Million Dollar Renovations and Name Change for Framingham Restaurant

La Cantina Restaurant is now LaCantina Italiana Ristorante.

Framingham Selectmen approved the name change last week's on the 67-year old restaurant's liquor license.

The name change is to clear up any confusion among consumers, said attorney Peter Barbieri.

"The change is so we don't get calls asking for tacos anymore," he joked.

Many Framingham residents already know LaCantina as the place to go for chicken parmigiana and of course, Fanny's Original Italian Dressing and marinara sauces.

In 1946, after many years experience in the grocery and meat cutting business, Leo and Fanny Mencoboni took their life savings, bought an empty lot next door to their little one room neighborhood grocery and meat market, and with the help of many friends, constructed the building in which La Cantina Italiana restaurant now stands.

Today, the well-known South Framingham restaurant is undergoing million dollar renovations.

The Mencoboni family is transforming the second floor into a large banquet hall facility. The family used to live above the popular Italian restaurant.

The renovations, expected to be completed in 2013, cost about $2 million.

When completed the restaurant will have a second floor function room, a new entrance, a new lobby and handicapped-accessible bathrooms.

The restaurant is open during the renovations.

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