Long-running Indian street food restaurant Bollywood Theater will close its flagship location on Southeast Division Street next week, owner Troy MacLarty told The Oregonian/OregonLive.
In its place, MacLarty plans to open Maglia Rosa, a counter-service Italian restaurant and market with pasta, wines by the glass or bottle and more.
“We’re closing up shop here in 10 days,” MacLarty said by phone Thursday. “It hasn’t hit me in any real way yet. As of now, I don’t feel nostalgic or sad. That may change.”
But it’s not all bad news for Bollywood Theater fans. The original location on Northeast Alberta Street will remain open with expanded hours, including the return of lunch and some seasonal specials that vanished during the pandemic.
“COVID’s been a slog,” MacLarty said. “Bollywood hasn’t been a super viable restaurant the past couple of years. But I’m excited, getting back to what I used to do at Lovely Hula Hands, or my roots at Chez Panisse.”
Menu details are still being worked out for Maglia Rosa, which is named for the pink jersey worn by the leader of the Giro d’Italia bike race each year. But MacLarty hopes to launch the restaurant this summer with a new heated patio and four or five starters, some seasonal salads and charcuterie, 3-4 pastas, 3-4 entrees and a dessert.
“Italy and India are strangely similar in terms of the north to southness of it, the regionality of it,” MacLarty said. “Like Bollywood, I’m not necessarily tied to any region, but each dish will be of a place.”
Bollywood Theater is closing at 3010 S.E. Division St. after service on Saturday, April 19. Maglia Rosa hopes to reopen in the space by July. Meanwhile, the original Bollywood Theater at 2039 N.E. Alberta St. will remain open with expanded hours.
— Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com
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