Four Square Owners to Open New Restaurant in Landing

The owners of Four Square Restaurant and Bar are preparing to open another restaurant in The Landing that will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and feature high-end takes on diner classics.

Trio will open at 19A Commercial St., a vacant storefront next to H&R Block that formerly held a salon. Co-owners Marko Fani, the chef at Four Square, and Robert Hedlund, a state senator from Weymouth, presented their plans to the Board of License Commissioners Tuesday afternoon and were scheduled to go before the Planning Board in the evening.

License board members voted to table requests for all-alcohol and food licenses pending action by the Planning Board on parking and site review. Hedlund declined to give a timeline for Trio's opening, saying that it all depends on how long the approval process takes.

Pending before local officials now is a plan for 67 interior and 20 exterior seats. The outside seating will be separated by a two-foot concrete wall and aluminum railing from the paved area between 19A Commercial St. and the Chair Fair that leads to the municipal parking lot.

Also in that area is space for seven regular and two handicap parking spots, less than the 15 that would be required based on the restaurant's seating. Hedlund and Fani are requesting relief from that requirement and expressed willingness Tuesday to work with Chair Fair owners Barry and Alan Joseph and the town on parking issues.

"We're here to co-exist," Hedlund said. "I'm well aware of what their issues are."

The Josephs told board members that customers for other Landing shops often use their limited parking spaces, patrons at times drive into parked vehicles or their shop's metal-barred windows, and the area can get rowdy with drinkers.

They also said that a proposal to turn the access way into a one-way toward the municipal lot off Commercial Street would kill their business because Chair Fair's 18-wheel delivery trucks cannot use the connector road farther north on Quincy Ave.

Having a vacant building next door "breeds a lot of problems," Hedlund said, arguing that just by opening the restaurant a lot of their concerns could be addressed.

"Having a presence there will help keep order established in that parking lot," Hedlund said. 

The proposed hours of operation for Trio are 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Breakfast and lunch will be served until 3 p.m. and dinner after that. 

Launching a new restaurant across the street from Four Square has its benefits, Helund said, such as being flexible with staff. But the larger reason for the new establishment is because Fani wanted to cook breakfast.

Fani said he is planning an "upscale diner" kind of menu, with fresh-squeezed juices, many varieties of eggs benedict and dinner selections that include classics like steak and fish. 

"This is the kind of business we want," said District 4 Councilor Henry Joyce, who attended Tuesday's meeting to offer his support.

Board Chair Joe Powers also said he was pleased with the plans overall, but questioned why the owners chose not to pursue one of the eight liquor licenses granted to Braintree by the state legislature for use in establishments with 75 or less seats. 

There is currently one non-limited, all-alcohol restaurant license available.

"This would be a fantastic opportunity to grant our first [special] license," Powers said.

After the meeting, Hedlund said he was inclined to proceed with the request for 87 total seats. That was the calculation done to achieve economy of scale, he said, and he and Fani are investing a lot in the project.