Foodies Rejoice: Two New Restaurants Belmont Bound

A pair of 60-plus seat restaurants – an Italian eatery from the successful chef/owner of Waltham's La Campania and a sister location of a top-rated Mexican restaurant in the South End – are proposing to open this year in Belmont, adding to the town's growing reputation as a destination location for good dining. 

Located in the location once occupied by a shoe repair shop at 436 Common St. in Cushing Square, La Maione Pizzeria Con Cucina will be an Italian eatery focusing on Neapolitan-style pizza and southern Italian "soul food" from chef John Maione who has owned La Campania on Main Street for more than a decade.

Over in Belmont Center, El Centro Mexican Restaurant will be the suburban outpost of the South End-based standout located on Shawmut Avenue. Robert Islam's newest place will be located at 66 Leonard St., the former home of The Frame Hut, in the same Belmont Center commercial building as Robert's Hair Salon.

Both proposed establishments will be before Belmont's Planning Board on May 7 for design and site plan reviews seeking a parking waiver from the town's zoning code. 

And the two establishments will need to take advantage of an article being presented to next week's annual Town Meeting to increase by eight the number of liquor licenses in Belmont. 

The proposed restaurants would join a growing list of eateries in Belmont serving a wide array of tastes and prices. Il Casale, Comella's and several others occupy Belmont Center while Savinos Grill and Kitchen on Common have been holding forth in Cushing Square.

In fact, an anticipated changing face of Belmont was one reason Maione sought "the town of homes" for his next venture.

In his proposal to the town, Maione said he was drawn by the proposed approval for a building permit to construct the three-building project. 

Maione – who put up $40,000 of his own money to start jump the venture – believes that once the development is built, he will see a 60 percent increase in customer volume in an "area ... in need of a warm and friendly place" that will present "authentic European flair" to its customers.

Yuppies welcomed

"You will feel you have been transported into an old [r]ustic Neapolitan villa with unique rooms with a cobblestone fire place" with "old chestnut doors taken out of 100-year-old barns."

The 1,780 square foot narrow-ish space – already leased to March 31, 2019 – will have 60 seats indoors and up to 40 outdoors on its "lovely patio" (the sidewalk)" when the weather is nice.

It will have a bar, tables, a special private room with four more tables that can be closed to the rest of the customers in addition to a "Stanza del Cuocco" or chef's table where you can view the kitchen staff labor like Gordon Ramsey.

The clientele? Maione said his target customer is between 30 to 70 which he describes as "[u]pscale townies and suburban yuppies" who have "good morals and are genuinely sincere and polite." 

The menu (photos of the menu are located on this web page) includes appetizers such as wood-grilled prawns with tomato confit and baby arugula and Buffalo mozzarella with fresh heirloom tomatoes and garden basil.

The "backbone" of the menu will be the 10-inch Neapolitan-style pizzas such as Pizza Margherita ($12-$15) baked in a wood-burning oven currently being shipped from Naples and handmade stuffed agnlotti pasta with a full plate costing $17, the half order at $10. 

The food will be served in copper pans and bowls straight from the kitchen. 

The restaurant will be open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesdays through Sunday. It will employ five to eight employees each night. 

Maione, the executive chef and owner, will be assisted by his wife, Michelle, who will run the front of the house while his four children will help. 

His initial plan predicts a quick turn around with a pre-open on Aug. 12 and an official opening on Aug. 21. 

The plans for El Centro calls for 66 seats in an equally-narrow space as Maione's (about 1,200 sq.ft.) with a bar by the front door. 

The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week. 

El Centro's Belmont store will be constructed on the winning formula from its flagship restaurant: its signature guacamole ($8), fufu drinks, corn tortilla stuffed with cheese ($14), charcoal-grilled steak Sonora style ($22) and fish or Barbacon tacos ($5). 

There is no expected opening date for the South End transplant.