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Watch your wallets and waistlines this fall. The few days since Labor Day have already seen more than a handful of exciting new restaurants enter the scene, and others are on the way.
A few restaurant groups expanding in the Boston area this fall have been sharing details ahead of anticipated October/early November openings.
Branch Line is hiring now for an October debut. The "urban rotisserie" will offer year-round, outdoor dining and seasonal bocce, plus the level of hospitality one expects from legendary restaurateur Garrett Harker (Eastern Standard, The Hawthorne, Island Creek Oyster Bar, Row 34). Andrew Holden, Eastern Standard's longtime general manager, is partnering with Harker in what is the latter's first ownership endeavor. Holden hails from Watertown.
Located at 321 Arsenal St. in the Arsenal on the Charles complex, Branch Line will host open houses in the atrium behind Panera Bread this Saturday, Tuesday, and next Saturday to round out its opening staff.
A third location of The Friendly Toast is headed for Back Bay, and that restaurant also plans to open next month. Boston Restaurant Talk noticed the timeline in a job posting for all employees.
As previously reported, The Friendly Toast is taking over Zocalo Cocina Mexican at 35 Stanhope St. Like its 20-plus-year-old Portsmouth, N.H. location and its 6-year-old Kendall Square spot, the Toast will serve eclectic breakfast options all day, as well as lunch and dinner.
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, an award-winning New Haven export, plans to open its first Boston-area location in Chestnut Hill sometime late next month or early in November. The restaurant's all-important pizza oven is now in place.
Frank Pepe's is celebrating its 90th year with a big, northeastern expansion. The Chestnut Hill location will be the first of up to five Boston-area pizzerias, a member of the family-owned business told Eater.com earlier this year.
[Inset image: The pizza oven at Frank Pepe's in Chestnut Hill, Facebook.]
