{"id":5030,"date":"2026-07-20T12:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5030"},"modified":"2026-07-20T12:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:07:11","slug":"promising-cary-italian-restaurant-closed-due-to-chef-and-owners-health-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5030","title":{"rendered":"Promising Cary Italian restaurant closed due to chef and owner\u2019s health struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

A promising Italian restaurant in Cary closed this month after five years in business, led by the health struggles of its chef and owner.<\/p>\n

Read more Bare earth signals big changes at the southern entrance to downtown Raleigh<\/a><\/p>\n

At just 15 tables, La Grassa Pastificio was an intimate restaurant, celebrating handmade pastas and Italian classics. Owner Bobby Reynaud closed the restaurant last week to focus on his health, as he faces the need for kidney and heart transplants.<\/p>\n

After decades working in Italian kitchens all over the country, La Grassa was Reynaud\u2019s first restaurant of his own, a small footprint and dining room where he knew all the regulars.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working in Italian restaurants my whole career,\u201d Reynaud said in a phone interview. \u201cI wanted to do my own thing, this was definitely a passion project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reynaud grew up in Richmond, Va., but first started working in restaurants in Houston in the 1990s, starting with an Italian clam and pasta bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw fresh pasta made by hand for the first time,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what really hooked me.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there he spent time in kitchens in Texas, Washington, DC and Chicago, where he was named one of the city\u2019s Top 50 Chefs. He then went to Georgia in 2013 to lead Sea Island Resort as executive chef of Tavola restaurant. In 2018, he moved to the Triangle to be closer to family following the death of his mother.<\/p>\n

In 2019 he started working on the Cary restaurant space that would become La Grassa Pastificio. The COVID pandemic sidelined the restaurant\u2019s unveiling, but once opened in 2021, it found an audience. Compared to the restaurants in his past, which could do 260 meals a night, La Grassa was something more personal.<\/p>\n

Read more Other schools tampered to lure CJ Bailey out of Raleigh. Why he stayed with NC State<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was definitely a young man\u2019s game,\u201d Reynaud said. \u201cI wanted a step down overall in the work load. … My leadership style has always been player-coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reynaud found fans with housemade focaccia, nightly handmade pastas, rich bolognese, grilled calamari and crispy arancini.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are things that stayed on the menu from the beginning,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was great being able to make the food and see the dining room from the open kitchen. I could see my regulars and nod to them, even if I was too busy to touch the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

While opening La Grass Pastificio, Reynaud\u2019s health struggles began. He said he\u2019s lived with multicystic kidney disease his entire life and was forced to go on dialysis once he moved to the Triangle. Congenital heart failure then meant Reynaud needed a heart transplant and a kidney transplant. Reynaud has been hospitalized 15 times in two years, he said, sometimes spending weeks away from the restaurant.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, he made the choice this month to wind down La Grassa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sad story in a lot of ways,\u201d Reynaud said. \u201cLa Grassa wasn\u2019t able to be the restaurant I wanted it to be. The majority of what I wanted to do, I wasn\u2019t able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reynaud sold his restaurant this week, signing the closing papers while conducting a phone interview. A GoFundMe campaign remains active to help Reynaud<\/a> with medical and living expenses and has nearly reached its $16,000 goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of fun doing it, I\u2019m proud of my work and proud of the people who worked there,\u201d Reynaud said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping Duke can fix my heart, and I\u2019ll be back in the game in a couple years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more NC romance turns scorched-earth legal battle for control of Rougemont castle<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La Grassa Pastificio in Cary closed after five years as owner-chef Bobby Reynaud focuses on needed kidney and heart transplants and his recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nPromising Cary Italian restaurant closed due to chef and owner\u2019s health struggle - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5030\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Promising Cary Italian restaurant closed due to chef and owner\u2019s health struggle - 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