Goodbye River Room, hello Bear & Frankie’s: Owner shakes up local dining scene

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A beloved downtown London restaurant has closed and two others will rise in its place as an established restaurateur is shaking up the local dining scene.

The River Room, a fine dining restaurant in Museum London, has closed. Owner Jess Jazey-Spoelstra is opening another restaurant in Covent Garden Market and a second eatery in the River Bend area as she remains upbeat about the London dining scene.

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“I’m excited. I just want them open but am now bouncing between construction sites,” she said.

At Museum London there were issues with the high cost of parking at a private lot on Queens Avenue across from the museum that added more than $20 to a bill for dinner, Jazey-Spoelstra said. Some customers also had trouble accessing the museum after 5 p.m. in the evening, she said. 

“This is a much better space for us. We were there for 12 years and it was getting hard for people. This is a more viable space,” Jazey-Spoelstra said of the nearby downtown market.

Her new restaurant called Bear & Frankie’s will open at Covent Garden Market in early November in the space occupied by Olive R. Twist.

“We’re going casual. We will have a big Italian pizza oven, homemade pasta, pub food and good burgers,” Jazey-Spoelstra said.

But she will keep the lobster rolls and dynamite shrimp, customer favourites from the River Room. “People are excited by that.”

The investment in both restaurants will total about $1.3 million, she said.

The space in the market has been “fully gutted” and will feature a new, brighter decor as well as a rebuilt kitchen. The awnings and window coverings have been removed and replaced by screens, allowing in more light.

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Bear & Frankie’s also will be sports-friendly with 10, 190-centimetre televisions showing events.

“It needed a facelift and it will be awesome,” Jazey-Spoelstra said. “I didn’t want it to be the old place. We wanted new and fresh.” 

There also will be a new patio installed.

The cost of the renovation will be about $400,000, she said.

Museum London will miss the restaurant but will fill the second floor area with museum programs and lease it to businesses looking for event space to make up for lost revenue from River Room, museum director Julie Bevan said.

“We have a lot of things happening here and there’s a lot of interest from outside parties to have events and activities there,” she said.

The museum is undergoing its own changes, including installing new exterior fire stairs and a new freight elevator.

Jazey-Spoelstra’s other restaurant will be called Los Olivos and is expected to open at at 2130 Kains Rd. in the city’s west end in mid-November.

“It will be a California-style restaurant; when you think of California you think of freshness,” she said.

It will be a $900,000 investment.

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Los Olivos will run the gamut of food from Italy, Spain and Mexico and feature pasta and pizza and sharing plates, Jazey-Spoelstra said. It will also feature a pub area with nine, 190-centimetre TVs.

“There’s a lot of fast food in that area, but it needs a good restaurant,” she said. “People want good food that will not cost a fortune.”

The restaurant will include a large patio seating about 75.

Jazey-Spaelstra will continue to operate Craft Farmacy, where sales are up about 12 per cent from last year.

“It’s doing very well. It’s busier than ever. People love it there,” she said.

She also owns her own catering business, North Moore Catering Ltd. She now employs about 100 staff but that is expected to double to more than 200 employees when both new restaurants are open.

ndebono@postmedia.com

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