$2 million Tuscany Gardens plans late October opening

Pino Palombino can breeze through plans for Tuscany Gardens, an Italian restaurant under construction in south Corbin, with the excitement and intensity of a first time business owner.
His passion and energy belie his experience and age. Remarkably, he’s 76-years-old, and he spends his days overseeing perhaps the most expensive restaurant in the city’s history.
“I’m very excited, not so much about just the project, but for the whole community,” Palombino said. “It is so beautiful here. I found in Corbin a good foundation. To start anything, you have to be excited about it.”
Born in Naples, Italy, Palombino said he spent much of his life in Tuscany before moving to New York in 1976 to participate in a contest of chefs. He won, worked in New York as a chef, then moved to Louisville where he’s helped his son manage a small chain of specialty pizza parlors while serving as a consultant for restaurant entrepreneurs.
Tuscany Gardens, named after the area of Italy where he grew up, is scheduled to open in late October on Cumberland Falls Hwy., near McDonald’s. Palombino, who plans to live in Corbin full time and work at the restaurant, said it would be different than Italian fast food or many chain offerings.
“We’re going to have real Italian food. You’ll see the difference between, say, lasagna that other people make or veal and our food,” Palombino said. “It’s very important for me and this community to understand that we will sell organic food … all fresh.”
The restaurant is being financed by 10 local investors. Palombino serves as a design consultant, and will cook and greet guests at Tuscany Gardens. He provided the News Journal with an inside look at the restaurant, still under construction, on Monday.
Tuscany Gardens will feature an open kitchen, an elaborate cocktail lounge that seats 45 and will be equipped with six large-screen TVs, and two dining rooms. Total capacity will be about 162 people.
Palombino has left nothing to chance. He points to corners he said would be filled with certain antiques, a wall that will be filled floor to ceiling with specialty wines. Right down to the natural rockwork on the outside columns and tile in the bathroom, he has the details planned out.
But beyond the ambience, Palombino said he wants Tuscany Gardens to be a one-of-a-kind experience that is affordable to everyone. When it comes to the menu, think Olive Garden in price, he says.
“I want families to come,” he said. “I don’t want people to come one time and say, ‘the food is good, the ambience is good, but my God it takes a lot of money!’ It will be a family price so people can come back again.”
Palombino said opening an Italian restaurant in the area would fill a void. Already, he’s hired four chefs and said he plans to employ about 50 local people to work in the restaurant.
Although he said he plans to reveal details about the menu at a later date, he said offerings will include fresh seafood, moderately priced and expensive wines, and specialty pizzas. He plans special barbeque nights called “Tuscany in Texas” and said he will host cooking shows. Patrons will even get to taste some of the master chef’s cooking as he plans to spend time in the kitchen.
“We want people from the whole area to come,” he said. “When somebody passing through drives off the interstate and eats here, I want them to know it’s going to be good. When they stop one time, they will come back through and say, ‘Oh, we have to stop in Corbin.”
Palombino said he also has plans for a cheese factory in Corbin and a specialty pizza parlor in London.