New-to-market Italian concept snaps up SouthPark location
Leo’s Italian Social will join the lineup at Piedmont Town Center.
The Ohio-based restaurant has signed a lease for a roughly 8,200-square-foot space — formerly home to Brio. It is expected to open in the fourth quarter.
This is the first venture for Chef Art Pour Restaurant Group in Charlotte. It expects to invest north of $1 million into that venture, says Bret Adams, founder at Chef Art Pour.
"I think we'll be a nice alternative to some of the other Italian places that are out there," he says.
Leo’s — named for Adams' youngest nephew — aims to be a neighborhood gathering place, dishing up chef-driven cuisine with wine and cocktails. Acoustic live music will be featured.
"The food is just super fresh. Some are classic dishes we threw a twist on and some are new," he says.
The Italian-centered menu offers shareables such as short rib ravioli, beef carpaccio, calamari and sacchetti — pasta purses served with a charred pepper cream.
Chef specials include scallops with blistered tomato and asparagus risotto, veal parmesan and a filet served with fingerling potatoes and broccolini, as well as a variety of pasta dishes from carbonara to bolognese.
There’s also wood-fired pizzas and entrees such as chicken piccata, eggplant parmesan or lasagna.
Lunch combos allow diners to mix and match soup or salad with pasta, pizza or sandwich. Brunch will be served on Saturday and Sunday.
Sweets such as tiramisu, cannolis and gelato round out the menu.
Adams says construction should start this month.
The design will incorporate touches of nickel, Carrara marble bar tops, reclaimed wood in grays and whites, and handblown-glass light fixtures. Black-and-white photos will don the walls.
Sara Hogan with Lincoln Harris represented the landlord on the lease transaction.
“It is a good fit for Piedmont Town Center because there is still a demand for Italian cuisine and with the focus of Leo’s Italian Social to become a “neighborhood gathering space," we think that it bookends nicely with the success that Legion Brewing has seen in the SouthPark area,” Hogan says.
Adams says he's not ruling out additional locations of Leo's in the Charlotte market moving forward.
Jennifer Thomas
Senior Staff Writer
Charlotte Business Journal