Construction to start soon on Connie & Ted’s
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When I called Michael Cimarusti at Providence about the restaurant’s Friday lunch service for a Critic’s Choice I’m writing for May 12, he gave me an update on Connie & Ted’s. That’s the name of the New England seafood shack he’s opening this fall on the site of the old (and now closed) Silver Spoon diner at Santa Monica Boulevard and Havenhurst Drive in West Hollywood.
“I really wanted to open a clam shack,” he said. “This is going to be a little bigger, but we’ll still have a screen door slapping at the front.” He’ll have a big oyster bar. And a menu that encompasses crab cakes, lobster rolls, fried clams -- everything you’d typically find at the seashore in New England.
I’m selfishly hoping he’ll also have those clam fritters with yuzu kosho mayonnaise he serves at Friday lunch at Providence. And his signature white chowda’.
The new place is named after his grandparents, who lived in Providence, R.I. They were Constance and Edward, but everyone called them Connie and Ted, and the restaurant will be a tribute to them and everything he learned about seafood the summers he spent at their house.
On Friday, Cimarusti and his team are meeting with the five contractors who have put in bids. Once they decide on one, the project is ready to go. Permits are already pulled, which is good news. I can’t wait to see what Cimarusti will do with a casual seafood place. Start the countdown.
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-- S. Irene Virbila
Twitter.com/sirenevirbila