FORT SMITH, Ark. — About four months ago, Chef Paul Marrone and his partner opened Piatto restaurant in Fort Smith.
“I grew up doing pizza and pasta in Philadelphia. My grandparents opened a restaurant that's still open today. I had a restaurant similar to this there ... Then I kinda got caught here during COVID and Kevin and I decided to open this," said Marrone.
Chef Marrone’s nephew Nicholas is a firefighter at the Fort Smith Fire Department, and both of them are working on Christmas day.
Chef Marrone added, "Most of my family is back east visiting family. So he and I are kind of the only ones here. I invited him and his wife over for pizza and while he was working, we just got the whole crew over and figured why not feed them over here today."
Nicholas spoke for all the firefighters with him when he said, "We were offered free food. And we don't say no to free food."
Nicholas says his uncle has always shown his love through his food. "For me, it feels pretty normal. I mean, my family is big on food. So no big deal. But it's cool that he did it for the love department and the boys."
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