Food on Fire Gets Another Exciting Addition

The Chelsea restaurant scene is on fire, and with the addition of the upcoming Chelsea Station Restaurant and Lounge in the old Firehouse on Everett Avenue, that statement is correct both literally and figuratively.

Mark Nadow and Michael Sheridan are currently moving forward with construction and have signed a lease with Anthony Simboli for the old Fire Station on Everett Avenue – once home to the Winter Hill Bank.

Nadow said plans include refurbishing the space in the Fire House motif and offering American Bistro cuisine with a Sunday Brunch and daily lunch service. An application is before the License Commission this month for an All Alcohol Restaurant license that will allow the team a full bar and drink service.

“The property is one of the only buildings in the area that survived the Fire of 1973,” Nadow said. “We’re going to keep the original brick and keep the feel of the fire house.”

The restaurant will feature 120 seats with 11 spots on site and dinner parking across the street in the Simboli properties parking lot.

“For the dinner crowd, there will be plenty of parking,” he said.

Nadow has lived in Chelsea for more than 10 years and he and his wife have two children that attend Chelsea Public Schools. Nadow owns his own business, Quality Assurance Purchasing, for the last 17 years and has been an investor in Chelsea’s Mystic Brewery for one year.

He will not be the owner, but the CEO and president of the restaurant.

“This is my first start up restaurant,” he said. “I’ve been an investor in the Brewery for a year now and I’ve had my other company 17 years. It’s exciting and start-ups are fun, and this is my first restaurant, so it’s all new.”

Sheridan will be in charge of the food end of the business.

He took over the Ironsides Bar & Grill in Charlestown during the early 2000s with family and restored that venue into a quality location in the Town. After that, he spent time managing Croma on Newbury Street, Wink & A Nod in the South End, and the restaurants in the TD Garden such as Legends.

Nadow said he used to live in Charlestown before starting a family and moving to Chelsea, and knew Sheridan from the Ironsides. He said that friendship sparked the new venture.

“I’ve had a long friendship with Mike dating back to when he managed Ironsides Bar and Grill,” said Nadow. “I approached him because my wife and I live in Chelsea and we like the restaurants in Chelsea, but found that too often when we wanted to have a night out, we were going to Boston. We wanted to create another nice restaurant in Chelsea and asked him what he thought. We decided to go together on this collaboratively and have been working on it for four months now. We took the lease over and are starting construction on the restaurant as we speak…Our first goal was to open at the end of December, and now we’re looking towards April. It’s taken a lot longer than we expected, but the opening date is really as soon as possible.”

Nadow said the business plan is very encouraging.

Not only do they hope to attract the local crowd – who like himself is clamoring for additional choices – but also there is the potential for clientele coming from the Silver Line and from the area’s new hotels.

“We want to help grow the restaurant scene here,” he said. “At this point, Chelsea is not a destination community. We know the Silver Line expansion coming in is dictating there would be a need for five or six new restaurants. You also have the FBI building coming online too. The long-term stays and hotel customers really only have a few options and most don’t have cars, I’m told. You have good choices in Dockside and Floramo’s in walking distance, but there’s really a dearth of choices in that area. We’re hoping that with Ciao! and us coming in, we won’t be the last new restaurants.”

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