Restaurants close, some expectedly, others reluctantly. In early January, SLM announced the latter, the impending closure of the revered West End Grill & Pub (a.k.a. WEGAP). But the situation was “not all doom and gloom,” according to co-owner Neill Costello, who said the restaurant would “reopen with a new name, an updated look, and a new menu created by an enormously talented chef.”
Alas, that deal fell through.
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Once that news circulated, a group of neighbors sprung into action and offered to invest as part-owners. Costello and William Roth, two of WEGAP’s original four owners, would be part of the new regime, and the investors, “a group of 12 to 15 ambassadors,” will be just that, Roth says, and will help to market the new iteration.
“It’s not that we were ever doing poorly,” explains Roth, “but with all the new restaurants opening nearby, business had fallen off. A succession of chefs put their stamp on the food, but the post-game consensus was that WEGAP didn’t need a full reinvention; we just needed to raise the bar with what we already had.” The new restaurant plans to offer items that will “bridge the generations,” he adds.
Many of the favorite WEGAP dishes will reappear: the mussels, steak sandwich, $1 oysters on Thursday nights, and maybe even the braunschweiger sandwich. And expect affordably priced nightly specials, rather than the same special on designated nights. When WEGAP reopens, it will be for dinner only and then possibly Sunday brunch and a lunchtime/box lunch catering program for surrounding businesses.
Instead of immersing themselves in daily operations, Roth and Costello plan to redirect their salaries to a kitchen manager and front-of-house manager. “Same resources, just better use of them,” Roth says.
Even after the restaurant closure, the 99-seat Gaslight Theater (under the same roof) continued to host plays and shows. The reenergized WEGAP will debut April 12, the same night as the opening of True West by Sam Shepard, which runs through April 28.
“The shows are all sit-down affairs,” explains Roth. “You can’t just walk in and and out during a performance.” So he plans to add separate entertainment options inside the restaurant proper to expand WEGAP’s appeal.
On the decor front, guests shouldn’t expect a drastic makeover, just some repainting and reupholstering—”the things that tend to get away from you, but shouldn’t,” says Roth—and some new Gaslight Square–era photos.
Most local diners have a list of restaurants they need to “get to” or “get to more often.” WEGAP should be on that list.
