Washington Square's Fireplace Restaurant To Close After 16 Years

BROOKLINE, MA — The owner of the Fireplace has sold the business and the restaurant that's been tucked into Washington Square for the past 16 years will be closing for good on Aug. 31.

Jim Solomon remembers well the week he opened the restaurant. After nearly 14 years of planning for it, doors at the corner of Washington and Beacon Street opened on Sept. 6, 2001. He was actually in the hospital recovering from emergency surgery and was sad to miss it. Then less than a week later 9/11 happened.

"It was a difficult time to open but that's made me all the more grateful that we've been able to thrive for so many years," said Solomon.

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People will often say that the way you enter a relationship, is the way you exit one. And as Solomon walks around his restaurant with a limp and a cane in the final month, that might be true when it comes to his relationship with the restaurant that he's put so much time into. Solomon is scheduled once again for surgery - it relates to complications from the days after colleges when he was planning his restaurant and was hit by a car as he was crossing the street down town set to deliver a letter to a prospective investor for the Fireplace.

"It's been a lot of years that I've worked days, nights, weekends and holidays. The doctors really told me if I don't concentrate on my health I'll have to use a cane for the rest of my life. I thought 'you know this is not what my wife signed up for. I'm probably being selfish by putting the restaurant first so much'."

So some three years after he says Pepe's Pizzeria offered him money to move into his spot and he turned them down, he's now ready to slow down and step away from the business.

"I can't do my job the way that I would like to and run around the dining room and be all the things I need to be and if I can't really do it with gusto then I don't want to do it any more," he said.

Memories

But it's still a bittersweet departure he said. Solomon has spent half of his life investing in the restaurant he started planning in business school.

Couples have gotten married in his restaurant, he met his wife there, and he's employed quality people he calls friends there for more than a decade. He loves that he has come to know so many people in the community and he's proud that he was one of the first certified green restaurants in the Boston area.

He's wined and dined everyone from local celebrity Choby Hoy to James Taylor. And he won't soon forget the time Aerosmith band members came in. "I ran home and got my Toys in The Attic Album out of my attic and ran down and got it signed," he said.

Paul Pierce bid several years in a row for charity to have him come cook dinner in his home. And Duval Patrick declare at the chamber of commerce and on TV that the fireplace has the best chicken in Boston.

"And it's always an honor to have Gov. Dukakis in the house," said Solomon.

More than a restaurant

But the Fireplace was also a creative outlet for Solomon, who worked with a number of non profits throughout the years and made an effort to give back to the community.

"The Fireplace has given to about 400 to 500 organizations a year," he said.

He's put on special programming supporting children from underprivileged homes, and he's participated in programs that donate money to help homeless.

The history buff has delighted in researching food from past eras to put on special events such as the Tall Ship themed "Lunch like a sailor, dine like a Captain," event when the Tall Ships came to Boston this year. He hosted special events for JFK's 100th anniversary and will miss that kind of thing.

Next steps

"I feel more at ease with my decision then I was at that time [three years ago when he was in talks with Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana]. I think that was a monetary decision. They came in and offered a lot of money," he said. "When I walked away from the Pepe's deal I felt the finite nature of the business more so than I had at an intellectual level. So I really thought: 'for whatever years I have remaining I want to put all of myself into the restaurant and leave nothing on the table'."

And he said, he did.

But Solomon is not one to sit too still for too long. He says multiple people have approached him with ideas and projects for next steps. And his next step might not actually involve food. He says the strong relationships with the non profits he's worked with over the years are catching his eye right now.

"Those [relationships and experiences] are very fulfilling to me. I may well work with some of them. At a time when the fabric of american society seems to be coming apart I could see myself getting more involved in helping to teach children about the ideals that have always been important to us here in Massachusetts and in our little bubble of Brookline that we love so much."I think i really enjoyed the last 3 plus years probably more than i had several prior.

And Solomon an avid baseball fan (his cane is even in the shape of a baseball bat) mentioned he's keeping an eye on Hartford Yard Goats, a Connecticut baseball team he is involved with.

What's next for the space?

It's going to remain a restaurant, says Solomon. "These guys don't want me to unveil what the're doing but they're unknowns," he said adding it looked Washington Square could expect Mediterranean Seafood soon.

But for the rest of the month of August he and his wife and the team will still be at the Fireplace.

"I encourage people to come on down have bite and say goodbye. It's restaurant week, too. So come in for a long time favorite or go with a prefix," he said.

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/ Patch staff