Former Rocca Space to Become Cinquecento

The word is out: what was once Rocca will now become Cinquecento. The Globe Magazine goes into shocking detail about the space's transition with a story that sprawls across ten pages and leaves no stone unturned. The article discusses the rise and fall, and then the other rise and fall, of Rocca and studies the examples of local success stories like Island Creek Oyster Bar. The author's skepticism about a new mid-priced Italian restaurant trying to succeed where another mid-priced Italian restaurant failed is thinly veiled: "If there’s one thing Boston never hurt for, it’s 1.5-star Italian." The space will be nearly unrecognizable, and the new menu will include dishes like steak tartare with toasted hazelnuts, shaved truffles, and in-house guanciale bacon.

· Reversing a restaurant curse [-EB-]