The Little Building That Could:

The little building on the corner of McHenry and Fyffe Avenues has literally been in service of its community since its inception.  Originally a Sohio, “McHenry’s only One-Stop Service Station” was born at 3231 McHenry Avenue in 1932; it operated as the only service station for the East Westwood community until the early 1970’s when its transformation into one of the first LaRosa’s franchises began.  Aunt Dena’s Pizza Recipe, as the oral tradition goes, was to makes its way across the west side and become a staple hot-food destination for a generation of families.

After 20 years of serving fresh, hot pizza and hoagies to a desperately underserved community, the little building on McHenry found itself changing names to Scarlato’s Pizza, named after the franchise founder, Rudolph Scarlato.  Rudy’s nephew, David Scarlato inherited the restaurant and kept the tradition going until his decision to retire in the middle of 2020.

As a customer and neighbor, Will and Tony were approached to keep the tradition alive.  In August of 2021 they jumped at the chance for a Pandemic-Pivot which had already started with Will’s boutique, fresh baked-goods business: English Woods Bakery.

English Woods Bakery joined with Scarlato’s Pizza and are continuing the nearly 100 year tradition of serving the community.  Fresh, made-to-order, hot food has seamlessly blended with a pantry of delicious pastries, breads, and ice cream offerings.

Our Story Starts with Cookies

By the end of 2019, Tony was toiling away in corporate-America as a project manager while Will was successfully balancing his commercial acting, musical theatre, and opera career.  Baking had re-blossomed as passion for Will during the times between rehearsal, auditions, and performances.  A large group of hungry artists at rehearsals made for a willing group of taste-testers as he perfected his recipes.  He landed on an incredible recipe of dark chocolate cookies with browned butter, white chocolate chips, and finished with Malden salt that were ultimately called “Opera cookies”.  This was to be just a start of the tasty treats that were created out of their home kitchen.

As the world ground to a halt at the start of The Pandemic, so did the entertainment industry along with Will’s burgeoning career.  His Pandemic Sour Dough Era moved him quickly into a home-baking and delivery business and thus began English Woods Bakery.  His delicious, sweet bakes and savory breads were a hit that kept him moving forward as the world held its breath and grieved its losses.

In a strange twist of fate, the owner of the little pizza place across the street from their home would approach Tony in the parking lot.  A quick wave turned into “have you ever thought of buying a restaurant?” The initial answer was “no” as Will had just embarked on a journey to help open The Bread Bar in East Walnut Hills.  Ultimately they would agree and so would begin a 10-month harangue of attorneys, accountants, and a closing agent.  On April 1, 2022, Will and Tony would officially own Scarlato’s Pizza – and then the real work began.

Though it felt like a steal of a deal at first, it was quickly apparent that a few decades of deferred maintenance and a dramatic decline in population had taken its toll on the business.  For the first year ownership, Tony was still working as a project manager for a major consumer goods company and the bulk of the initial recovery work was left to Will.  In addition to the recovery efforts, they both had to quickly learn not only the restaurant business, but also how to operate a delivery service.  The ramp was steep, but a core group of entrepreneurial friends and eager family joined in to assist. 

Their primary goals were to reestablish the base function of the business thru equipment replacement, facility upgrades, base building repairs, and to insert themselves into the community as an active participant.  For too long, the community has been neglected and almost all the local business has disappeared creating the ultimate food desert.

Tony was invited to join the board of WestCURC and Will set on a mission to participate in the other community led boards and discussion groups.  English Woods Bakery and Scarlato’s pizza now successfully operate out of the same building.  The hours of work toward reestablishing the business function have slowly leveled off to a more manageable pace and they are both looking to plan the expansion and growth of the business.