Tiffani Faison’s Not Done Growing Her Fenway Empire

If running three restaurants seems like a challenge, Tiffani Faison stands unfazed against naysayers: Since 2011, the acclaimed restaurateur, Top Chef alum, and frequent participant in local charity events has built up her culinary esteem with a wildly successful restaurant empire in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood — and she’s not done. This summer, Faison will open an Italian restaurant called Orfano within the Pierce Boston building at the corner of Brookline Avenue and Boylston Street.

Orfano will be the latest addition to Big Heart Hospitality, the restaurant group Faison runs with her wife and business partner Kelly Walsh.

It all began with barbecue joint Sweet Cheeks (1381 Boylston St.) in 2011, which established a firm presence for the coming restaurant group in a portion of the city poised for large-scale growth. Faison and Walsh then unveiled Southeast Asia-inspired Tiger Mama (1363 Boylston St.) in 2015 and added a standing-room-only “adult snack bar,” Fool’s Errand (1377 Boylston St.), between the two venues late last year.

Now, as residential buildings, offices, and retail developments continue to build up around the trio of restaurants, they’re making moves to open a fourth restaurant in the building next door.

While the restaurant is in the early stages, planning meetings have begun, per Boston Magazine’s profile of Faison. Representatives for the Big Heart team declined to provide Eater further details at this point, confirming only that it will be an Italian restaurant and that it is slated for a summer 2019 debut.

Faison — a nominee for Eater Boston’s 2018 Chef of the Year award for Fool’s Errand — is no stranger to Italian cuisine; she served as executive chef of Rocca in Boston’s South End before the restaurant’s closure in 2011, and before she began to take over Fenway.

Once the new restaurant opens, visitors to the neighborhood will be even more spoiled for choice when it comes to dining. Orfano will join Nathálie — the 2018 Eater Boston Bar of the Year, which comes from the team behind wine gem Haley.Henry in Downtown Crossing — in the Pierce building, and the neighborhood is packed with other great options, old and new. Plus, Fenway’s Landmark building will eventually be home to Time Out Market, a food hall slated to open sometime in 2019, which will bring even more food and drink to the area.

Stay tuned for updates as Orfano materializes in Fenway.

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