Fry’s Spring Station set to serve
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The old service station will be serving again this Friday, May 21.FILE PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR
Over a year after the Fry’s Spring Service Station was closed after a 70-year run servicing cars, the historic building on the corner of Jefferson Park and Maury Avenues will begin its new life serving gourmet pizzas this Friday, May 21.
“It’s beautiful,” says co-owner and Downtown Grille owner Robert Sawrey, who, with business partner Steve Parry, has spent the last year renovating the station under the watchful eye of the Board of Architectural Review, which gave special historic protection to the building in 2008. “You walk in, and you just go ‘wow,’” says Sawrey.
As Sawrey explained back in January, Fry’s Spring Station, as they decided to name it, will have a brick oven big enough to cook 22 pizzas at a time, plus a small bar area and seating for 100. There will be another 45 seats under the elaborate porte-cochère in front and along Maury, which will feature heat lamps for year-’round outdoor dining.
In addition to pizzas and paninis, there will be soups, salads, various specials, brew pub beer, and a selection of Italian wines. Heading up the effort will be Sawrey’s Downtown Grille sous chef, Barry Binney, and his Brazilian-born assistant, Caroline Oliveira.
“My partner, Steve, has opened around 18 restaurants,” says Sawrey, “and he thinks this is the prettiest one of all.”
Hopefully they’ll have a State Inspection pizza so I won’t get my signals crossed.
I wouldn’t eat a pizza out of this dirty old lead bucket if they paid me.
Where will one park?
Within walking distance for me — order up a pie!
145 seats + bar + employees + anyone picking up a to-go order = let’s add a touch of adjacent modernist whimsy to this historical preservation project by erecting a three-story parking garage
To Pizza? This place is marvelous on the inside. They have renovated it and I have had a look inside. They have done a wonderful job to it. The inside looks brand new. This may be one of the CLEANEST placest around period, and to U-Hoo there is no parking as I was told. Students and such will walk by to get a bite to eat.
like they have at the University Corner
Great idea. Heard they’ll have a great beer selection. Outdoor seating. Assuming the food is good this will be a welcome addition!
As a nearby neighbor, I can’t wait for this place to open. It looks fantastic inside and will offer a more upscale alternative to the existing area restaurants.
This sounds like it’s gonna be such a cool place. Can’t wait to try it out!
You can have wonderful food, plenty of seating, great beers, but if you don’t have parking it’s nearly impossible to make a go at it in C-Ville. This is not Manhattan or downtown Toronto. Cars and SUV’s are king here. How would one park (seriously) for this place?
I was looking at it the other day–it should be great but I really do not know where you could park. It will have to be strictly a neighborhood place unless I am missing some hidden parking lot. The c-store across the street won’t allow it, there doesn’t seem to be street parking or a lot(there is outdoor patio space)–They must have something
Don’t forget, there’s lots of parking all along the trolley route…with a stop right in front of the Station.
Think of Belmont. There are no mega-parking lots there, but Mas, Bel Rio, La Taza, and the Local, Tavola, etc. are thriving. Why such a call for parking at The Station?
df,
To hear some of those owners in Belmont tell it, they are barely scraping by. The only reason 3 of them are in business at all is because they are using up the surrouding residential parking for their businesses. This has caused no end to the inconvenience and lost sleep by many of the residents. Many have to park a block away from their own houses, to unload groceries, which is not exactly fun when you are 70+ years old.
And don’t start spewing how it is a downtown area as an excuse. The very fact that it is a dowtown area should have reminded the city that they cannot ignore zoning guidelines and requirements. If the restaurants can’t make it off of primarily pedestrian taiffic- and they don’t, then they have to find a way to provide parking that does not force residents to walk a block to their own homes.
I would NOT use the Belmont NCC district as an example of a successful business model because it is not.
The three establishments that actually provide parking are Mas, La Taza, and Belmont BBQ. The other 4 are getting a free ride on the back of residents, and it’s disgusting.
At least the area around the Fry’s Spring garage has parking protection for the residents. And they have so many apartment complexes they could make it. But why don;t you add seven restaurants there, and then see what happens.
Jeanne,
There main bus station is a five minute walk from the Belmont NCC district. The free trolley stops there. Everyone still drive to Belmont to eat, and they push the residents out.
A bus stops right at the NCC district. The only people getting off of it are the people who actually live in that ara and moved there for a pedestrian lifestyle. Now they can’t even use their own cars on the occasion they need them.