Concord’s Granite Restaurant Reopens With New Chef, Menu: Video

CONCORD, NH — The coronavirus pandemic, as many diners already know, has done a number on the restaurant and bar industry.

Eateries in New Hampshire and elsewhere have been hit with supply chain issues for food fare, lack of staffing in a more competitive employment market, and customers who are sometimes impatient or still facing economic hardships despite the opportunities that abound in a number of economic sectors. Some businesses were shuttered never to return; others took a break; and even more, now, are reopening.

Such is the case of the Granite Restaurant & Bar, inside The Centennial Hotel on Pleasant Street in Concord, which had been closed for more than 18 months but reopened in late October with a new chef and menu, too.

Charlie Lavery was hired recently by Hay Creek Hotels to cook at the restaurant and also rebuild the menu. He has been working in restaurants in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts since he was a teenager, about two decades, but only reached chef status about 13 or 14 years ago in Boston. The New Hampshire native attended culinary school and then moved to Massachusetts to acquire his chops. He then moved to Maine but returned to New Hampshire later, working at eateries in the North Country.

Lavery said the new menu features “international-inspired street food and comfort fare” often with local ingredients, including New England seafood and proteins from farms from New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont.

“For me, when you start with good product you end with good product,” Lavery said. “The concept came to me pretty easy. The challenging part was making sure I could source all the products properly, so I could be true to form with the dish.”

The menu features shrimp and grits as well as Parisian-style gnocchi, fall vegetable strata, grilled street corn, diver scallops, salads, sides, desserts, and more. Daily specials will ensure changes to the menu on a regular basis. A new Sunday brunch menu has been created, too.

Laura Leslie, the general manager of the hotel, said a number of customers and lodgers have been wondering when the restaurant would reopen with Lavery and his new menu.

“We are so excited to be welcoming everyone back,” she said.

Leslie said the restaurant and bar always offered a “vibrancy” and activity inside the hotel — something missing during its closure since the beginning stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The restaurant, we consider, kind of the heart of the hotel,” she said, “so there had been a huge piece missing.”

Leslie added, “I have been lucky enough to try Charlie’s recipes; they are phenomenal. The thing I like most about his menu is that it is approachable; it is something, I think, a lot of people will take to.”

The restaurant is offering Thanksgiving dinner, too, with a special menu, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. offering unique appetizers, turkey, salmon, or pork, risotto, and pies, trifle, or a lava cookie with ice cream. Reservations are required.

For more information about the new Granite Restaurant & Bar menu or bookings at the hotel, click on this link.

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• Concord Chamber, Council Offer COVID-19 Grants For Restaurants
• Concord Retail Businesses, Restaurants Prepare To Reopen: Watch
• Concord Hoteliers, Restaurateurs Brace For Coronavirus Impact

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