Establishments get a refire
Restaurateurs looking to give local eateries a second chance
WOONSOCKET — One of the most vibrant sectors of the local economy – the restaurant industry – is in for some big changes in 2019, with not one, but two large venues which have been closed for some time set to reopen with Italian-American cuisine.
The latest entries into the fray are veteran restaurateurs Eric and Bethany Marsland. The current operators of Champ’s Diner, the Marslands are poised to launch a new venture called Fazzini’s in what used to be the Brick House, located at 2120 Diamond Hill Road. The latter abruptly closed in November 2017, surviving just six months after a group of investors took over the site, which had previously operated as Plaza Mexico.
Since the 1980s, Bethany Marsland has owned or operated a long string of restaurants, most of them in the city, including the former Bethany’s, My Little Diner and Chat-tery’s. She and her husband, a Rhode Island School of Design culinary arts graduate, are shooting to open Fazzini’s by mid-February.
“This has been my hus- band’s lifelong dream,” said Marsland. “He wants to do fine dining.”
“It’s exciting,” her husband added. “It’s a new venture for us. We’re going to carry on the same high standards we have at Champ’s – everything fresh, everything local.”
Fazzini’s was named after Eric’s grandmother, whose family surname was Fazzini. He and his wife say they plan on running Champ’s and Fazzini’s simultaneously.
The Marslands reopened Champs on Front Street four years ago after Neighbor Works Blackstone River Valley rescued the historic dining car from a salvage yard in Providence. The diner had operated in Park Square from the 1930s to the 1980s before it was relocated to make way for a new Dunkin’ Donuts, eventually finding its way to the salvage yard.
A city native, Bethany Marsland said affordable, family-friendly meals will be the hallmark of Fazzini’s. In addition to Italian-American standards, she said her husband’s menu will feature an assortment of roasts, family-style chicken and unique specials.
“I want the mother and father with the two kids who come in on Friday to come back again next Friday,” she said. “It’s going to be very affordable.”
The Marslands will be leasing the former Brick House, which recently changed hands. They have already begun bringing in new equipment and furnishings, but will hold off on more substantial renovations until the liquor license is transferred to the new company. A hearing is expected to take place before the City Council on Jan. 7, she said.
The other restaurant resurrection in the works involves the former Vintage, which hasn’t been open since 2014. Last summer, Worcester businessman Nicholas Markopoulos of Alpha Restaurant Equipment announced that he’d purchased Market Square building and that, after substantial renovations, professional chef Angelo Petropulos would run it as an Italian-American restaurant, with a few Greek specialties on the menu.
Reached by phone, Petropulos said the restaurant will open by March if all goes according to plan. Renovations are under way now.
“Everything went well,” said Petropulos. “We’re ready to go and our permits are done. It’s just the renovations now.”
Petropulos had been planning to call the new restaurant Sweet Basil, but that’s been scuttled. Petropulos said the name will be Christopher’s Kitchen and Bar, in honor of
his late father, who died 10 years ago.
Located at 2 South Main St., Vintage was built as a new restaurant in 1997 after a group of investors tried to open a fine dining location in an older building that used to house another eatery, known as the Bravo. The restaurateurs discovered structural problems with the building that caused them to raze it and start from scratch.
Markopoulos paid $375,000 for the site, closing on the sale in October, according to city records. Petropulos says the restaurant will get a thorough cosmetic overhaul, but no major structural changes, before it opens as Christopher’s Kitchen and Bar.
“All the furniture will be different, the colors will be different, and there will be new kitchen equipment,” he said. “Upstairs where the bar used to be will be more loungey, with soft seating, lower tables and
couches instead of chairs.”
Beyond the addition of Fazzini’s and Christopher’s Kitchen and Bar to the foodscape, the recent $1.8 million sale of one of the most popular casual dining spots in the city – River Falls – may also bring more choices to hungry consumers. The new owners say they plan no changes to River Falls dine-in menu, catering and private function business, but they are exploring the possibility of reopening the lounge that once operated in a portion of the building, and may add a breakfast component to the menu.
The ownership group is led by Hevan Patel of Norwood, Mass., who already owns a successful Middle Eastern restaurant on Providence’s Federal Hill – the Nara Lounge. Located at 74 South Main St., River Falls occupies the historic Falls Yarn Mill, built in the mid-19th century on the edge of the Blackstone River, and features an outdoor dining patio overlooking Thundermist Falls.
Interim Economic Development Director Scott Gibbs says there’s little doubt that the newcomers to the fine dining mix are attempting to fill an open niche in the local market. He says there are plenty of consumers who’d like more local options for “sit-down food,” so when it’s time to go out to dinner, they often find themselves heading outside the area.
“You don’t have a lot of good options when it comes to this region,” said Gibbs.
There’s no doubt the startups will make for a more competitive environment, Gibbs said, adding that their longevity may depend on where they’re drawing their customers from. He said it will be vital for them to attract customers from outside the city to survive, not just within it.
“If it’s the latter, it’s a zero-sum game – there’s only so much money to go around,” said Gibbs. “But you have to assume that nobody’s doing this just for the local market.”