A restaurant centered on family-style Italian dining will open this winter in Boston’s North End. Table by Jen Royle (445 Hanover St., Boston) will operate more like a family dining room than a restaurant, with dinner served Tuesday through Saturday, brunch on Sundays, and a convivial atmosphere where people can come in and make friends, owner Jen Royle tells Eater. Royle is a former sports reporter turned chef who has appeared on The Taste and Beat Bobby Flay.
“Growing up in an Italian family, I remember yelling across the dinner table for my brother to pass the meatballs,” she says. “I literally want people to do that.”
Table (stylized as TABLE by Jen Royle) will operate family-style for all meals, including Sunday brunch, with one large table for 22 people, plus several others to bring the total seating to 35. The menu will have a fixed price, with small items available on the side.
Royle has spent the last year renovating a former nail salon into a restaurant she describes as “rustic-chic,” with a broad assortment of hand-made or custom-made items. A friend of Royle from Rhode Island made the restaurant’s tables, while another friend refinished barn doors to cover a television and fruit and vegetable crates to serve as utensil drawers. The vanity and bathroom mirror are also custom. Construction on the restaurant is nearly complete, and Royle hopes to open the first week of November. (Update: January 22 is the opening date.)
Table will have two seatings a night from Tuesday to Thursday, three seatings Friday and Saturday, and brunch on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The dinner menu will include house-made focaccia bread with dip, two salads, three appetizers, and two main courses, plus a pasta, vegetables, and potatoes. Side options will range from meatballs to stuffed zucchini blossoms and eggplant parmesan.
Brunch highlights will include fried dough — like Royle’s mother used to make for her family — plus chicken and waffles; breakfast flatbreads with egg, sausage, potato; ham and cheese frittatas; and buttermilk biscuits. Diners will have access to a self-service coffee and tea bar, and there will be bloody marys and mimosas as well.
“I love the family-style brunch, because as soon as you sit down, you eat,” Royle says.
Food will already be on the table, with new items coming out of the kitchen consistently. Royle will accept reservations for dinner and brunch through OpenTable, with brunch reservations only available for 10 or more people.
Music from Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin will round out the ambiance of the restaurant. “The vibe will be loud and fun, hopefully!” Royle says.
Diners can look for Table to debut in November; in the meantime, follow the restaurant’s progress on social media.
Update, January 22, 2019: Today is opening day.
• Table by Jen Royle [Official Site]• Table by Jen Royle [Instagram]