Chris and Paige Gould, founders of Central Provisions, have purchased the former Borealis Bistro at 182 Ocean Ave where they plan to open a wood-fired Italian restaurant. The as-yet unnamed restaurant will seat 48 including a 9-seat bar and will serve Neapolitan-style pizza as well as pasta, salads and crudo.
The Goulds are making minimal changes to the existing interior which will allow for a speedy refit of the space—quite a different situation than the intensive and lengthy construction involved in launching Central Provisions in 2014. They hope to open this Back Cove neighborhood restaurant in December or January, serving dinner Wednesday through Sunday with plans to eventually open for weekend brunch.
The property has onsite parking, one space of which will be reserved for people picking up takeout orders.
Updated: MaineBiz has published an article on the real estate transaction and the Gould’s new restaurant.
As a Cheverus grad, I’m glad to see the Penny Wise building back in use 🙂 !
Also, since it’s vaguely related and not far away, have you heard anything new about the Otto Pizza on Read St.? I was by there recently and it looks like they stopped the project.
Yaaaawwwwnnn… what a miss. Considering all of the choices for such a prime space in a neighborhood in dire need of inspiration, this is the best they can do? Is it just me or are there at 5 perfectly adequate if not great Italian eateries within a mile of this location in every direction? Anything but this. Hey, at least it’s bound to feature salty/oily/trendy small plates at a joke premium a la Central… NEXXXXXT!
This should be a home run in that neighborhood. The only problem could be parking. Hopefully they can work out a deal with the office across the street to use that lot at night.
There’s been a pretty interesting list of “under construction” projects that never make it to opening (PHAC restaurant, Palace Diner guys on Washington, Thompson’s Point seafood shack). Sounds like Otto is the latest.