When Rizzo's French Dip opened on 15th Avenue Northwest in July 2009, it created a buzz with its small space, smaller menu and the larger-than-life family that owned it. Now, the restaurant is for sale as the Rizzo family prepares to leave Seattle.

About a month ago, owner Frank Rizzo moved back to Los Angeles to take care of family business and got stuck there, son and Rizzo's employee Anthony Marks said. Now, the rest of the family is preparing to join him, Marks said.

Though business at Rizzo's has been good, Marks said it would be too difficult for them to continue to manage it from California.

"It's been doing pretty good," he said. "It's just one of those things we can't take care of anymore."

Frank Rizzo said it has been tough to keep the business up to his standards while he has been in California, but he has savored his time at the helm of Rizzo's

"I enjoyed it," he said. "It's not hard work, and we sell a lot of sandwiches."

Rizzo said he is hoping to sell the business, not just the space, in order to make some money and because he believes there is a future in the Rizzo's brand.

If he could find someone he can trust with the business, he has a game plan, he said. The plan includes opening a number of other Rizzo's locations but doing all the cooking in the Ballard space to keeps costs and permitting low at the new locations.

"It someone buys the business and opens a few more, I think they'd have a gold mine," Rizzo said.

The cramped – a counter, one table and a small kitchen – Rizzo's French Dip was opened on the 2,550-square-foot lot at 7334 15th Ave. N.W. by Rizzo, who lived next door to the restaurant until returning to Los Angeles after a little less than two years in Seattle, and his cousin Tony.

The sole menu item was, obviously, the French dip sandwich, offered with a choice of cheese or no cheese and a side of macaroni salad.

Apart from the attention garnered by the simple menu, Rizzo's also made news with its philanthropic efforts. The restaurant employed formerly homeless youth, and last November, Rizzo's bought six top round roasts to feed approximately 150 homeless youth.

Marks said he is not sure when the space will sell or what will become of it, but for the time being, Rizzo's French Dip remains open as one of the neighborhood's most unique eateries.