LYNN — When Frank Peace was looking for a location to house his newest restaurant and coffee shop, he chose Lynn.
“Lynn was on my radar because it’s one of the Massachusetts communities that’s in the midst of a renaissance,” he said. ‘There’s lots of development, it’s very diverse and those are the cities we like to be part of.”
The 52-year-old CEO of New England Craft Restaurant Concepts, a Worcester mini-chain of eateries, plans to open Revolution Pie & Pint, a pizzeria, and Brew on the Grid, a high-end cafe, at the Flatiron building in the downtown before Christmas.
Peace said he is undaunted by the fact that Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Co. is minutes away, and the shuttered White Rose Coffeehouse could return under a new name. Not to mention there are more than a dozen pizzerias in the city including Primo’s, Lido, Caruso, and Fauci.
“We will have a different offering and everything will be made from scratch,” he said. “Our fresh pizzas are ready in three minutes and our sandwiches and pastries will be made on site.”
The restaurants will occupy the first floor of the Vault, a 47-unit apartment complex at Central Avenue and Willow Street, better known as the Flatiron Building. The eight-story brick building was fully leased before it opened this fall.
The 3,000-square-foot Revolution Pie & Pint gets its name from the revolving pizza oven which cooks the pies at 850 degrees in under three minutes, he said. The dough is made fresh daily and fast-fired to be crisp, he added.
The menu offers pizza for $10 not usually found on menus elsewhere, such as Bacon Blue with bacon, Parmesan cream sauce, blue cheese, tri-mushroom saute, and caramelized onion. There’s a Salad Pizza that features Marinara sauce, Mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, and red onion.
At the 1,500-square-foot Brew on the Grid, the cafe will offer pastries for $2 and sandwiches for $8, and free Wi-Fi.
“How cool is it to live upstairs in the newly-renovated units and come downstairs and get a cup of coffee and a pizza?” he asked.
