Longtime Restaurant Industry Veteran Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli Is Opening His Own Place

A longtime Boston restaurant industry veteran is finally striking out on his own: Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli is opening a restaurant called Alcove in spring 2018, per a press release sent today. It’ll be located at Lovejoy Wharf, a condominium building on the waterfront (100 Lovejoy Wharf, Boston), straddling the North End and West End. TD Garden is steps away.

If his name sounds familiar, it’s partly because he’s the nephew of Chris Schlesinger, founder of East Coast Grill. Schlesinger-Guidelli’s early experience in the restaurant industry included working numerous positions at East Coast Grill and another Schlesinger restaurant, the Back Eddy in Wesport. Schlesinger-Guidelli also spent five years as general manager of Island Creek Oyster Bar, not to mention a few years before that at Eastern Standard and at Craigie on Main. Much of his resume is beverage-focused and steeped in that signature Garrett Harker hospitality at Eastern Standard and Island Creek.

Since leaving Island Creek a couple years ago, Schlesinger-Guidelli has been working as a consultant to restaurant entrepreneurs; he was “consultant, friend, mentor, and collaborator,” as well as “ceramicist and archaeologist,” for the opening of Tracy Chang’s Pagu, for example, as previously reported.

Per today’s press release, which doesn’t reveal details about what Schlesinger-Guidelli plans to serve at his forthcoming restaurant, he’s always been thinking of opening his own place and has been searching for the “perfect mix of location and concept.” Stay tuned for more information as the planned spring opening approaches.