Artego Pizza on 39th Street is closed after seven months

The sign taped to the front door of Artego Pizza, at 900 West 39th Street, puts it this way: “Closed for kitchen repairs.”

Well, it’s closed all right, but it sounds like the kitchen is the least of Artego’s problems.

This evening, KSHB Channel 41 aired a story reporting that the restaurant was closed and that co-owner Brandon Carrier was accusing business partner Joe Perez of being responsible for the restaurant’s demise.

Perez, a former Kansas City Chiefs player, was very much the public face of the seven-month-old pizzeria. Perez built the interior of the restaurant himself, creating walls out of reclaimed wood, building the galvanized steel bar and refinishing the concrete floors.

“Closing is a bittersweet moment for me after putting my heart and soul into it,” Perez says, “and being in the company of such great people in midtown. However, facing challenges — as most businesses do — has allowed me to learn tremendously from this experience.”