The place has been a mess since the family sold it. What a shame! One by one, down they go - Hausner's, Marconi's and now Velleggia's.

I parked right in front of Velleggia's last night (to dine somewhere else) and saw two women eating at one of the tables out front...I guess they must have brown-bragged it.

I heard that Velleggia's is now BYOF.

"Photo of crowd"?

Er...the rest of the crowd is off camera? EL

The last time I was inside Velleggia's was New Year's Eve at 9 PM and the crowd in the picture has five more people than were there then. I'll see if I can find someone more knowledgable than me who can pony up a big scoop of poop on the big V.

Looks like Vellegia's is open again, but (perhaps) not for long, since an auction is scheduled for July 14, according to this Daily Record article.

The Daily Record article is hilarious, especially the last part. BG&E shut them off for a month and they were running stuff from a generator on High Street. There is a lack of truthiness in Mr. Coffman's info. We're bankrupt and being auctioned off? Yeah, but we're expanding too! Franchises worldwide? Hell yeah! On the moon? Absolutely.

I bet Mr. Coffman wishes he had bought a Delorean instead of a Porsche.

A quick review of CitySearch's user reviews signals the unlikeliness that expansion to other outlets is in the offing. Ouch. What a hate fest.

http://baltimore.citysearch.com/review/4962874

I called the restaurant but the phones are still turned off. Delusional ....

The five stages of restaurant grief
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

Expansion, franchising and gelato empire-building are absent.

That's not a happy picture of Mr. Coffman in the Daily Record, assuming it's him. He does remind me of somebody ...
http://roicopy.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/windowslivewritericapreleasemetermarketingwhatothersaresa-77e8schultz5.jpg

According to my most reliable sources and spies in Little Italy, the owners of Mo's on President St and Mo's on Albemarle St have bought it and are opening up yet another location on Pratt St. Believe me when I say the denizens are not thrilled.

Word is that someone wants to build a hotel on the site that Mo's Scab & Pasta Factory, Della Notte, & Dalesios currently occupy. Mo made a bid for Veleggia's at the aborted auction, but there was a legal obstacle because of Terry Coffman filing for bankrupcty and the auction was postponed. Who knows? The Dialy Record did a decent job of showing how fake those guys are. Why hasn't the Sun done any reporting? It's all a very open secret in the neighborhood for months.

Okayu here's the deal. Everybodyu's known this for a couple of years. Why you smart ass Sun reporters can't trip across the freakin' obvious I sure as crap don't know. Wjhatever We all suppoosethat you gots some advertisiing b-s- tat keeps ou from reportiong the rreal news.

So here;s what I I been hearing from frm sytreets of litttle itwly:

naz & frank ran vellegggia' into the grounf fromm a strong standpoint afdter the moher died. Watever,.. Yahd she a a freakin sabnt and nobody could nakmek make gnocchi like her!

From Baltimore Business Journal

Velleggia's Italian Seafood Restaurant has reopened, after weeks of renovations and speculation on local blogs that the longtime Little Italy institution was closing for good.

Terry L. Coffman II, who owns the property, said on Thursday he did not know why the building was listed for auction next month.

"My attorney is looking into it," he said.

His father, Terry L. Coffman, who manages the restaurant, said the restaurant was closed for a month while the owners poured $20,000 into the property. The changes include merging two dining rooms, which will make it easier to book wedding receptions and the like.

Velleggia's, which reopened Tuesday, also is now selling 24 flavors of gelato in its bar area.

Coffman, a residential real estate developer, bought the 71-year-old restaurant in 2005 from Naz and Frank Velleggia. After the purchase, he spent nearly $1 million to update the property.

Shades of Timothy Dean. EL

"Poured $20,000 into the property?" Really? Had illegal aliens tear out two bathrooms and a wall between dining rooms without permits? Freaking awesome. NOw I can pee in my own coffee and save the help a step. None of whom speaka da English. All mail order Russionas.

They can't even keep their lies straight from day to day. The Daily Record had them trickling $50,000 in renovations over a month. Now it's $20,000? At that rate of deflation, they will by next week have estimated spending six Rubles and a KitKat. Sorry KitKat. What a bunch of idiots. How do you do massive renovations without power or gas? They stunk up the whole street with their cheap ass gasoline generator for a couple of weeks. Liars liars liars. Oh my car car got repossessed but I spent a million dollars renovating my restaurant. They spent nothing doing nothing. The Velleggia's took down all the wall decorations (Art Deco framed posters) and they were replaced by nothing. Why doesn't somebody do a real story on this lie factory. Maria Velleggia is either laughing or spinning. Shame on Franco and Nazzie for selling their NAME to a bunch of greasy shysters. Whatever repuation they may have had before is now pure ghetto. Why is this being done on a blog. Maybe b will look into it. Or the City Paper. Come City Paper, you used to have balls. Yeah that's a challenge. I]m calling you bitches out! Bring it! Is everybody asleep or just so loawyer-broken that you only do freakin happy news? A million dollars of renovations? Screw that. Can the building fly now? Doubtful. Can it even pay its mortgage or elecrical bills? No. They owes 40 grand to BG&E. Word on the street is that Terry Coffman went begging to Sheila Dixon to get the juice turned bak on. NOw that only makes sense if (1) Terry Coffman held an illegal fundraiser at his restaurant with live music in violation of his liquor license for the 19th time for $heila Dixon (TRUE! The LIquor Board is corrutpt) and (2) $heila Dixon is corrupt. Ohhh, I can;t comment on number two, it sounds CRAZY! Maybe th efreakin FBI could though.

Why doesn't the City Paper have any blogs? They used to be cool. And teh SUn never was. I'm so confused. I don't even know what The Daily Record is, but apparently they have reporters who actually investigate at the level of the average bloggger. (Sorry, that's kind of a compliment.) Maybe some 12 year old reporter from the Sun who hasn't taken a buyout yet (cookies is the currency, I'm guessing, possibly an over th shirt ... never ,=mind) why not look into the TOTALLY illegal-looking Velleggia's Foundation gimmick (see their web site, ask for 5 year old sister howe to do that) where if you spend money their and charge it to your non-profit organization they will slide you a check for 25% of the bill to use at your discretion. I'm thinking lawyer's fees will be a good investment. Is anybody still working for the Sun besides Fearless Leader? DO I have to tuirn this over to a stuident newspaper? Maybe my friend Joey Two Times can fill you in on the actual detials of this debackle. Why do I ever read? It just makes me angry! The health department and liquor board should all be put in prison because they let a restuarant without any working refrigeration have a wedding reception being run off of sterno and a gasoline generator. THe cops cam eto shut them down but the building inspector let them finish tghe wedding reception i=n clear violation of the law and probably for a box of money. This city ios so corrupt it make me sick.

The Sun blog is reporting, okay it's not the Sun but a blogger, on the BBJ's coverage of this blog? Have we finally swallowed our own news tail? Everybody in LIttle Italy knows what's going on. Sure the Sun hasn't reported anyting stupid yet, because it apparently doesn't have reporters left. The Daily Record got a nice slice of factiness and the BBJ reported verbatim what the manager of a restaurant being auctioned off every week said. Investiagte? Christ, even Jane Miller does more of that when she's picking out granola at Whole Foods. Poor Sun, if you get scooped by the TV morons, then you should just shoot yourself in your b. Ha.

I think Marco Polo is Russ Smith after drinking a bottle of Cabo Wabo. Suspiciously too much City Paper nostalgia. Eh Russ?

http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2006/04/24/newscolumn1.html

That Baltimore Business Journal really is sharp. A quick Google shows them with a story about Vellegia's changing to a small plate format on May 1 ------ 2006! Do they just print people's faxed press releases? Why bother reading anymore?

While charges of corruption are easy to make, not too many are documented on the internet. While the actual charge of corruption is not documented, the underlying accusation of knowingly violating liquor license regulations is indeed documented on Sheila Dixon's own web site.

Here is an invitation to a fund-raising reception at Velleggia's last year:

Reception Honoring Mayor Sheila Dixon

You are cordially invited to attend a reception honoring Mayor Sheila Dixon
on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 from 5:30 pm to 8 pm

Hosted by:
***All Staffing, Inc. Healthcare Consultants
***dEVNIX Data Management
***DMGlobal Communications
***Phyllis Wheatley Educational Centers

Come out and support Friends for Sheila Dixon for an evening of Live Jazz & an open bar, Featuring Authentic Italian Cuisine from Velleggia's Restaurant, 829 E. Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21202 (www.velleggiasrestaurant.com).

***$150 donation per person

***$500 donation per person includes a souvenir photograph with Mayor Sheila Dixon
=====================================

That's a slam dunk liquor violation and yet no record of it exists on the Liquor Board web site. Are you really surprised that things still work this way? Get active. Get involved. When the rules are different for the corrupt, it punishes honest business owners.

Jordan Grollier

Delorean?

Official auction notice for Velleggia's in the Daily Record today:
http://www.mddailyrecord.com/pn.cfm?fuseaction=display&recid=325635

Auction-Baltimore City
FIRST INSERTION -

TRUSTEE'S SALE OF IMPROVED REAL ESTATE

IN BALTIMORE CITY, MARYLAND LOCATED AT

204 SOUTH HIGH STREET 829 E PRATT STREET AND 205 ALBEMARLE STREET

BALTIMORE CITY, MD

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in the certain Deed of Trust dated 10/27/06, and recorded at Liber 8576, folio 642, in the Land Records of Baltimore City, Maryland; breach having occurred in the terms and conditions thereof and at the request of the party secured thereby, the undersigned Trustee will offer for sale, at the property being sold - 829 E Pratt Street (Baltimore City), Baltimore, MD - on

JULY 14, 2008, AT 12:00 NOON

the property more fully described in said Deed of Trust and commonly referred to as 829 E Pratt Street and 204 S High St, Baltimore MD.
This is a first deed of trust. Nevertheless, the property will be sold subject to covenants, restrictions and all encumbrances of record, if any. A deposit of $75,000.00, payable by cashier's or certified check, made payable to the Trustee, will be required at the time of sale. In the event the Noteholder purchases the property at the sale as the high bidder, no deposit will be required and the requirement of interest on the balance of the purchase price shall be waived.
Balance of purchase price is to bear interest at the rate set forth in the Note from date of sale to date of ratification. All taxes, of any kind, public charges, and special or regular assessments of any kind will be assumed by the purchaser. Title examination, conveyancing, transfer tax, recordation tax and all other costs incident to settlement are to be paid by purchaser. Terms of sale to be complied with within fifteen (15) days after final ratification by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, otherwise, the aforesaid deposit shall be forfeited and the property will be resold at the risk and cost of the defaulting purchaser. Trustee reserves the right to postpone sale. In the event that the Trustee is unable, for any reason, to convey the property herein, the sole remedy to the successful bidder shall be the return of the deposit, plus interest at the rate of 5% per annum. Property is sold AS IS without warranty of any kind.

KYLE L. DONIFF, Trustee, 6225 Brandon Ave., #310, Springfield VA 22150, 703-451-9004.

je27,jy3,10

I was standing in front of my house on Albemarle St wondering where I could take my nieces Brittany and Jordan for some gelato. They wanted to go to Vacarro's but I said, no way, the place with no electricity and the hip-hop dance parties has gelato in their BAR. Gelato plus bar equals pedophilia goldmine. What the hell are they thinking? Why would anybody mix children with alcohol? Are kids even allowed in bar? Well at least the new owner gets a nice gelato cooler on July 14. Can you imagine my sister after her kids tell her that uncle Pete took them to a bar for ice cream?

Is the sale for the buildings, including the restaurant and all its equipment and furnishings, or just for the land underneath? I see no mention of the described property as "being improved by..." Some other sales I've seen advertised go into detail about any buildings, businesses, and equipment.

Mr. OF -- since the ad states that a foreclosure under a Deed of Trust is involved, the advertised sale will be of the restaurant's real estate (land and buildings), all of which is (as the ad copy indicates) "more fully described in said Deed of Trust". If the foreclosing creditor also has a secured lien against the restaurant's equipment, liquor license, etc., a separate secured creditor's sale pursuant to a Uniform Commercial Code financing sttaement would be required. Some creditors may hold both sales at the same time, but that doesn't appear to be the case here.

I was at the liquor board hearing last night. Velleggia's has been trying to get a live entertainment license. I did not know abut this blog until Coffman mention it in front of the board. He shows up with his young child in tow and try's to convince the board why he needs to have a live license.He has a few witnesses (this guy Tom Moore is a true kavone) and the board denies him the license because of solid opposition from not only the residents but also opposition from the restaurants and business owners.After the hearing is over he is arrested by the police in the hearing room! I always said him and his sons character was suspect. Turns out he had an open warrant. They need to start doing backgrounds on these people who apply for these licenses. .

I think that Marco Polo and Springs1 ARE related.

anon.e.mouse -- I disagree. The above post from "Marco? Polo?" was coherent, albeit a bit long. It also showed admirable restraint in the use of CAPITALIZED words.

I was referring to the incoherent, illiterate rambling nature of marco? polo?'s June 27th rant. It’s got the same "off the meds" quality as Springs1.

Actually, the June 27, 10:22 AM Marco? Polo? post is fairly coherent, in the stream-of-consciousness style to which the Sandbox has become accustomed courtesy of Owl Meat. It raises a number of points, although it could stand from some judicious editing. In stark contrast, the Springs1 posts are grossly repetitive, taking the same 3,000+ words to make a single point about how somebody has dissed HER, HER, HER!

Wow, talk about burying the lead.

You're talking about the grammar of old posts and someone who attended a liquor board hearing yesterday reports that the Owner of Velleggia's was ARRESTED after the hearing? That's pretty damned newsworthy, compared to who overcapitalized in JUNE! Obfuscation perhaps? Very questionable posting behavior in my OPINION. Arrested?! Jeeez, how often does THAT happen. Arrrested for what? Is it true? Reporting please.

RevEd -- for The Sun's coverage of the liquor license hearing, see here.

As for the arrest, there appears to have been an outstanding warrant against one of the Coffmans (the elder one, perhaps) for some alleged assault charges, dating back to April of this year.

This blog was brought up at a liquor board hearing? How so?

Thanks for the link hmptsd. You are definitely on top of the news. As for the assault arrest, it's dangerous to assume facts placed in evidence in a blog. It could just be rumor or worse, but you'd figure this sort of thing would be public record, especially supposedly having occurred in public. No YouTube video?

RevEd -- as I wasn't at yesterday's hearing, I can't vouch for ed. holman's report of the arrest. However, the existence of the assault charges is a matter of public record, which prior Sandbox posters have taught the Sandbox to access. See District Court for Baltimore City - Criminal System, Case Number 5B01942260.

Wow, you are knowledgerific hmpstd. I bow to your access to facts. I had no idea that charges were posted ahead of arrests. You would think that they would keep them concealed so as to keep the "perps" in the dark. Of course, onlt hpstd seems to have all the data. Bravo for data! Well, rumor is now fact. I'm going out on a limb here and say that the best place to hide from an assualt warrant would be NOT the frickin' Courthouse. Just a guess. Wowser, that takes some stones to go before the liquor board when you have been hiding from the cops for four months. This is like a frickin' opera. Someone should write about it. I don't know, like a newspaper?

This blog is the newspaper. EL

The Maryland Case Search record that hmpstd cited does confirm two open assault charges against Terry Coffman Sr. It also now shows that those warrants were served on Thursday, meaning he was arrested.

http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/inquiry/inquiryDetail.jis?caseId=5B01942260&detailLoc=DSCR

Here's a riddle: Where is the worst place to hide from the police?
Answer: The courthouse.
What would make that an even worse hiding place? Asking an agency that checks all criminal records to expand your liquor license. Absurd.

I have to say that for a blog the fact/rumor ratio here is astonishingly high.

hmpstd - how did you find the assault charges? When you go to the web site and type in TERRY COFFMAN there are many cases, but not that one. If you type in the specific case it works, but how did you find the specific case without the defendant's name?

Rev. Ed asked ...how did you find the specific case without the defendant's name?

THAT's what makes her the hmpstd we rely upon..

In defense of hmpstd, she's a he. At least at the 2 Sandbox gatherings.

Unacceptable interjection Bucky. All valid research must be repeatable as I recall from chemistry class. You're thinking of miracles and magic tricks.

Rev. Ed, it's there if you do a general search, but you probably got lost in the many many results for father and son of nearly the same name, which are not ordered by date. If you click on the Date heading twice it will sort from most recent. Or you could thin out the results by choosing just "criminal". When using this resource, I've found that our diligent civil servants often misspell people's names and other details. Tenacity needed for research chops Rev Ed. *ucky, I hope you're not relying on hmpstd too much - to be a woman.

Well, RtSO, you know what Patti Smith said about gender. "As far as I'm concerned, being any gender is a drag."

Rev'Ed -- Owl Meat got it right. In a criminal case, the person being charged IS the Defendant. From past D@L postings on Velleggia's, the names of Coffman père and fils were well known to the Sandbox. In the Maryland Case Search database, the name Terry Coffman yields 162 results. By limiting the search to criminal cases, the number is reduced to 9 results, only 2 of which (for the same case number) were active. Results can also be sorted by date. As Owl Meat noted, some names are misspelled, but there are ways of getting around that problem when doing a search.

père and fils - very nice hmpstd.

ed. holman name checks Tom Moore, I assume he was at the hearing (what's a kavone? it can't be good.) , but I had no idea who or what he was until I saw this in the Examiner:

http://www.examiner.com/a-1512152~Tom_Moore__Live_entertainment_panel_makes_sense_for_Baltimore.html

Moore basically says that the ability to give out live entertainment licenses should be taken away from the liquor board in part to "prevent the type of fiasco that has followed Vellegia’s owner Terry Coffman’s plan to add live entertainment at his restaurant. The Little Italy community association has gone berserk over the thought of Mr. Coffman turning the venerable restaurant into a nightclub."

Berserk? That would be fun to see. Anyway, Coffman is the ONLY person mentioned AND it was published on July 30, one week BEFORE Coffman's liquor board hearing. That sounds more than a little suspicious and possibly unethical.

Then my wife pointed out this at the end:
Tom Moore hosts the radio program ..... He also sings cabaret music part-time and has performed at venues in Little Italy.

No bias THERE! That has to be the most ridiculous ting I've ever seen. Why not just say "Change the laws, I need a job."

kavone/cavone/Cafone: a phony or embarrassment to himself and others; "gavone" (slang pronunciation)

Not to get too picky about spelling, but Mr. Moore's misspelling of Velleggia's in his Examiner article is kind of funny, maybe that's cabaret-style spelling.

Maybe you should all check out Coffman's track record with all his properties. forclosures etc.

How is that relevant MAY?

MAY, Maybe you should TELL us girlfriend. I hate homework. Bring it.

I wish I knew about this blog before I took my family there last Sunday. Here is what I posted on another site.

I went with some friends to Velleggia’s after the game on Sunday. We decided to go to Little Italy and the first restaurant we saw was Velleggia’s. It had a big sign out front stating the “Best Italian Restaurant of 2007” so we decided to give it a try because none of us had been there in years.

We should have known better just walking to the front door because the front steps were falling apart and the front entrance was filthy. Going inside was nothing like walking into a fine restaurant, it was a weird empty look and we should have ran away then but we all had to use the bathroom.

The bathrooms were unisex and everything in there was broken or dirty. The towel dispensers were broken (it looked like they were broken years ago) so a roll of brown paper towels was sitting in a puddle of dirty water on the sink to use for drying your hands. How someone could us that bathroom and leave clean is beyond me. In fact, you would leave that bathroom contaminated and I sure hope the kitchen staff or wait staff didn’t use those facilities because they would be contaminating the food.

Sitting down at our table and looking around almost made me laugh. This place obviously had an owner that didn’t care or didn’t have a clue about running a restaurant. There was mirrored tile on the ceilings and walls. Different set of tables and chairs, some tables and chairs were almost in an old leather medieval style and others were plain Jane, beat up table sets that you would see in a diner.

My college dorm room was decorated better. They had large bottles of super cheap wine and champagne placed in odd areas. They had monster champagne glasses that hadn’t been cleaned in ages with a champagne bottle inside the glass. One was in the window and one was on a ledge between the rooms with nothing else around. They had a large glass bowl hanging on the wall and I swear they bought it at Walmart. There was one string a white Christmas lights in the front window and most of the bulbs were burnt out. The wood floors hadn’t been cleaned in weeks and were in dire need of repair. The table was very sticky but there was nothing on the table, it was just old. To top it off, they were playing only Frank Sinatra songs and it was way too loud.

My complaints didn’t stop there. We had cheap paper napkins on the table and no table cloth. If I am going to spend over $120.00 on a meal for four with no alcohol, I expect better then cheap paper napkins and sticky old tables. We only had one appetizer for the whole table and the calamari smelled very fishy. It was obviously a frozen pre-breaded product and not something they made themselves. My veal was tough and very thick and that dish should be melt in your mouth tender and very thin. The vegetables were prepared in the most amateurish way. They were sliced mechanically and might as well been served whole. My friend order a soda and the waitress placed the plastic soda bottle on the table. The only decent thing was the waitress was nice but she was more like a waitress for a diner and not a waitress for “Baltimore’s Best Italian Restaurant for 2007”.

To the owners of Velleggia’s, do Baltimore City a favor and take that sign down. It’s a lie and people who visit this city will get a negative impression of Little Italy if they dine at your establishment. There is no way you were the best Italian restaurant in Baltimore last year. I have dined at Aldo’s, Boccaccio’s and Amicci’s recently. Aldo’s is a 9, Boccaccio’s is an 8.5 and Amicci’s is an 8 and Velleggia’s is a 2 at best.

Do yourself a favor and run a restaurant like it should be or close your doors. You will be out of business soon anyway with what I saw.

MdDude, You never know how truthful some bad reviews are, but the facts presented above are scary. If they are serving sodas out of pastic bottles and have bare tables with paper napkins, then you might just be one of the last patrons there. The only reason a "fine dining" restaurant would do that is if they haven't paid their bills to the soda company(s) and the linen company(s). That's depressing.

Why didn't you walk out when you saw that? Surely you must have realized that something was very wrong. Are you sure you're no an angry ex-employee. We see that a lot.

So are you for real McDude or are you just axe grniding. This seems to be an interactive place not Mount Rushmore where you carve your opinion and it stands forever. Inquiring minds want to know. WHY would you go into a place that was so unappealing? Please enlightnen us. I'm not accusing you of anything, it's just that such a damning post deserves feedback. NO response would be suspicious to me.

Sounds suspicious. You complain that a place looks dirty and tacky and had no table cloths and paper napkins. What you see is what you get. Why not leave? There are a dozen other places within two blocks. Most dubious.

I’m sorry that I didn’t get right back to you folks but I work and have a business to run myself and no it’s not in the food business. JanetL, JohnB or TowsonTwoSome, I posted my experience because the tactics of this establishment to attract customers by using the phony “Baltimore’s Best Italian Restaurant” really pissed me off. I’m a foodie, I cook often and I know quality so when I spend $120.00 on a meal, I expect my monies worth.

It’s reasonable to understand someone not storming out of an establishment because everything didn’t hit me at once and it took awhile for me to see all the problems. I had family and friends with me and we didn’t want to make a scene either.

If you don’t believe me, I don’t care, stick your head in there and you will see what I say is the truth. I posted this in hopes some poor un-expecting tourist didn’t get a bad impression of little Italy and Baltimore. If you want to spend your money there, knock yourself out.

Now let me tell you my reservations. So much was amiss with my experience and their “Best Italian Restaurant” title that I did some digging. I strongly suspect some of you questioning my post actually have involvement with this establishment. I suspect this establishment was involved with posting false comments about their own restaurant at the following site. BTW, I posted my comments there too and I will comment on that site about this one.

http://baltimore.citysearch.com/profile/4962874/baltimore_md/velleggia_s_restaurant.html

This site was the tool used to create “Baltimore’s Best Italian Restaurant” image. I suspect the owners were involved with these positive, anonymous posts so they could claim a fake crown to attract unsuspecting customers like me!!!! By the way, there are more highly negative, lowest rated reviews on that site then phony good ones. The phony ones are easy to spot and so are the real ones.

Now that I am really ticked, I’m going to make sure my experience gets to everyone that does restaurant reviews in this town and every review website that I can find. If the owners of Velleggia’s want to meet me in person, GLADY, just make sure you have $120.00 cash in hand for my refund but I’m still going to spread the word about the deception.

Even if Velleggia’s had nothing to do with that site (which I doubt) you don’t claim to be something you are not and take advantage of people.

Now, is everything crystal clear or shall we speak in person?????????

We went down to get desert last night at Vaccarro's and my friend pointed out that the flags that Velleggia's has flying around the restaurant are not Italian flags but Irish.Orange for Irish red for Italian. I do not know about these new owners.

Correction on the flags at Velleggia's. At night because of the streetlights one of the stripes on the flag appears orange. Went down there yesterday during the day and the the stripe is red. Irish only at nights.

The place is closed again. It looks like they did not pay B.G.E bill again.Nothing is on inside of the restaurant(bar lights). The locals who sit on the corner say that they had a bankruptcy on Thursday night.

The owners of the Velleggia's building apparently filed for bankruptcy on or about October 1, 2008, in order to stave off the foreclosure of nine properties, including the restaurant. (Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Case No. 24O08001829.)

I'd comment that this whole Velleggia's thing is a soap opera, except that it is an Italian restaurant, so it needs to be opera.

Piano Rob, you want to start writing?

Not stavey enouugh. Someone who works there said they came in on Wednesday and the doors were locked and he has had no explanation.

So to sum up: Velleggia's is closed yet again, since Wednesday. Nevertheless, another source tells me that Terry Coffman, the owner, was on the platform for the Columbus Day parade acting as is nothing unusual was happening. This person said that Terry told him they will be open again on Monday. Maybe they will add some new signage. So far they are an Italian seafood restaurant, bistro, wine bar and gelateria. Maybe they will be a Starship too. Let's see if she handle warp 10, Captain. Or the square root of negative one. Or a wine church. Or a petting zoo/strp club. Or .....

I saw the dude in the hockey mask fly out out of the third floor, so he must be dead, right? Velleggia's is like the restaurant version of the horror movie with way too many sequels.

My field reporter Johann says that he just heard a commercial for Velleggia's on 105.7 FM. If they are still closed that would be ironic and sad. I know that people sign contracts for future ads, but the station might consider dropping the ads since closed restaurants don't pay bills often.

Owl Meat -- knowing what has come to light about the owners' financial predicaments, I suspect that the radio station may have insisted on advance payment in cash, a cashier's check, or other guaranteed funds.

What a shame - the worst part of this pathetic dance is that the Velleggia's name is being dragged through the muck. The Velleggia's were great hosts who served some fine food. It bums me out to hear about "Velleggia's" when it hasn't been that since it was sold.

Yesterday 10/15 a representative from the U.S. District was there looking over the restaurant. He told my friend from Vaccarro's that everything is for sale.My friend also told me that the Coffmans were standing outside the place earlier waiting for this guy from the court to let them in.The Coffmans did not have the keys.The guy from the court did. I guess it is pretty fair to say that this chapter on Velleggia's is closed. The Coffmans should have brought a strip club instead.