New owners of former Squires restaurant in Hanover may demolish building

Chef Andrea Schnell is familiar with what can happen when taking over the space of a treasured restaurant.

Her very first restaurant, Sorelle Bar & Grill, opened in 2016 at the site of Vin & Eddie’s in Abington. She faced what she called a “small kind of backlash,” with some complaining that it would “never be as good.” After all, she was up against an Italian restaurant that had a six-decade presence in the town.

And now that her new venture Sage & Salt is in the works at the former Squires restaurant location at 1202 Washington St., she hopes former patrons and the rest of the South Shore will give her a chance.

She’s done so at Sorelle, judging by the 4.2-star rating on Yelp, with more than half of those 300 reviews raving with 5 stars.

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“We’re familiar with taking over landmarks. People hold those places very sacred to them because they have so many memories there,” she said.

Schnell and co-owner Jon D’Allessandro settled on Squires not only because the area is up and coming, but because it had the similar nostalgic vibe as Sorelle. A limited liability company associated with D'Allessandro purchased Squires for $885,000 in August. He also co-owns Sorelle and a handful of other South Shore restaurants, and runs the construction company D'Allessandro Corp.

But nostalgia aside, don’t expect it to look anything like Squires. In fact, Schnell says they plan to tear down the 1937 building and rebuild in the same footprint, pending permission from the town.

“We aren’t going to be the same. But we’re going to honor that tradition of memories, families getting together around the table. Those kinds of things are important to us at our restaurants. We understand that,” Schnell said.

Schnell and D’Allesandro visit Europe at least once a year to get inspiration. And while Sorelle does have dishes with Italian flair, “I don’t like to be pigeon-holed into any cuisine,” she said.

While the new restaurant and menu is still in the works, Schnell wants it to be a place that broaches the in-between of casual and elevated, where chefs can share their love of food while having options that are approachable for foodies and picky eaters alike.

“As chefs, we want to create and create fun things,” she said. “When people go out on a Tuesday night, they’re not looking to eat escargot and duck liver.”

Expect there to be a burger on the menu, she said.

Hannah Morse covers growth and development for The Patriot Ledger. Contact her at hmorse@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Former Squires restaurant building in Hanover may be knocked down