Driscoll DoCanto and Ken Osherow are looking to sell their Savin Bar + Kitchen and the neighboring Ghostpepper Taqueria at 112 Savin Hill Ave. to veteran restaurant manager Brendan Griffin, who says he is planning no changes to the name, operations or hours.
Griffin has spent 20 years in restaurant operations and hospitality, most recently as general manager at the Cambria Somerville Hotel, but also with stints as food and beverage manager and general manager at the Lenox Hotel in the Back Bay and general manager at the Union Bar and Grill in the South End, his lawyer, Tyler Henseler, said at a Boston Licensing Board hearing Wednesday on the proposed sale. The board is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to approve the proposed sale, which nobody opposed at the hearing.
“This is a great application to see,” outgoing board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce, herself a Dorchester resident, said. “I could see from your application you live locally. So it’s nice to see that you’re able to take over this previously licensed place in your own neighborhood. And as your attorney said, I know you have good experience, having been at the Lenox, which I know is a great establishment. So Dorchester is lucky to have that experience here in the neighborhood.”
Savin Hill Bar + Kitchen gained international attention last fall when, at the advice of TV chef Gordon Ramsay, it re-branded with prominent photos of Boston mobsters, including Whitey Bulger. After a month of local outcry – one of Bulger’s murder victims owned a bar at the location – the bar replaced the mobster photos with images of local historic sites.
