challenges faced during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pietro Scotti, represented by architect William Achilles, asked the Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday to lift the restriction limiting operational hours to make the property more appealing to new prospective owners.

It was a request the board approved unanimously.

The property — described as “land-locked” by Achilles — has no on-site parking and is located close by the notorious Riverside Avenue intersection with Post Road West and Wilton Road, a heavily trafficked bottleneck often referred to as the worst in town.

Achilles told board members that no neighborhood property owners have agreed to lease parking spots to be set aside for a new restaurant at 36 Riverside Ave. Other than severely limited street parking on Riverside, he noted the only other nearby street parking is available on a portion of Cross Street.

But Planning and Zoning Director Mary Young told ZBA members there is a little-known allotment of 10 public parking spaces, within 500 feet of the property, at 6 Wilton Road. Those spaces, Young said, which are time-restricted during daytime, also could be used for potential customers of the former Da Pietro’s site.

She also informed the board the operating-hours restriction for the Riverside property — agreed to by the owners in 1989 since they planned to serve only dinner — is “unique” in town.

The restaurant Arezzo, located across Riverside Avenue from the Da Pietro’s site, has no similar restriction on daytime operating hours.

The property is small, board members also noted during their brief discussion of the application, so daytime customers should not overly burden the limited parking in the area.

Da Pietro’s offered about 10 tables for diners, as did its predecessor at the site, Pearl’s.

ZBA Chairman Jim Ezzes and several other board members, before agreeing to lift the restriction, fondly recalled memorable dining experiences at the restaurant.

John Schwing, the Westport Journal consulting editor, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.