You can clean up, change your look, develop new relationships. But sometimes it is best to just accept who you really are. The Summit Ave food and drink path that led from Toscana to Itto’s to A La Vida has circled back to pizza.

“We’re back!” the sign in the window at 601 Summit Ave E proclaims. As a handful of loyal CHS readers will tell you, Toscana Pizzeria is, indeed, back on Summit.

The reopening follows our brief earlier this month noting the closure of A La Vida, the rebirth of the restaurant and bar as a tapas joint under owner Jody Claggett who took over the space after learning the ins and outs of the business under Toscana founder Khalid Agour.

We haven’t heard back from Claggett on the decision to shut down A La Vida or his restoration of Toscana on the block now home to the Summit Public House, Sol Liquor, Single Shot, and the original Top Pot but it might have a little to do with some wisdom the new owner imparted when we talked to him about his original decision to buy the restaurant and take over the space. “Having this opportunity where something is already established makes this immensely easier,” Claggett told us earlier this year. “Building a restaurant from scratch is very, very difficult.”

It might be a wise move, then, to stick with what works on Summit Ave.

Toscana Pizzeria is open –again — at 601 E Pike. You can learn more at facebook.com/pg/toscanapizzeria.

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