Blasts from dining past Edgemere, Wonder Bar, are back
PHOTO/RICK SAIA
Stephen Colangelo and his business partner, Mike Novick, have given new life to Shrewsbury's Edgemere Diner, a fixture on Route 20 for most of the past 67 years.
Longtime Central Massachusetts residents looking for a dash of nostalgia with their omelet or pizza have a lot to smile about this year. Last fall, Shrewsbury's Edgemere Diner, a classic New England rail car diner that first opened in 1948, reopened under new ownership. And soon, Wonder Bar, the iconic Worcester pizza joint, will do the same.
Edgemere's new owners, Mike Novick and Stephen Colangelo, have been friends since kindergarten, and they've both worked in the restaurant industry for decades. When Novick happened to see that the diner was up for sale, Colangelo said, it didn't take long for them to make a decision.
"I was like, 'OK, let's do this,'" he said. "It was the first place we really looked at."
The town of Shrewsbury seized the diner for back taxes in 1995, and for years it either stayed open based on short-term leases with the town or stood empty. In 2008, a new owner opened the place as "The Edge," a hot dog and sausage place, but it shut down again in 2013.
Colangelo said there was never any doubt what he and Novick would serve. "It's diner food," he said. "Simple, easy breakfast food, hamburgers, sandwiches … We're doing good food at a good price. We're not selling crap."
Along with serious coffee and pancakes made from scratch, Colangelo said what the diner offers is a neighborhood place run by two guys who like spending time with each other and the customers.
"We involve everyone in our conversations," he said. "It's a fun atmosphere."
Since opening in November, Colangelo said business has been better than expected, even without advertising. It helps that the place has a decades-old reputation.
“Every day there's one or two people that come in and tell us how they used to come here,” he said.
State of 'Wonder' on Shrewsbury St.
In a business as notoriously competitive as restaurants, having a well-established brand even before you open the doors is a valuable asset. Like Colangelo and Novick, the new owners of Wonder Bar bought a name as well as a building with their new venture. Frank Prizio III, part of the Prizio family that runs the Regatta Deli in Worcester and Westborough, paid $250,000 for the Shrewsbury Street spot, which has been closed for the past year.
The Prizios posted a Facebook message in February announcing plans for Wonder Bar's reopening and promising that they'll be making the same pizza the restaurant was famous for. Members of the family said they're not ready to talk publicly about their plans yet, but Gary Vecchio, head of the Shrewsbury Street Neighborhood Association, said they shouldn't have any trouble attracting customers once they open their doors.
“In all honesty, the one question I've gotten on a pretty regular basis over the last couple of months is 'When is the Wonder Bar reopening?'” he said. “People are really anticipating it.”
Donna Warshaw, executive director of the East Side Improvement Association, said the promise of bringing Wonder Bar pizza back to the city is huge, and she doesn't no doubt there will be lots of customers eager to try it.
“It'll sort of be their battle to lose,” she said. “If it is exactly the same pizza, then they've hit a home run.”
If a venerable business name is valuable to a new owner, a venerable building can be a liability. Vecchio said the work being done to get Wonder Bar into good condition is extensive.
“They had to put all new windows in front,” he said earlier this month. “They had to build an entire kitchen. A week ago there was heavy equipment out there digging the sidewalk… A lot of (times), renovations are a lot more difficult to do than building new.”
Colangelo said fixing up the Edgemere Diner was also a major project, costing more than he and Novick paid for the building itself. They had to rip out the kitchen floor and put in a new one, redo the bathrooms, replace decaying siding and do a lot of basic cleaning.
The investment is paying off for now, Colangelo said. He and Novick, along with family members who come in to help out on weekends, have their hands full taking care of customers. And he says there's a simple formula for transforming the former customers who come in to take a look at the new setup into regulars.
“Serve good food at a good price, and people will come back,” he said. “It's working.”
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