Photo by Erin Nelson.
Brian Tamburro prepares a variety of orders at the new Tamburro’s Italian Home on Oct. 12.
After a 13-year absence, a beloved Trussville restaurant is back.
The original restaurant, Tamburro’s & Sons, was launched by Dick Tamburro in 1994, quickly becoming a favorite of many diners in the Trussville area and beyond. Tamburro retired from the restaurant business, closing the doors in 2010.
However, Tamburro’s daughter, Kyleen Kramer, and daughter-in-law, Tina Tamburro, have brought the family name out of mothballs, rechristening the restaurant Tamburro’s Italian Home.
The impetus for reviving Tamburro’s came from Kramer, an Atlanta resident, who was considering retiring from her regular job and looking to start a new chapter. What started out as little more than a daydream became a new career practically overnight.
“I had been working at a law firm for 26 years and decided it was almost time to retire and just literally, seriously literally, woke up one day and looked at my husband and said, ‘I want to open a restaurant in Trussville,’” said Kramer. “He said ‘Well, OK, we'll sit down and we'll plan it, don't do anything crazy.
“I came home the next day, and said, ‘I put in my notice at work,’ and he's like, ‘Are you crazy?’’’ she continued. “I said ‘No, but that just means now, we have to make it happen.’ So here we are. There was no thought process whatsoever.’”
She said it was important to her to bring the family name back to where it all began in Trussville and honor her father, who is now in his early 80s and still a regular sight at the restaurant. Bramer’s brother, Brian, and brother-in-law, Richard, are also part of the restaurant team.
“The atmosphere is different. It's just a little bit more modern but it's still a work in progress. However, my dad still plays the accordion, so that's all the same,” Kramer said.
Tamburro’s Italian Home menu is a mix of old and new dishes that, Kramer said, should appeal to former patrons as well as new diners. One new item on the menus is green-lip mussels, a popular variety native to New Zealand. Other signature dishes include the chicken parmesan and the fettuccine carbonara.
The original creme brulee is also returning. Kramer said they have received tons of requests to present the restaurant's signature dessert in the same way it used to be served.
“When I was building this place out, people were always stopping by wondering what was going on, and they always asked if we were going to torch our creme brulees at the table,” said Kramer. “We weren't going to do that, but since we had so many requests for that, we now do that.”
Since it opened in August, the response to the new generation of Tamburro’s has been positive.
“We're overwhelmed,” Kramer said. “We cannot believe how well that it is just taking off, and people are so nice and this town is just so supportive of us. There's no way that this could have been done anywhere else. It just wouldn't have worked.”
Tamburro’s Italian Home is located at 5954 Chalkville Mountain Road and is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. They can be reached at 205-508-3990.
