Feb. 22—Cucina Rinaldi, established to provide quick, to-go Italian meals along with Old Forge pizza, breakfast, lunch and dinner to residents of the Downvalley, closed Sunday after 18 months in business at 4753 Birney Ave., co-owner Robin Rinaldi said.

The restaurant that provided drive-thru service offered many of the same popular dishes as the family's original location — Cafe Rinaldi — in Old Forge which remains open, including risotto, chicken parm and chicken marsala.

"I think the larger issue was timing with the pandemic, the supply chain, staffing challenges, inflation and the economy bordering on a recession for quite a while now," Rinaldi said. "It's just gotten tougher to make a restaurant profitable in the last few years. In such a challenging environment, we wanted to focus our efforts on Cafe Rinaldi."

— ROBERT TOMKAVAGE