"We didn't want to rush into dinner," Paul Messina told syracuse.com on the eve of Apizza Alimentari's first night as a trattoria. "We wanted to make sure everything was just the way we wanted. I think we're finally ready."
That was September 30, almost three months after the doors first opened at 408 E. Genesee St. Farther east on the same road, the team taking over the former Arad Evans Inn is working on the same kind of schedule. Its opening has slipped from season to season while the renovation of a nineteenth-century farmhouse catches up. Two of the buildings Fayetteville has long associated with a night out are coming back this fall. Neither has had a single big opening night. Each is arriving one piece at a time, and planning a dinner out on East Genesee Street this season depends more on that order than on either menu.
The Kirby's Building Added Dinner Last
Apizza Alimentari opened July 8 in the former Kirby's Grill & Taphouse. As syracuse.com's opening-day look put it, the partners "spent the better part of two years" getting there. Paul Messina and John Stage, the partners behind Apizza Regionale in downtown Syracuse, built it with pastry chef and partner Amy Chrisogonou and executive chef Padriac Adolfi. Adolfi grew up in Cazenovia and came home after nearly a decade cooking in Atlanta. Chrisogonou returned to Central New York after working in New York City, South Florida and Cape Cod.
From the start, the plan was a building with several jobs. It would be a café, bakery, salumeria and market, and "eventually" a full-service trattoria and cocktail bar. The name is the only thing it shares with the downtown pizzeria. In place of a wood-fired Neapolitan crust, the counter sells Roman-style pizza al taglio, rectangular slices made from dough that ferments for 72 hours. "There's so much other good pizza in this town," Messina said in that first-look piece.
The pieces arrived in this order:
- July 8, 2026. The café, bakery and market open in the old Kirby's space.
- July through September. In the words of syracuse.com, breakfast and lunch get "a nearly three-month head start."
- September 30, 2026. The trattoria begins dinner service, with reservations taken online through Toast.
Hours have changed along the way. The restaurant's own trattoria page now lists lunch Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dinner runs 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The restaurant is closed Monday and Tuesday, so plan a weeknight dinner there for later in the week.
What Dinner at 408 E. Genesee Actually Costs
The opening dinner menu is organized by region, which fits the founding idea of covering all 20 regions of Italy over time. The Pasta Della Casa section runs $20 to $25 before additions, according to syracuse.com's dinner preview.
| On the opening dinner menu | Price |
|---|---|
| Focaccia, warm in cast iron with tomato jam butter | $6 |
| Spaghetti alla rucola with local cherry tomato sauce | $20 |
| Rigatoni alla Norma with roasted eggplant and ricotta salata | $22 |
| Pappardelle Bolognese with beef and pork ragù | $25 |
| Chicken "under a brick" with salsa verde | $25 |
| Shrimp risotto with local corn crema | $32 |
| 14-ounce bone-in Duroc pork chop with vinegar peppers | $36 |
| Prime steak zabuton, peppercorn-crusted, sliced | $52 |
The spread is the useful part. A pasta and the focaccia comes to roughly $30 before drinks, while the zabuton alone costs more than that. The same room can be a casual weeknight plate or a full evening. The menu also won't stay put. "Our menus will change with the seasons, and that way we can really honor all of those regions of Italy," Chrisogonou told syracuse.com. The prices above describe the menu that launched September 30, and late-fall dishes may look different.
The Arad Evans Inn Is Next in Line
The second building is the former Arad Evans Inn at 7206 E. Genesee St., just outside the village line. The restaurant there closed last November after nearly 30 years. When it closed, the owners said a new group would open another restaurant inside the 1800s inn, according to WSYR.
That restaurant is Dear Dad, a steak and seafood house from Mark Bullis and Nathan Fullmer. Their group also runs Bull & Bear Roadhouse, the Daily Diner and Yards Grille at Green Lakes State Park. "This is a proper steakhouse," Bullis told syracuse.com during a tour of the renovation. "I think there's room in our market for what we're doing."
Much of the staff is already known around Central New York:
- Andrew Giarrusso, formerly executive chef at the Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles, will lead the kitchen.
- Samantha Bun, former general manager of TS Steakhouse at Turning Stone Resort Casino, will serve as general manager.
- Julianna Bullis is the operating partner.
- Chris DeVita, who used to own Salt City Bread, will be the bakery chef with his own baking kitchen in the building, handling breads and desserts.
The planned menu centers on premium steaks, seafood and house-made pasta, along with a raw bar, crème brûlée, an eight-layer chocolate cake and a signature butter cake. Bullis also hopes the bourbon and wine program will make Dear Dad known for one of the strongest wine lists in Central New York.
Why the Inn Is Taking Longer
Renovating an old house takes time, and Dear Dad's schedule shows it. WSYR reported that renovations have been underway since the beginning of the year. In August, syracuse.com described the work as replacing infrastructure and HVAC, reworking the downstairs and bar, and renovating the private rooms, with plans for patio seating and a second-floor deck for outdoor dining. Bullis told WSYR that the team made a point of keeping the building's old-house character, and that the bar was moved so it connects the rooms and the patio.
Here is how the target date has moved:
- Mid-August 2026. A photo caption in syracuse.com's August 18 sneak peek still said "early September," while the article itself said "early October."
- October 1, 2026. WSYR reported that the owner was hoping to open in early November.
- Now. The restaurant's own site, deardadsteaks.com, reads "Fayetteville, NY – Coming Soon," with no posted opening date, hours or reservations.
Early November is close now, but until the site posts a date, plan anniversary dinners and holiday-party reservations without counting on it. Expect the opening announcement to appear on that site first.
Same Owners, One Block From Apizza
The group behind Dear Dad already has a restaurant in the village. Its Bull & Bear Roadhouse sits at 411 E. Genesee St., across from Apizza Alimentari. That location closed unexpectedly on Sunday, August 30. Owner Mark Bullis told syracuse.com that a contractor's mistake had caused damage and that repairs would keep it closed for a few weeks. The group also runs a Bull & Bear in East Syracuse. Check the Fayetteville location's current hours before you go.
So one company is reopening a closed restaurant and finishing a new one on the same road at the same time. That helps explain why the two Bullis projects are moving at their own pace while Apizza keeps adding hours a few doors down.
A Halloween Weekend That Runs Through the 400 Block
The first weekend after this post goes up shows how close these places sit to the rest of village life. On Saturday, October 31, the village is hosting a Halloween Tree Planting at Village Hall, 425 E. Genesee St., at 9 a.m. Tools and candy are provided, and the village calendar asks participants to register. Apizza Alimentari is a few doors up East Genesee at number 408, and lunch there starts at 11 a.m.
That same morning from 10 a.m. to noon, Green Lakes State Park is holding a free Trick-n-Treat Dog Walk. It's a self-guided two-mile loop on the Green Lake trail, and the first 50 participants get dog-treat bags. Yards Grille, also run by the Dear Dad group, is in the park.
The calendar keeps going into November. Green Lakes hosts a free Out of Office Nature Club astronomy "Star Party" on Wednesday, November 4, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. It's for ages 18 and up, with registration through Liverpool Public Library. On Saturday, November 7, the Fayetteville Free Library holds its Basement Book Sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., with prices starting at $0.50. That gets you to the stretch when Dear Dad is hoping to open.
For more on the village and the streets around these restaurants, visit our Fayetteville neighborhood page. For a nearby fall night out, see what's happening at the Manlius Cinema.
Robert knows from co-owning Noble Cellar in Syracuse how much care goes into opening a dining room the right way, and he's watching both of these East Genesee Street openings with a restaurateur's interest. If you'd like his take on Fayetteville's restaurants, or on the village around them, Robert Zaccaria is always glad to talk. Let's Connect.
