Cape Girardeau 'institution' gets a new, old look

Customers visiting Pagliai's Pizza & Pasta restaurant, at 1129 Broadway, will enjoy the same great pizza in a new environment.

Owners Ron and Vivian Bohnert reopened the restaurant Tuesday, considered by some an institution in Cape Girardeau, after a five-week hiatus for remodeling the inside of the restaurant.

Ron Bohnert said he's redecorated twice in the past and the third time he did a full-scale remodeling, gutting walls and replacing electrical wiring and plumbing throughout.

"We put in 16-hour days to get it done," he said.

Vivian Bohnert designed the new look, he said.

Gone are the black leather booths and formica table tops, replaced with red booths and oak table tops.

Also gone is the vintage black and gold wallpaper on the exterior walls. Now those walls are brick and bedecked with colorful artwork.

Oak wainscot paneling covers the interior walls that were once formica. Even the ceiling has become a focal point, with some areas recessed and panelled in soundproofing material reminiscent of the stamped copper panels of old.

New Tiffany lighting is featured throughout the restaurant.

Ron Bohnert said about the only original item in the 3,700-square-foot restaurant is the flooring.

The whole appearance is reminiscent of what it might have looked like in the 1920s, he said.

He was inspired to change the appearance after he saw old photographs of the outside of the building when it was a grocery store and gas station.

By reconfiguring the entrance to its original 1968 design, Bohnert said he is able to seat about 10 more people in the restaurant and increase tables to 25.

Now, instead of entering along the west wall, customers arrive through the center of the restaurant, which Bohnert said is better for staff to see and help them.

People were pleased with the revisions, he said.

"I told them it was going to change completely and people were surprised with the changes," he said.

Bohnert fell in love with Pagliai's in 1968 when he got a job there the first day the restaurant opened. He spent his high school years working at the pizzeria.

"I was just fascinated with it," he said. "I always said I was going to buy it and bought it 10 years ago."

The original pizza recipe has never changed, he said, although he's added a few new pizzas, appetizers and pasta dishes over the years.

The restaurant has always been popular, catering to families, he said.

"People are so familiar with us they refill their own drinks and if they need a fork they just get up and get one," he said.

The restaurant employs 25 to 30 people, from wait staff to cooks and on weekends at least 12 people are working, he said.

Some employees start at 7:30 a.m. to start prep work, which continues throughout the day, Bohnert said.

"Everything we do is from scratch," he said. "The pizza sauce, the cheese, the dough. The meat we season ourselves. It just takes time."

Pagliai's has maintained the family name even though it changed hands four times before he bought it, he said.

When it came time to do the extensive remodeling, which Bohnert said he had planned to do eventually, he didn't consider relocating.

"Everybody knows us right here," he said.

Bohnert said it is the quality environment and food that keeps bringing customers back and that has been his goal since he opened the restaurant.

"They know day in and day out they're going to get the same pizza," he said of his customers.

Pagliai's is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and from 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The restaurant also offers lunch hours from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

carel@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127