Tucson natives Mat Cable and Devon Sanner had flirted for a couple of years with the idea of a culinary collaboration, and as luck would have it, the timing and circumstances that had never seemed right before came together last fall — at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In April, the two longtime friends will open Zio Peppe on East Tanque Verde Road, an Italian-American restaurant that will borrow from Cable’s Fresco Pizzeria & Pastaria and Sanner’s 15 years working in Janos Wilder’s kitchens.