Tua Pasta Closes, Owners Say Relocation Planned
The counter-service Italian restaurant closed last week, with redevelopment of office tower above moving forward.
Site of former Tua Pasta, 100 E. Wisconsin Ave. Photo taken June 5, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.
Changes are already in-progress at 100 East, amid the pending sale of the downtown building to developers. As the few remaining office tenants prepare to depart the 35-story structure, Tua Pasta has quietly closed, with plans to relocate to a nearby space.
For more than three years, the counter-service Italian restaurant occupied a first-floor, riverfront space at the office building, 100 E. Wisconsin Ave., keeping customers well-fed with a selection of fresh pastas, salads and gelato.
News of the closure came late last week via a social media post, as well as a sign posted at the restaurant.
“Dear friends, we are in the process to relocate our restaurant. We appreciate your support during all these years,” said the sign, which also noted that the move won’t be far, and that customers will only have to travel “a few steps” extra from the previous location.
The note urged customers to stay up-to-date with the restaurant’s website and social media page, promising future updates as more information becomes available.
Father-son team Alvaro Niño de Guzman, Sr. and Alvaro Niño de Guzman, Jr. opened Tua Pasta in early 2020 — just months before the pandemic effectively emptied the downtown building of office workers, a key customer group.
But the business persevered, finding success in its customizable menu that allowed customers to choose from a list of pasta varieties, sauces and toppings in order to create their ideal dish. The same model applied to the restaurant’s salads and gelato creations.
Tua Pasta also offered drinks including beer, wine, hard seltzer, hard kombucha, non-alcoholic beverages and espresso.
Tua Pasta is the latest business to depart from 100 East. The sale of the building and its attached parking structure was approved earlier this year. A partnership of Klein Development and Johnny Vassallo plans to redevelop the office tower into 350 apartments. The actual sale was scheduled to occur in May, but state real estate transfer and court records available online do not indicate it has taken place.
The 435,557-square-foot building was completed in 1989. It is the third-tallest building in Wisconsin.
The site of Tua Pasta was long home to John Hawks Pub, which closed in 2016.
Future updates on the new location for Tua Pasta are expected be posted to the restaurant’s Facebook and Instagram pages, or its website.
Jeramey Jannene contributed to this report.
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