I never did get to the Rat Pack Cafe before it closed and was wondering if anything was going on with the space. I saw in the work permits that Bollywood Grill is moving in. I wish I liked Indian food, I’ve tried it a few times but I’m just not into it but I know this cuisine has a lot of hard core fans so I’m sure it will do well.
At the former site of Chili’s will be the British Beer Company. This is a small Massachusetts chain of 7 (soon to be 8 ) British style pubs. I had not heard of these until now, but I checked out their website and it seems like a it’ll be a great addition to Route 9. Since most likely a small mom and pop restaurant will not open on Route 9, I think this will be the closest we’ll get.
On their website they say they have 100 beers and 40 of them are on tap. They have an employee exchange and send random staff members to England to work at pubs there and help re-create the British pub experience here. I don’t know how well hat works but it’s an interesting concept. They will also have live music, so I’m looking forward to checking that out too.
Passing by the dearly departed Hurwitz Kosher Meat Market I noticed a “coming soon” sign. I’m not sure what kind of food JOA take-out will serve. It would be nice if it’s something I really like but I’ll check it out either way. I thought it was interesting that on the permit it states there will be 50 seats. I don’t know how they would even fit 6 seats. There is no mention or permits for the vacant space next door but I guess we’ll see what they have planned.
According to a MWDN article the Italian restaurant Papa Razzi will be taking over ye olde Bennigan’s location (thank you!)
From the article:
“Work on gutting Bennigan’s will start within the next five business days”
“The gutting is taking place because “pretty much everything in there is useless,” said Dalton (VP Back Bay Restaurant Group) ”It has a lot of age on it and it’s in poor condition. It’s better to strip everything out.”
Amen.
I’ve been to the Papa Razzi Wellesley a few years ago and remember it being really good. I think they’ll do very well here. They’re going to spend $2.3 million on renovations. I’m glad someone with money is going to renovate the whole place.
The old (and ugly) building that was once Janitor’s Warehouse at the corner of Concord and Aberdeen (and Rt. 9) has finally been torn down.
You’d think there would be some permits issued for this but I looked up the address and nothing has been issued since 2005. In fact, there are only three permits ever issued on the building at all (according to the permit and licence look-up onthe town website) so maybe something is just off in the record keeping.
I have no idea what could be going on for this site, but I’m pretty sure whatever it is will be better than that boarded up old building.
Before:
After:
Driving by the old Ipanema the other day I noticed a sign saying a new Chinese restaurant called Red Pepper will be opening there. As I’ve mentioned before I love Chinese food so I’m looking forward to another place to try.
It’s kind of funny this place has gone from Irish tavern to Texan BBQ, to Brazilian and now Chinese. I think it was even a martini bar at one point too. Anyway I’m looking forward to trying it whenever it opens.
Major work being done on the old Border’s book store next to Ken’s.
Unfortunately, work permits do not yield much information except the owner is “Hanna Enterprises” and got permission to “weld/cut staircase” and a sign permit that states “WALL SIGN - SPRINT”. I’m really hoping SPRINT means a type of sign or something because it would be such a waste to have a cell phone store take up that space. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.