The building that houses Papalino's NY Pizzeria on Clarks Lane in Louisville's Audubon neighborhood is officially on the market for $825,000, even though the pizzeria inside has no plans to close. Owners Fred Pizzonia and Allan Rosenberg say the listing is more about testing what the property is worth than actually walking away from the business.
“Business has actually been good at Papalino's, but we've got a lot going on,” Pizzonia said, according to WDRB+WAVE. The pair say the listing is meant to gauge market interest rather than lock in a definite sale, and that they are not actively trying to exit the property or the business.
A Building With Deep Roots on Clarks Lane
Pizzonia's company bought the property in 2024, taking over a site that had spent nearly six decades as Tim Tam Tavern, a bar named after that year's Kentucky Derby-winning horse when it opened in 1958, according to the Louisville Metro District 10 E-News. Tim Tam closed at one point and later reopened under new ownership in 2018 before eventually giving way to new concepts under Pizzonia and Rosenberg. The location sits across from St. Xavier High School and has long served as a neighborhood gathering spot, once hosting council meetings and alumni luncheons, per the same district newsletter.
Pizzonia and Rosenberg first opened The Dirty Bird, a fried chicken concept, in the building, but it operated for only about a year before the partners converted it into a Papalino's location. Papalino's opened at the Clarks Lane address in 2025, reviving Rosenberg's earlier pizza brand that first found local fame in the Highlands neighborhood back in 2010 before those original locations closed around 2014, per LouisvilleHotBytes.
Liquor License Delays Squeezed The Dirty Bird
The pivot away from fried chicken wasn't just a branding choice. While operating as The Dirty Bird earlier in 2025, the restaurant was losing roughly $10,000 a week and saw its staff shrink from 30 employees down to just seven, largely due to prolonged delays in securing a state liquor license, the station's report notes. Kentucky's Alcoholic Beverage Control process requires an online portal submission, detailed floor plans and proof of beverage service training, with an official review window of 30 to 120 days, according to LEO Weekly.
The 3,300-square-foot building includes a full-service bar, pool tables, arcade games and an upstairs residential apartment, all part of the current listing. It's a physical footprint that has made the site a longtime draw for Louisville sports fans — Hoodline previously named it a top Louisville sports bar back when it was still Tim Tam Tavern.
Owners Eyeing Goss Avenue and NuLu Expansion
Pizzonia and Rosenberg's attention has increasingly shifted toward their established Goss Avenue corridor in Germantown and Schnitzelburg, where they already run Hauck's Corner, Breakfast AF, Baked AF and Pizza AF. The now-familiar “AF” branding across those concepts stands for the first initials of the two co-owners — Allan and Fred — clearing up a bit of local speculation, according to reporting cited by Louisville.am.
The pair also plan to open a new chicken restaurant on Goss Avenue in about a month, adding another concept to their growing footprint even as the Clarks Lane building sits on the market. Separately, they intend to open Papalino's Express in NuLu, a walk-up, pizza-by-the-slice shop that would extend the Papalino's name into a new part of the city without depending on the Audubon neighborhood location.
According to LouisvilleKY.gov, the Dixie Highway Restaurant Incentive Fund remains open, with funds available to support additional table-service or fast-casual restaurants.
The ripple effects of the changes at Clarks Lane have already touched other corners of Louisville's food scene. Former Dirty Bird executive chef Eric Morris announced plans to launch the Goss Ave Deli in Schnitzelburg after strong customer demand for pastrami pop-ups he ran at the Clarks Lane property, per the same WDRB+WAVE reporting. Papalino's itself has stayed visible in the community too, partnering with hospitality grant organization APRON Inc. in June for its “Chef in a Box” campaign, selling meal packages from the Clarks Lane venue to raise money for local food-service workers in crisis, according to WDRB+WAVE's coverage of that event.
For now, the $825,000 price tag — a figure Louisville Business First previously reported — leaves the future of the Audubon neighborhood building genuinely open. Whether a buyer eventually takes over the space or Papalino's continues serving slices out of the old Tim Tam Tavern building, Pizzonia and Rosenberg say the listing is simply a way to see what the market will bear while they pour their energy into Goss Avenue and NuLu.
