By Beth Treffeisen
A new restaurant, Cava will be replacing what was once home to candy store Sugar Heaven at 669 Boylston St., in the Back Bay. Cava is a Mediterranean culinary brand looking to expand their healthy fast-casual restaurants throughout the northeast and landed at this location for their first location to open in Boston.
Sugar Heaven announced that it would be closing its doors for good at the end of this past May 2017. They continue to have a store at Assembly Row in Somerville.
Cava presented the restaurant at the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay (NABB), Licensing and Building Use Committee meeting on Monday, September 11.
Similar to other restaurants in the area such as Chopped or Sweetgreen, Cava will be open for mid-day lunch and dinner and will have an area for about 50 people within the restaurant space and a small patio for about 16 people outside. The restaurant will operate from 11 to 10 p.m.
The restaurant still needs to receive a CV license with the City and needs a zoning relief for a restaurant to be zoned in the space. In addition, they will be changing parts of the façade that will have to gain approval through the Back Bay Architectural Commission.
According to Dennis Quilty the attorney representing the restaurant, Cava doesn’t have a date set yet with the City.
“The patio will have no obstruction issues that we are aware of,” said Quilty. “It’s owned property so we don’t have to go through public process because it is owned by the building.”
The trash will be placed in a dumpster that runs in the alleyway behind the building. If there is enough space, the restaurant hopes to contain the trash indoors before taking it outside.
Deliveries to the restaurant will be made six days a week because all of the ingredients are fresh. Right now, Quilty said, the restaurant is using two vendors but they hope to narrow it down to one. The deliveries will be made in the early morning hours at around 2:00 a.m. through the front doors to not disturb any of the neighbors.
When the restaurant opens, the experience will be similar to ones seen at Boloco or Chipotle but with a Mediterranean twist.
People will form a line and chose a base such as pita, grain bowl or salad and then build their personal lunch or dinner with dips including tzatziki, hummus, and crazy feta and have toppings such as chicken, falafel, diced cucumbers and more. According to a representative from Cava, all of the juices are also freshly made each day.
There will be no liquor license on the premise.
Cava originated in Maryland, D.C. area and just opened another store in New York City. In the next six weeks, they are working on opening five more stores between Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York.