New face for Same Old Place


DAVID TABER

JP CENTER— Same Old Place, a restaurant at 662 Centre St. primarily known for its pizza, last month received approval from the city Licensing Board for a beer and wine license.

Owner Fred Ciampa told the Gazette he plans to renovate the restaurant’s back room and institute sit-down table service there. He will expand the menu to include things like “chicken, steak, steak tips, shells, spaghetti and meatballs and eggplant,” he said.

The beer and wine will only be served in the back and only with meals, he said.

Ciampa said restaurant renovations include fixing up the bathroom, work he has already undertaken. “The tiling I did myself. I am very handy,” he said.

He said he will replace the plastic sign that now advertises the restaurant. Carlos Icaza, head of the Jamaica Plain Business and Professional Association and a member of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council (JPNC), complained at the October JPNC meeting that the sign is unsightly.

“It would only make sense that I would change the sign,” Ciampa said. “I have to advertise the new service.”

At its October meeting, the Jamaica Pond Association asked Ciampa to remove the metal grates he locks in front of his storefront after he closes at night, and he agreed to try not locking them on a trial basis.

Ciampa said he gave up on that experiment after a couple of businesses, including the Century 21 Pondside Realty office at 660 Centre St., were broken into the next week.

“I got a little nervous,” Ciampa said.

In his application before the Licensing Board, Ciampa presented a petition with 480 signatures from community members. Speaking to the Gazette, he made a point of thanking the community for their support.

Same Old Place will begin offering table service early in 2009, he said.

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