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Rozzie could eventually get its Redd's back
By adamg on Sun, 05/05/2019 - 8:08pm
Charlie Redd, who shut his eponymous Roslindale restaurant in a huff last year and set up a new pizza joint in Somerville, says he's going to try to return to Roslindale - someday.
"We will return," Redd writes today.
The people of Rozzie have let me know we are missed more than I ever expected. Antonio and I miss the cooking. The body is dead, but the soul is still very much alive. The passion that started that restaurant is still burning in us and although we tried to extinguish it and move on, we have been unable. We believe that something special combined with our passions and Rozzie’s people that continues to burn.
It will be resurrected, but not now. Our efforts to return this year have been unsuccessful. We are now seasoned business owners who understand the neighborhood, it’s needs, and our place in it. We will come back when we have an honest, fair, long term foundation that cannot be taken away. Never again will our dreams and hard work be taken from us, and us includes you. The next time will be for good.
Redd writes he especially misses the children who "grew up" in his Roslindale restaurant on Washington Street - to which he specifically can't return because the landlord has since rented it to the owner of the burgeoning Chilacates chain in Jamaica Plain, who plans to turn it into both a restaurant and, with the old Tony's space next door, a commissary for his other restaurants.
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Comments
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't he just straight up say that he was leaving so he could get max value out of his liquor license while he still could?
No one forced him out of Roslindale. Dude decided to pick up a crusade and kinda flopped. What's with this BS hero spiel now? Pizza not as successful as one originally thought?
agree
guy was using his liquor license as a parachute. When he thought the parachute might lose some value because of additional "neighborhood" licenses coming on board, he bailed. Plain and simple. If every restaurant owner in Boston played his game we would have seen restaurants closing all over the place.
the place was good, but when he tells the story it's like he was the only game in town - not the case.
if he returns to Rozzie, OK - but I don't think anyone here is losing sleep awaiting his return.
Jerk
This guy is also the jerk who ranted about closing on Sundays because he was unwilling to pay the wages required to attract staff. Please stay on the other side of the river.
You do realize when he did
You do realize when he did that all restaurants were having issues hiring staff (and still are), yes?
You also realize that because of this he and his staff were working 15+ hour days on Sundays, correct?
Will he stay in Somerville too?
If I recall correctly, he came here to open Dragon Pizza on Elm Street in Davis Square. We like the place, even though he called it a temporary pop-up at the time. Will he keep it?
Place sucks
it's like $5 for a slice of pizza. I know "the rent is too damn high" and everything but that's sorta why you should have stayed in Rozzie and not gone to Davis where the real estate is ridiculous and the competition is stiff.
I also find it odd
That they came to a busy, expensive destination and are closed on Sundays. While I can understand giving your staff a full day off, that seems kind of like a wasted opportunity for a place as popular as Davis.
Egomaniac
Charlie Redd is the hero of his own story and no one else's. The way he left Rozzie was ridiculous and self-indulgent. He will not get the welcoming reception he expects if he does actually open a new place.
Please, for everyone
Please, for everyone complaining about how Redd went out you would have done the same damn thing if you thought your investment had the chance of losing a ton of $. Just try and be honest with yourself rather than perpetually complaining. He did what he did for reasons that are his own. Was it rash? I don't know, maybe it was, but it wasn't our $ on the line - it was his.
How much would you be bitching if he stayed and started charging $20 a cocktail or $15 a beer b/c the new restaurant(s) around the corner only had to pay paid a few grand for their neighborhood license?
Sure Redd's could be hit or miss with the food sometimes...but he tried new things, the staff was great and it was a welcoming atmosphere. Redd's, whether you want to admit it or not, was an anchor for the neighborhood and he did some pretty nice things for the neighborhood and his workers (which is why so many went with him).
I hope he does come back and I hope he gets one of the neighborhood licenses.
Only One
That argument would hold water if any other restaurant owner had done the same thing, but none have. None. Charlie didn't understand the law or mechanics of what was proposed and just blasted away. If he stopped his ego trip for two minutes and listened to the people telling him so, he would have realized there was never any threat to his restaurant or investment. Now he just looks like a fool all but begging to come back to a community he turned his back on.
agreed - and cool it with the "anchor" talk
agreed - and cool it with the "anchor" talk. Guy was there for like 5 years. The Pleasant is an anchor, Delfino is an anchor. great atmosphere, great product - proven over the long term.