Indianapolis favorite Iozzo’s Garden of Italy is bringing housemade pasta, custom wine and seafood to downtown Franklin. Officials say the upscale Italian restaurant is a feather in Franklin’s cap as the city continues its quest to make downtown a regional destination.
The restaurant is opening at 351 E. Jefferson Street, next to the railroad tracks and across from Hoosier Cupboard Ice Cream and Candy. The building itself is a success story, as Franklin Development Corporation renovated it in 2016 after it had been vacant for about 15 years, said Krista Linke, the city’s director of community development.
After the building was finished, it was used as office space for contractors and engineers working on downtown Franklin projects. With those projects now wrapped up, the building became available to lease, Linke said.
After negotiating the terms with city officials, Iozzo’s owner Katie Harris and business partner Elif Odzemir leased the space from FDC. They are preparing to renovate the space with a full restaurant build-out, Harris said. The restaurant is expected to open in early 2024, she said.
The roughly 3,500-square-foot restaurant will seat about 99 guests, with 79 seats at tables and 20 seats at the bar. Iozzo’s on Jefferson will be hiring 20 full-time and 15 part-time employees, with plans to serve lunch Monday through Friday and dinner seven days a week.
Family restaurant
Iozzo’s Garden of Italy, located at 946 S. Meridian St, Indianapolis, is the second Iozzo family restaurant to bring Italian cuisine to central Indiana families. Harris revived the family’s restaurant tradition in 2009 at its current location in the Old Southside neighborhood after an 83-year hiatus. A tragic incident closed the first Iozzo’s iteration in 1940.
The incident was a bar fight for her great aunt’s honor that ended tragically and forced the restaurant to close. It is memorialized in custom wines that are named Santoroa’s Sangiovese, Dominic’s “The Incident” and Mary’s Melody, for Iozzo’s founder Santora Iozzo, his son Dominic and daughter Mary. The wines are made by Midnight Cellars in Paso Robles, California.
The Indy location is a favorite for celebrations like birthdays, anniversaries and graduations, Harris said. She expects the Franklin location to attract the same crowd and bring her family’s traditions to a new audience.
“I think the people Franklin really are excited. We posted on social media (Sunday), and then (we got) nothing but great responses. So we’re very excited and look forward to opening up and operating Iozzo’s in Franklin for a long time,” Harris said.
Iozzo’s on Jefferson will have all the trappings of upscale Italian fare, from housemade pasta and decadent desserts to custom wine and aged cocktails. The menu will feature Iozzo’s classics and a full bar.
“Our mission statement has always been to provide the finest and Italian cuisine and wine to the families of Indianapolis. We do that by providing an upscale and memorable dining experience,” Harris said. “So there’ll be white tablecloths, there’ll be proper service. It’s a course dinner … when you’re in an Italian restaurant there should be bread and salads and pasta, and all those things will be the same down at the Franklin location.”
Why Franklin
Harris grew up in Greenwood attending Our Lady of the Greenwood School and Roncalli High School. She spent a lot of time in Franklin as a child and her parents, Roger and Lonnie Cummings, regularly took her to movies at the Historic Artcraft Theatre.
Seeing that sense of community coming back to Franklin’s downtown and its regional draw for tourism, she thought it was the perfect place to open another Iozzo’s.
“When we were looking at potentially opening new restaurants, we wanted to do something that was far enough away from our current location, but could still bring new clients in,” Harris said. “But then also service a lot of our guests that come to Iozzo’s and those that maybe don’t want to go downtown Indianapolis. So (this) give(s) them another opportunity to go to downtown Franklin.”
FDC’s building was coming available just when Harris wanted to make the move. City officials offered up several possible locations to check out, but this one stood out. Harris could envision the restaurant in the space when she toured it, she said.
The Iozzo’s proposal was one of several the FDC considered in a competitive lease proposal process, Linke said. The FDC decided to award the lease a couple of months ago and had been working out the details with Iozzo’s until recently, she said.
FDC is a nonprofit entity powered by Franklin Redevelopment Commission funding that purchases and restores properties and provides facade grants to property owners. Income from the lease from Iozzo’s will be used to fund FDC’s operating expenses, Linke said.
The parking situation
There is limited onsite parking, but there are several city lots nearby that should be able to meet customer demand, Harris said. That includes parking on Water Street and Depot Street, at the Boys and Girls Club and public spaces along Jefferson Street.
“Parking is, you know, one of those things about downtown Franklin. You just kind of park and walk a few blocks ..,” Harris said. “With those free parking lots, and those just outside the college, and the street parking that is available, there’ll be plenty of spots for people.”
The city is also planning to add two-hour parking on Crowell Street from Jefferson Street to King Street, which is not specifically for Iozzo’s but will be open for their customers, Linke said. Plans to add parking in this area had been on the city’s radar for a while and this project gave officials a push to move ahead with the plans, she said.
