The restaurant boom on Gravois continues as Eni’s Pizza prepares to open its doors later this month or early next month. The restaurant, located at 6203 Gravois, will specialize in wood-fired pizza.
“Everything here is made from scratch: the pizza dough, the sauce, the salad dressings," says co-owner Ibro Mehmetaj, who will run the restaurant alongside his wife, Shadije. "These are all my family’s recipes. My grandfather and father made pizza; my cousin operates a pizza place in Munich, Germany."
Ibro, who worked as a civil engineer in Kosovo before moving to the U.S., designed and built the space, which will seat 75 inside and 24 on the landscaped patio. The main dining room boasts a stone fireplace, a recessed light cove, and a hand-built bar with a La Marzocco coffee machine at one end. The restaurant will serve coffee and sweets from 8 a.m.–4 p.m., with dinner service starting at 4 p.m.
Before moving to the U.S., Shadije worked in Kosovo as a lawyer. When they first arrived in St. Louis 19 years ago, however, neither of them spoke English. “We worked from the moment we arrived—I packed boxes in a factory,” she recalls. “After I learned English, I worked eight years as a paralegal. But I tired of the law, so my husband and I both studied and became insurance brokers.”
Ibro also worked as a packer when they arrived and later supervised an injection-molding operation. “We put everything into the restaurant,” he says. Eni's Pizza gets its name from the couple’s 16-year-old son, Endrit, whose nickname is ‘Eni.’ “Our daughter, Endrita, is his twin," Ibro says. "Leart, our oldest son, is now 18.”
"Our children will be working here," adds Shadije, emphasizing the family-friendly atmosphere. "We’ll soon have all three in college—this is our plan to pay for tuition.”
Check the restaurant's Facebook page for forthcoming details about the restaurant's opening date.
