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Bufad gets closer

New pizzeria at 13th and Spring Garden.

Michael Pasquarello is taking his sweet time in opening Bufad, the wood-fired pizzeria at 13th and Spring Garden Streets, up the block from Cafe Lift and Prohibition Taproom, which he owns with his wife, Jeniphur.

Though Feb. 1 is the opening date, it's pretty much ready to go. He's been running test meals to train staff and work out kinks.

Menu looks great - simply four apps, three salads, and six pizzas. He's making his own fennel sausage. Chef Lauren Weitman, last at Prohibition, was making her own ice cream when I stopped.

Industrial decor includes rough-finished floors, wood-and-steel tables, tiles - and if you look carefully behind the pizza oven - a Chinese saying. That was a gift from the couple who owns the building and who previously ran Yum Yum Chinese Restaurant, Bufad's predecessor.

Mike Pasquarello traces "Bufad" to slang uttered by his grandmother, who shortened l'abuffata ("binge") when referring to someone who'd overeaten.