A celebrity chef’s re-branding concept for Savin Bar + Kitchen – which features prominently displayed photos of notorious Boston mobsters, including the late James “Whitey” Bulger and a sidekick hitman – is causing a stir in Savin Hill, where civic leaders on Monday voted to petition the business to remove the images.
The flap is the result of the restaurant’s recent appearance on the reality TV show “Secret Service” featuring celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, which aired last summer. As part of the makeover— which included a menu revamp— Ramsay encouraged co-owners Driscoll DoCanto and Ken Osherow to incorporate Boston’s underworld history and its unique connection to the Savin Hill location into the décor.
The block containing the restaurant has a disturbing and deadly connection to the Bulger gang. Next door once stood Bulldogs Tavern, which was run by Eddie Connors, a former boxer who was gunned down in a Morrissey Boulevard phone booth in the 1970s.
The killer was long rumored to be Whitey Bulger or a member of his crew, possibly Flemmi, but no one has ever been charged with the murder.
“The concept was arrived at by Gordon Ramsay and his team when they did the show,” Osherow told The Reporter this week. “He and they felt it was a very interesting angle for our place because of the history of this restaurant, and they represent restaurant industry professionals from around the country.”
Just inside the front door of the restaurant, a large, framed picture shows a police mug shot of a youthful Whitey Bulger taken after his arrest for a bank robbery in the 1950s. Elsewhere inside are images of Stephen ‘The Rifleman’ Flemmi, who was convicted of killing several of Bulger’s rivals over their decades-long partnership.
The new décor drove a 20-minute conversation at Monday evening’s meeting of the Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association, with several speakers condemning the display as ill conceived and offensive.
“I feel the community shouldn’t glorify the image of a mobster,” said Donna McColgan, who lives nearby. “Whitey Bulger traumatized our community and murdered people here and was a drug dealer and hurt people and then fled. I don’t think he should be celebrated anywhere in our community.”
Eileen Boyle agreed, pointing out that nowhere in South Boston would the mob leader’s portrait be allowed on the walls.
“That’s just Hollywood and that’s what they like to think about Boston,” said Jeanie Doherty, who said she and others want to support the business, but not with Bulger’s picture on the wall. “We’ve moved so far away from that and those were very dark days in Boston. So many good things are happening now.”
The group took a vote to start a petition calling on Savin Bar + Kitchen to remove the images. DoCanto and Osherow told The Reporter on Tuesday that they respectfully disagree.
“We are not honoring the legacy of Whitey Bulger,” said DoCanto. “It is the history of the neighborhood, and we aren’t intending to glorify it. It is the history, and we are private business owners, and we should have the right to do what we want in our business and do it respectfully.”
DoCanto says other businesses in Boston have gang and prison references, citing Alibi in the Liberty Hotel downtown specifically. He added: “As many people that dislike it, there are equally as many that come in and say it’s great and like the concept.”
Longtime resident and civic president Bill Walczak disagrees with that assertion. “I’m surprised anybody would decide to put Whitey Bulger’s or Steve Flemmi’s picture in a restaurant.”
Osherow and DoCanto point out that they’ve attached a flier to the Bulger portrait that details the connection to the location and emphasizes that “this isn’t an homage.”
“We don’t glorfy Whitey Bulger or the violence he brought to Boston. What we are highlighting is the history of this very spot.” The flier includes QR codes with links to more information about Connors and Bulldogs.
