By Beth Treffeisen
After 15 years, the Modern French restaurant Troquet in the Back Bay is celebrating its last few days at the 140 Boylston Street location before embarking on their next journey to the Leather District.
The restaurant will stay open until February 4 and then will open in the new location at 107 South Street near South Station with the new name Troquet on South.
Chris Campbell, owner and sommelier of Troquet said, “Chef Scott Hebert and I have been here nightly, meeting and making friends, and we wanted to invite everyone back for one last visit to this location.”
During its stay in the neighborhood, Troquet has won multiple awards for its French wine including Wine Enthusiast magazine’s “100 Best Wine Restaurants.”
The larger venue Campbell believes will keep his business growing. The new venue will allow Chef Herbert to continue making his Modern French Cuisine in a bigger kitchen to go along with a bigger wine cellar.
“There’s more space at our new bar to show our vision of a contemporary cocktail list,” said Campbell. “We’ll have a few more surprises, but I’m not giving them away just yet.”
Jake Tringali the restaurants general manager of the restaurant said that they made the leap over to the Leather District because one the rent was getting too high and two the old place had a weird layout, making it appear like it just held a little bar.
“It had an odd atmosphere,” said Tringali. “Here it’s a more traditional take with a host stand and you can immediately see the bar and the communal tables.”
Unlike their last location, the bigger kitchen will allow for the addition of bar food such as Camembert fondue with spiced nuts, escargot served in the shell and stone pine pizza with lamb bacon and goat cheese.
The dining room will serve the same favorites as the last location but will be changing it up a bit with bigoli pasta with duck confit, dover sole with fingerling potatoes and roasted Vermont suckling pig served for two guests.
Tringali said that the same staff is moving to the new location as well so customers can expect to see the same friendly faces.
“This restaurant has more regulars than any other restaurant I’ve managed,” said Tringali smiling. Many of their loyal customers in the Back Bay and Beacon Hill have already started to make reservations at the new place he said.
Tringali said, “They like that the new restaurant is still in walking distance from their homes.”
He hopes to continue this tradition in their new neighborhood where more and more people are moving. But because the space is located in a hub of office spaces and commuters they hope in the future to also open up the restaurant to serve lunch.
“We are in here for the long haul and we hope to be making friends for a long time,” said Tringali.
The new space will allow for a private dining area for wine dinners or wedding rehearsals and receptions. The bar kitchen will be located right in the dinning room area to replicate what was in the original Troquet where diners could see into the kitchen directly and have a conversation with the chef.
The wine list will continue to have the same options that their previous restaurant had and more. Right now they have a good 40 wines by the glass, which are mostly French.
“These are very exciting times,” said Tringali. “You have a restaurant in your head maybe for a year and in about a week you see it all come into fruition – the food, tables, and beverages – it’s a very fun artistic endeavor.”
But most importantly Tringali said, “We’ll be open soon here.”
The exact opening day is still to be determined but they are hoping to open sometime in February. Troquet on Boylston Street will continue to be open Tuesdays through Saturdays for dinner service, through February 4.
For more details visit www.troquetboston.com.