The Demise of Spezzo

For my first post, I am writing about something from the heart. We all have favorite bars and restaurants, for whatever reason. They fulfill a physical and emotional need within all of us. So you may be wondering why I would bother reminiscing about a closed restaurant....I mean, they open and close all the time. The majority of them never make it past their first year! As anyone who frequents any gourmet establishments will know, if you visit at least once a month, it’s a favorite. If you visit once a week, you’re a regular. I may not have gone every week, but once I was introduced to it, I was drawn back to it by a sense of belonging, of friendship.

The lounge area had the intimacy of a pub, and the décor of an upscale eatery. A series of doors opened to a welcome patio on a warm summer evening. A small, black stage in the corner had played host to numerous local musicians.

The grapevine-inspired décor carried into the back area, a quiet, cozy, perfect-for-a-date collection of booths and tables. The Italian and Mediterranean cuisine and complimenting wine list consistently surprised and satisfied.

Having changed management a few times over it’s almost 15 year history, it has had it’s share of ups and downs. Like any restaurant that changes management, the often inevitable exodus of kitchen and wait staff can be detrimental to the continued success of a restaurant. Like a hairdresser, the clientele of a special waiter may follow him as he leaves one restaurant for another.

As a customer, I surmised that this was only a small piece of the puzzle that led to Spezzo’s demise. Competition from the influx of Corporate establishments (i.e. Boston Pizza, The Keg, Moxie’s Classic Grill, Jack Astor’s, and Alice Fazooli’s) into the area created a noticeable thinning out of diners. Patrons tended to migrate toward the established, heavily marketed, visible chain restaurants, rather than the number of independents, such as Spezzo, that were included in the neighborhood.

With the loss of customers came desperate changes and an attempt to win back the business – Oysters at the bar, special Music nights on Fridays and Saturdays. The regular booking of live entertainment in the lounge was one of the first to go. Despite some of the choices of artists considered a little too edgy for a room aimed at the romantic date crowd, it was still a value-added feature of the restaurant. It was not altogether dropped, since regular musician Chris Smith performed to an almost empty lounge on April 18, 2009, the last night before the doors closed forever.

Not being privy to all that happened behind the scenes, as a customer I could see that the writing was on the wall. It’s been over three months since the closing of those big wooden doors, and I have been hard-pressed to find a suitable replacement establishment. Spezzo had an understated elegance and intimacy that seemed almost unprecedented for a Richmond Hill restaurant.

I would often joke with friends that entering the doors of Spezzo was like entering my very own holodeck program. Mingling with a successful well-heeled crowd transported me away for an evening away from my ordinary middle-class life.

As the recession of 2009 took the imploding auto industry, employment levels, and interest rates down, the indirect hits within the service industry were not as highly publicized. But they've been victims just as much as anyone. Spezzo was only one of many such victims. In the end, they went out with a whimper rather than a bang. But to the regulars and the staff, the stories told and lived there, and the wonderful wines and meals consumed there will live on in our memories. One day a phoenix may rise from it’s ashes. One can only hope that it succeeds as it did in it’s former glory days.

Spezzo is dead! Long live Spezzo!