Chef Plans to Reopen Post Office Cafe in East Greenwich

Many careers go full circle.

Chef John Granata spent the last 13 years as the executive chef at Camille’s Restaurant, a highly-regarded fine dining establishment in Providence.

Before that, he worked at a place that once was synonymous with East Greenwich: the Post Office Cafe.

Over the past year or so, Granata drove up and down Main Street in East Greenwich to bring his son to karate class and he’d look over at the stately facade of the historic post office building and former home of the once iconic restaurant that went under in sad fashion. Like some of the the clams once served there, it went belly up.

“Every morning I’d drive by it and see it was for sale and I’d think ‘my God, I’d love to have that place,” Granata said in an interview.

He made a few inquiries. It wasn’t that difficult to figure out who to talk to. He is the former chef at the former Post Office Cafe years ago, and a longtime employee of the company that owned it for years. He knew the Marra family, who bought the building out of bankruptcy in 2011.

“We talked and talked until we came to an agreement,” Granata said.

Today, Granata is spending his days inside the building, which he said should be ready to be opened up by the end of July or the beginning of August.

“Things should be rolling along pretty well in about a week,” Granata said.

The East Greenwich Town Council on Monday is set to review Granata’s application for a liquor license and it is unlikely he will face much resistance; Granata said he has no major plans for live entertainment, which is what derailed a plan last year for a Cuban-themed restaurant and doomed the business before that: Rok Bar and Grille (along with back taxes.)

He does, however, plan on having background music like any other restaurant and “occasional vocal/bands” for special events like weddings, according to his liquor license application.

Granata said the restaurant will offer fine, but accessible, dining with reasonably priced dishes.

His career has mainly centered on fine Italian cooking, but Granata said that any good chef pays attention to trends and new flavors, so the new Post Office Cafe will offer Italian-influenced food but “it will be a little more continental.”

He said he hopes to have a lively bar area with craft beers and hand-mixed cocktails.

Ending up in a position to buy the building and open the restaurant is a dream come true, Granata said.

“My wife and I have been wanting to do this forever,” Granata said.

“I was the original executive chef and there’s a lot of history with me in that building, so it’s going to be a lot of fun to come back and do it the way I want to do it,” Granata said.

In essence, his career seems to have come full circle, he said. And he’s not feeling pressure you’d expect him to experience with the impending opening of a Rhode Island culinary landmark.

“I feel the excitement,” he said. “I think this is a natural fit.”

Granata lives in Warwick with his wife, Sherrie. They have two children — John, 17; and Danielle, 20.

“It’s an exciting venture for the whole family,” Granata said. “I couldn’t ask for a better location.”

In a sample menu provided to the council, the new Post Office Cafe will offer a blend of locally-inspired and Italian-influenced dishes like Crispy Pt. Judith Calamari “Federal Hill Style,” duck fat “popped” pop corn, tuna tartare tacos, a salumi board, cast iron seared Angus rib-eye, pistachio crusted Australian barramundi and more.

Granata said that the final menu might be slightly different, but it will all be delicious.

“I really think this is going to be a great thing,” Granata said.