Piccola Allora, the last of local restaurateur Brendon Hudson’s Baltimore eateries, has closed its doors.
The small Roman café at the Johns Hopkins University’s Gilman Hall opened in 2022, offering coffees, pastries and the students’ and faculty favorite, pollo e pepe prosciutto panini. Hudson introduced the shop as a pared-down version of his Mount Vernon bistro Allora, which closed in early May due to an investigation into a “fraudulent check” deposited to Chase Bank, according to messages sent to the restaurant’s employees and reviewed by The Banner.
Since then, Chase Bank has cut all ties with the restaurateur, according to spokeswoman Stephanie Gostomski.
Piccola Allora’s closing, which the Johns Hopkins University confirmed this week, was the final eatery under Hudson’s Liliahna Hospitality Group. During the group’s three-year tenure, Hudson’s restaurants earned acclaim for their Italian cuisine and commitment to bringing Baltimore cuisine “onto the national map.” But as the group grew, so did reported incidents of missing payments. In the last year, the business owner has been accused of failing to pay employees and mired in lawsuits brought by banks, creditors and vendors, according to court records.
Neither Hudson nor his business partner David Monteagudo responded to requests for comment. It is unclear whether the group’s catering company continues to operate in the area.
As of Monday, at least three employees at Allora say they are still missing payments from Hudson. In a final message sent to staff in May, Monteagudo said that “things just ended up not wanting to work out for the businesses and kept hitting walls,” and called the closing unexpected and unintentional. The workers say they have not heard from the owners since.
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Velleggia’s, the Italian eatery inside Cross Street Market launched as a revival of the Little Italy bistro Hudson’s family had run for years, closed last year after months in business. Then Zander’s, a Great Gatsby-themed steakhouse that took over the historic Alexander Brown building in December, also closed after five months after more than a dozen employees claimed Hudson had not paid them on time or at all.
At least one employee has filed complaints against Liliahna Hospitality with the IRS and the Maryland Department of Labor.
In an April interview with The Banner, Hudson responded to the allegations of missing compensation and denied there were any ongoing issues with meeting payments at his eateries.
“Especially when it comes to vendors, vendors and employees are the two most important people to make sure, you know, are being paid on time, just because without them the businesses will not operate,” he said.
“If there were issues then I’m not sure how we’d be able to be open.”
