Michael D’Orlando took the greatest risk of his life in October. He walked away from a lucrative job as a banker in Manhattan to open a restaurant at a time when the pandemic was beginning a resurgence and the economy was stagnating. Not to mention a skyrocketing unemployment rate that was shrinking wallets up and down the Shoreline.

“It could have been a recipe for disaster,” said the congenial D’Orlando, 49, as he relaxed in the cozy, mellow-lit dining room of D’Orlando’s Pizza Restaurant on Jefferson Road just off Route 1 on a recent afternoon.