Food News

Pasta and martinis are the focus at The Red Fox, new North End restaurant

The team behind Tony & Elaine's and Farmacia is bringing a new Italian restaurant and martini lounge to the North End.

The Red Fox will open in the North End in June, serving pasta and martinis. Courtesy The Red Fox

updated on May 23, 2024

An Italian restaurant from the group that brought Boston favorites like Tony & Elaine’s and Farmacia is opening yet another Italian restaurant — with a separate martini lounge — in the North End.

The Red Fox will be the sixth entry from All Day Hospitality Group and will include a separate, not-yet-named cocktail bar and lounge, with the concept’s focus largely on pastas and martinis, according to the group’s director of operations Mike Wyatt.

Martini at The Red Fox. *-Courtesy All Day Hospitality Group*

He described the restaurant as retro red-sauce dining, with dishes like clams casino and the red banquettes for seating. But Wyatt also thinks it’ll be a “refresh” from the offerings in the North End, something their restaurant group has aimed to do with their other restaurants in the neighborhood.

“We’re bringing back some of the old school, but done really well — fresh handmade pastas, really good cocktails, stuff like that,” Wyatt said. “That’s what makes us stand out a little bit, being a little more current, whereas the rest of the North End has gotten a little stale over the past 20 to 30 years.”

Part of that refresh, Wyatt said, means delivering an ace cocktail menu. It leans into the retro vibe of the place, with apple martinis, dirty martinis, a Negroni, and cosmos available. But there are some twists on the classics — like a cacio e pepe martini — as well as some Farmacia Italian-inspired craft cocktails that bring the menu back to the present day.

Those dining at the restaurant can get these drinks at the bar, but there will also be the separate cocktail bar and lounge. It will offer similar Italian-inspired craft cocktails and classic drinks, the menu will change more seasonally, and Wyatt said it may even function like a multi-course experience.

“It’s a mix of both: you’ll get some retro stuff and big martinis, and you’ll also get those Farmacia-style cocktails,” Wyatt said.

The separate bar is situated similarly inside Red Fox to how Farmacia is in their other restaurant, Ciao Roma, and guests will have to make separate reservations for the cocktail bar.

As for the food, Wyatt said the team is still finalizing some dishes, but sent over a first look at what the menu could look like.

It will include sections of antipasti, handmade pastas, bigger entrees under secondi, and a few side dishes, or contorni.

Red Fox won’t stray away from the classics when it comes to their food, to be clear, and they’ll also incorporate seasonal Italian ingredients in the dishes, like pistachios, Amalfi Coast lemons, wildflower honey from Tuscany, and Italian herbs and spices. Appetizers include arancini, classic clams casino, and meatballs in red sauce. For pastas, you have options like an orecchiette with pistachio pesto, rigatoni alla vodka, or a bucatini all’amatriciana. Wyatt said the entrees — which include a seafood risotto and a lasagna — are made to be shared by two guests.

With the help of restaurant and bar interior decorator Assembly Design Studio, the space is dimly lit, its lights covered by mostly red, vintage lampshades. The walls are a mix of dark wood or brick. You’ll spot some tassels here and there, either hanging at the ends of chairs, lampshades, or on velvet curtains. Wyatt described it as a “sexy basement” space, a nod to the North End’s restaurants of the 70s and 80s.

“It’s like a restaurant you might go to in the movie ‘Goodfellas’” Wyatt said.

The space used to be occupied by il Molo, a seafood spot from Donato Frattaroli, of the Frattaroli family behind Lucia Ristorante & Bar, and who is related to Nick Frattaroli, owner of All Day Hospitality.

The All Day team hopes The Red Fox is open by June, with the separate cocktail bar opening soon after. Guests can follow the Red Fox on Instagram for updates on its opening.

The Red Fox; 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily; bar closes at midnight; 326 Commercial St., Boston