NEW BEDFORD — In decades past, Davy’s Locker in the South End was a hub for good local food and entertainment. Now Stephen Silverstein is working to make that the case again.
The founder of Not Your Average Joe’s Restaurant and new owner of the Black Whale has partnered with Jay Harman of Cisco Brewers in Nantucket to create what Silverstein calls “much more than a restaurant, it's more of an entertainment complex” at the East Rodney French Boulevard location.
“The whole thing is intended to be sort of a celebration of summer and the outdoors (with) the local seafood bounty; locally made beer, wine, and spirits; a lot of outdoor cooking; and outdoor barbecue,” Silverstein explained.
To achieve this, the site plan, which lists the name of the future restaurant as Cisco Kitchen + Bar, includes the construction of an outdoor turf event area for live music that will have portable kiosks for food and beverage service, the expansion of the existing deck to look like the bow of a boat, the addition of an outdoor fire pit and seating area, and the construction of a boardwalk that would extend across the southern and eastern boundaries of the property and a portion of the northern boundary.
“It will be similar to what is on Nantucket and what's in Boston right now, the Cisco experience,” permitting attorney Michael Kehoe said, “where there's a venue that people can enjoy some entertainment and there'll be games and things of that nature.”
Those games will include ones that you would expect to see at picnics and tailgates, according to Kehoe, and there will be a playground area for children.
There will also be beach volleyball, Silverstein said.
In addition, the plans look to take full advantage of the waterfront. Silverstein noted they will be adding an additional dock to the property and the engineer on the project, Steve Gioiosa, told the city’s Planning Board he has been working with the Department of Environmental Protection to improve waterfront access.
“Cisco is from Nantucket and the water, beach, and docks are all part of the vibe,” Silverstein said.
Silverstein said he and Cisco Nantucket, which brews craft beers like Double Indie IPA and Shark Tracker Light Lager, are going to be 50/50 partners in this project, but he is going to run the operation.
The seasoned restaurateur said he’s been friends with Harman for a long time because Not Your Average Joe’s bought a lot of products from Cisco and they’ve talked over the years about doing something together.
Then, they stumbled upon the South End site and decided to do this project last October, according to Silverstein.
The partners have submitted a site plan review application to the city’s Planning Board and if they receive approval, they will have to meet with other city boards — most likely including the Conservation Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals, according to Kehoe.
Kehoe pointed out that they’re not just looking for approval from the city, but also the neighbors.
“We didn’t go before the Planning Board first, we went and spoke with the neighbors first,” Kehoe said.
Through that meeting they discovered that one of the major concerns of the neighbors was parking, according to Kehoe, “As a consequence we are going to do everything possible to contain all of our parking on our land or land that we lease, and not allow our patrons to park on any side streets.”
Their site plan proposes 142 parking spaces, when they are only required to have 86, and Kehoe said they’re also looking into leasing the parking lot across the street.
Kehoe said he’s also aware that neighbors have concerns about potential noise issues and in response, ”Any entertainment we have would be curtailed well before it would interrupt anyone’s sleep, roughly 8:30 pm.”
Neighbors and residents can expect the restaurant to open in May of 2020, Silverstein said, unless any of the approvals and permits are held up.
“Everybody’s helpful it's just a complicated project... it is a large project that is under the purview of a lot of authorities,” Silverstein explained, “I give it a 90% chance of getting done.”
Silverstein and his partner will be purchasing the property from Gregory Kulpinski who ran The Edge restaurant at the location for a few years before it closed in 2017.
Silverstein guessed that The Edge was open for such a short time because “The people that ran The Edge weren’t restaurant people, Greg was a fisherman.”
He doesn’t believe they’ll have any issues with the location because, he said, “We’re professional operators, I’ve been doing it for 25 years and Cisco has been in business 25 years,” and “Davy’s Locker was there for 40 years so it’s a proven location.”
The partners have been working on revisions to their site plan, at the recommendation of Planning Board members, according to Kehoe, and a revised plan will be presented to the Planning Board in September.
If all goes well, and they go on to get all their licenses and permits, Cisco Kitchen + Bar would be Silverstein’s second restaurant in the Whaling City; he acquired the Black Whale Seafood and Raw Bar on Pier Three in June.
However, the restaurants are not going to be similar just because Silverstein owns them both, according to Kehoe, “It’s not going to try to be Black Whale South, it's a different menu, it will be a different vibe.”