In case you missed the news, Chef Josh Silvers’ Railroad Square institution, Syrah Bistro closes April 16. The restaurant celebrates with a last hurrah dinner Saturday before shutting the doors and preparing for a whirlwind transformation. The restaurant is slated to reopen in early May as Petite Syrah (a play on the original name), a small-plates eatery.
Currently the new menu is “about 90 percent there,” according to Silvers. BiteClub hopes to have pictures and details after an early sneak peek on Monday. Of the closure of his Syrah, Silver says wistfully: “It’s bittersweet. I’m excited to start a new chapter, though.”
While Syrah is spelled correctly, “Petite Sirah” is spelled with an “i”. It is an entirely different grape varietal.
Yeah, I’m aware. The name of the restaurant is Petite Syrah…as in “little Syrah”…it’s a play on words.
i ate there once or twice for lunch…was not impressed. no wonder they are reinventing.
I will be sure to give it a try! I love small plates & tapas!
Just hope there aren’t a whole lot of Petite Syrah’s on the wine by the glass list… It’s ust not a great food wine.
I wonder if Jeff Mall is thinking of taking his “Zin” down and putting up “Old Vine Zin”?
We’ve all felt the local economic “shift:, as a result, more and more “food people” (local residents and visitors) are looking to get the most culinary bang for their even harder-to-earn buck. I applaud Chef Silvers and his team at Syrah for responding to our local economic climate by shifting to a small plate menu offering, to allow us foodies to enjoy his culinary creations while still keeping within our modified budgets. As someone who regularly enjoyed Syrah over the years, I am looking forward to trying Petite Syrah!
Umm…does anyone else think this is stupid? Syrah was fabulous! And I’m all for switching things up…but doing a whole “new” restaurant? It seems like kind of a cheap play…the chef is the same, venue is the same, wait staff (likely) is the same. SO what are you doing…serving smaller plates at slightly smaller prices–but will indubitably add up to more? No thank you.
Stupid how? Cheap how? Obviously the restaurant isn’t economically viable in its current form or they wouldn’t ‘ be changing it. Stupid would be continuing to operate in the red. Fine dining is a very tough business in a very tough economy in a town that can’t support very many high end places. Good luck to the Silvers. We’ll give Petite Syrah a chance.
Was Syrah having troubles keeping their “fan base” ? It’s weird to me because everyone says “go to Syrah it’s amazing etc.” Only a few negetives. I never went to Syrah (no particular reason) I feel like this is an attempt to pull themselves out of recent financial difficulties or maybe less than stellar reviews? I’m unsure and wouldn’t really know. If they are trying to shift their price point downwards to make it more reasonable for everyone, great. I hope that doesn’t mean they will sacrafice taste and quality.
I love Willie’s Wine bar. Small plates with some seasonal menu changes and a great wine list. I’ve never had a bad meal there.That will be the place I compare Petite Syrah too. I am looking forward to test driving their small plates menu. My hopes are high, Silver!!!
good luck!
Looking forward to see the menu. It will always be local and great for sure. Hoping Josh will be doing another Chef Demonstration for the Windsor Certified Farmers Market soon. We have some great new farmers in the wings. Glenda
Were you early on this? “The restaurant celebrated with a last hurrah dinner on April 16 before shutting the doors” two days from now? Their web site still shows the menu for Passover….which starts the 18th. They look to be not taking reservation after the 16th but then they start up again the 29th of April.
I just changed it. Sorry. I just copied and pasted what will appear in the Sunday paper. Unlike my native environment (the web), I have to write that stuff well in advance. Nope, I’m not in a time warp.