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    Moretti’s Fast Casual Spin-Off “Palle” Coming Soon to The View on Fifth

    Tim Moretti has spent his entire life in Columbus restaurants. His grandparents owned restaurants, his parents owned restaurants, and he himself has owned and operated Moretti’s of Arlington since 2000. After 15 years, he’s ready to try something new: a casual meatball-centric concept known as Palle by Moretti.

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    “There’s so many fast casual restaurants popping up everywhere, and one thing we’ve noticed is that poor service is almost always expected,” explained Jami Householder, Tim’s fiancé and business partner. “The concept with Palle is fast casual, but it’s also a sit down restaurant atmosphere with excellent customer service.”

    Palle will offer five main types of meatballs with special rotating flavors, five sauces and 10 different sides for customers to customize a meal from. Meatballs will be served in sandwiches, on salads and on risotto. The menu will also include a variety of desserts (cookies, cheesecake and gelato) and a cocktail menu, and all breads and sauces will be made from scratch in-house.

    “Our Ohio Proud meats come from Cleveland, and Tim grinds meat in-house daily,” said Householder. “We want to take everything we’re doing here at Moretti’s and translate it over to Palle at a more affordable price point.”

    Palle is the first retail tenant to be announced in The View on Fifth development in the 5xNW neighborhood. The six-story 285-unit mixed-use apartment building is in the final phases of construction between Holly Avenue and Norton Avenue, which will bring an additional 25,000 square feet of ground floor retail frontage to Fifth Avenue. Palle will take up approximately 2000 to 2500 square feet of that space.

    “We reached out to CASTO about leasing space at The View on Fifth about nine or ten months ago,” explained Householder. “They’re very selective on who they want in that space, and really wanted something unique. We plan to be open for lunch, dinner and late night with plans to add a brunch menu in the future.”

    While Palle is certainly unique for Fifth Avenue, the concept is not too dissimilar to Downtown’s 1831 Tavern at 22 East Mound Street. That restaurant — which was originally known as Balls — was only open for a few months before closing in July.

    “I hate to say anything bad, and I’m sorry to see they didn’t make it, but can I understand why they’re not in business,” said Householder. “It seemed like they got away from the meatball concept, and I wasn’t a fan of the food. At the end of the day it’s all about the quality and service and atmosphere, and I think we’ll create all of those at Palle.”

    To assist with the restaurant’s build-out, Moretti launched a Kickstarter campaign this week with a goal of raising $20,000 to help fund the project.

    “We’re a small mom and pop operation with no corporate wheels behind us,” said Householder. “We don’t want to financially take away from our current restaurant, so the Kickstarter campaign is to help us with starting capital for our expenses.”

    She said that Palle is still slated to open, even if the crowdfunding effort is not a success. Construction on the restaurant is expected to start in October, with an opening planned in November.

    “That’s the goal,” said Householder. “It would be ideal to open in November, but but we’re at the mercy of permits and construction.”

    For more information, visit www.pallebymoretti.com.

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    Walker Evans
    Walker Evanshttps://columbusunderground.com
    Walker Evans is the co-founder of Columbus Underground, along with his wife and business partner Anne Evans. Walker has turned local media into a full time career over the past decade and serves on multiple boards and committees throughout the community.
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