City Approves New Pizza Joint in Former Balkan's Building

Greenfield will soon have a new pizza place right off one of the busiest commercial corridors in the city.

On Wednesday, the Greenfield Common Council voted unanimously to approve a special use permit to allow Paul Sidhu to open a pizzeria/Italian restaurant at 7640 W. Forest Home Ave. The restaurant is just off of 76th Street west of .

The restaurant was formerly known as Balkan's.

The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., according to the special use request by Sidhu’s representative Matthew Tadych, which was agreed to by all five alderpersons.

Sidhu was also granted a Class B beer and liquor license, but because the special use permit states the restaurant will be open until 11 p.m., Sidhu will not be able to keep the bar in his restaurant open until 2:30 a.m., which is allowed by law.

That point was an important one to council members because of a battle between Sidhu’s neighbor, Mad Dog Saloon, and the city in 2010. Tadych said closing at 11 p.m. and not serving alcohol after that was no problem to his client.

“The reason we want to limit ourselves is we’re very aware of the concerns of the neighborhood about the bar next door to us, the noise and the problems,” Tadych said. “We’re not trying to add to that confusion. We’re a separate place and don’t want to be of any inconvenience to our neighbors.”

Sidhu plans to make , and at Wednesday’s meeting, agreed to paint a garage on the property and put up a privacy fence at the request of a residential neighbor north of the parcel.