It looks like the chef of a French bistro in Natick is opening a new restaurant in East Somerville.
A photo of a flyer that we received by email indicates that a new restaurant called La Brasa has been proposed for the space on Broadway where a bar called Khoury's State Spa had been until closing in 2009. The flyer mentions that the proprietor of the planned spot is Frank McClelland, who runs L'Espalier in Boston's Back Bay, as well as the trio of Sel de la Terre restaurants in Boston and Natick, but the owner of the dining spot will actually be Chef Daniel Bojorquez from the Natick location of Sel de la Terre. It appears that a neighborhood meeting is being held in the Broadway space on Wednesday, October 12 to talk about the plan to open La Brasa, as well as the request for a liquor license.
About two decades after opening the high-end French restaurant L'Espalier, Frank McClelland opened the first location of Sel de la Terre in 2000 along the Boston waterfront, with locations in Natick and the Back Bay opening several years later. Both L'Espalier and Sel de la Terre have gained national recognition from various magazines and books, with the original Sel de la Terre being picked by Esquire magazine as one of America's best new restaurants when it first opened. [NOTE: All locations of Sel de la Terre are now closed.]
According to a spokesperson for New France (the holding company for L'Espalier and Sel de la Terre), La Brasa will be not be affiliated with either restaurant.
The address for this upcoming restaurant is: La Brasa, 118-120 Broadway, Somerville, MA, 02143.
[January 25, 2012 update: According to the East Somerville Main Streets Facebook page, La Brasa has decided to sign a lease for the space at 130 Broadway instead of 118 Broadway, because the space at 118 Broadway "wasn't a match in the end." (Thanks to one of our readers for bringing this to our attention.)]
[February 6, 2014 update: Boston Magazine states that La Brasa plans to open in late March, with influences coming from French, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Peruvian cuisines, to name a few. (The article also mentions that the main focus will be cooking over an open wood fire.)]
[April 25, 2014 update: UrbanDaddy states via a Twitter post that La Brasa opens today.]
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