il Casale Team Opening New Belmont Center Restaurant in Early Summer

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Photo: The de Magistris’ new eatery “The Wellington” will be a similar size to the flagship il Casale restaurant.

Residents will have a new dining option as the Belmont family that runs il Casale will open its newest eatery in the early summer in the building that houses Foodies and the Belmont Book Store.

The “The Wellington” was presented before the Belmont Board of Selectmen last week as the de Magistris family sought a full-alcohol license for the second of the family’s businesses in Belmont Center, following their award-winning restaurant at 50 Leonard St. 

The license was approved unanimously by the board on Jan. 8. 

The family first approached the town in July 2017 when it presented its designs to the Planning Board which took some issue with the parking spaces allocated to the business. The application was approved in September. 

The new restaurant will be “a little more casual than what you may recall at il Casale, more modern American fare (“hamburgers and oysters,” according to Dante de Magistris), a fresh seasonal menu that will change … and meeting the ever-growing demand foreign and vegetarian options” in the $11 to $16 range for “burger and  and $21 to $31 for entrees. There will also be a brunch menu.  

The location – which will have entries on Leonard Street and adjacent the Claflin Street parking lot – will be open for lunch at 11 a.m. and dinner until 10 p.m. with a bar featuring craft beers and handmade cocktails. There will also be a brunch menu.  

The new eatery will mirror il Casale in size and occupancy, taking up 3,500 sq.-ft. in the first-floor dining area – with 2,000 sq.-ft. in the lower level taken up by office and storage space – will have 133 seats with 21 bar seating with an occupancy of 200, nearly identical to the de Magistris’ flagship operation.

de Magistristos OK’d To Open ‘Neighborhood’ Eatery In Macy’s Block

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Photo: Damian de Magistris 

It doesn’t yet have a name, but a new eatery from the Belmont family that brought upscale il Casale will be up and running in Belmont Center next year.

That’s the outcome from the Planning Board that voted to waive the town’s bylaw on restaurant parking requirements allowing the de Magistris family to open a “neighborhood restaurant” in the renovated Macy’s Block.

“We’ll start work on the space in the fall and open by spring [2018],” said Damian de Magistris to the Belmontonian after the decision made at the Planning Board’s meeting held Monday, Sept. 19.

The town’s zoning bylaw requires one parking space for every two seats in a proposed restaurant. With the new site set to hold 133 seats, the de Magistris family was required to provide 67 spaces dedicated to the new business.

After the Planning Board advised the family to come back with additional data back in July, it came to Monday’s meeting with parking statistics and two videos. 

According to Len Simons, an attorney for landlord Locatelli Properties assisting the de Magistris family with its application, there is “a lot of parking spaces available” in the parking lots in the rear of the building and on-the-street at the peak times of 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and Saturday afternoons around 12:30 p.m.

Simons also said supplemental information indicates that about 70 percent of employees will be taking public transportation to the new outlet. 

de Magistris told the board the family sees the new dining spot “a bit as a service to our community.” But requiring multiple visits before the board “are stressful for us financial” since “we want to make this work.” said de Magistris.

In the end, the Planning Board gave relief to the zoning requirements with the condition that employees understand where they can and cannot park.

Initially dubbed Roast 75 (as in 75 Leonard St. the street address), the new site would be a “new warm, inviting neighborhood restaurant,”  incorporating an inexpensive, farm-to-table concept “that you can go to every day,” said Dante de Magistris when the family first revealed its plans before the Planning Board in July. 

“It’s a nice beautiful spot there,” said de Magistris.