![]() ![]() The new restaurant will be even more casual than its predecessor, Romano says. The menu will be rounded out with fresh oysters of the day, barbecue, and nightly specials more aligned with American comfort food rather than the equatorial cuisine for which ECG was known. As Romano and Joy had put a fair amount of work into refreshing East Coast Grill last year, the new spot will keep the tiki decor, and the bar program, as well as “99.9 percent of the staff,” Romano says.īut the new concept will focus on Romano’s fried chicken, a Monday night special at Highland Kitchen, and a menu staple at ECG 2.0. The owners started making moves toward Highland Fried last month, as Boston Restaurant Talk noticed. “The concept was just too big,” Romano says. And because it was the Highland team, including bartender Joe McGuirk, they also decided to expand the bar program. That meant taking over a beloved menu that spanned a raw bar to barbecue to wood-grilled and spicy specials. But when ECG went up for sale, we said, ‘Let’s just go for that.'” Originally that’s the kind of thing me and Marci were looking to do. “We can do a better business model if we use the Highland brand… the focus a bit. “We went into this thing with our hearts rather than our heads,” Romano says. ![]() The couple, who had met at the original East Coast Grill when it was owned by restaurateur Chris Schlesinger, were already looking for a second location when ECG went on the market in January 2016. Highland Kitchen owners Mark Romano and Marci Joy, who opened their Somerville restaurant in 2007, reignited East Coast Grill just after the new year.
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