When Harvey’s Bistro closed in February the one question everyone kept asking was, “Where’s Rocky going to go?” It was even the headline in an article the Sentinel published after I broke the story that the Bistro had closed abruptly along with Manuel’s on the 28th.
Rocky, of course, is Rocky Mazza whose larger-than-life persona made him a favorite with Bistro regulars. His section was always filled with patrons who specifically requested to be at one of his tables. And he would often entertain them by dressing up as Zorro or some other flamboyant character.
Not sure how Zorro will go over at K Restaurant Wine Bar. Mazza started working at the tony College Park restaurant last week after owner Kevin Fonzo offered him a job. The two have known each other since they both were working at Peabody Orlando hotel decades ago.
Mazza called to tell me he was working at K but asked me not to say anything for a few weeks until he was sure it was going to be a good fit. But then Commander Coconut spilled the beans in his Friday column, so Rocky said it was OK if I told you.
Rocky took some time off to travel after Harvey’s closed, and he did take a waiter job with a steakhouse recently, but it was not for him, he told me. “It was too corporate.”
He says the Zorro outfits will definitely not work in K’s main dining room. But if there’s a private party in K2, the small-plates venue that can be closed off from the main dining room, it’s a possibility.
We’ll check in with him — and Fonzo — in a couple of weeks to see how things are going.
