During what some people are saying might be the worst recession in history, some restaurant owners see opportunity.
In Derry, The Halligan Tavern is scheduled to open the first week of December at 32 W. Broadway, the former home of the Firehall Pub and Grille.
Over in Pelham, Nicholas and Marina Dimitriou, owners for many years of Dimitriou's Family Restaurant in Tewksbury, recently moved to 125 Bridge St. In Salem, Jocelyn's Restaurant replaces the Phoenician Restaurant at 355 S. Broadway.
And across the state border, Yella opened Friday night in Andover, and diners lined up last night at The Loop in Methuen for the grand opening of the Olive Garden, which took over the site of Romano's Macaroni Grill.
While some people might see the surge in restaurant openings as a sign the recession is ending, others said that is not necessarily the case.
Peter Christie, chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said new restaurants often take the place of old ones that have closed. Others, he said, are taking advantage of better real estate prices and negotiating cheaper leases in new locations or outright buying lower priced real estate for old ventures.
"What I'm seeing, restaurants are opening, but in many cases that's because other restaurants have gone out of business," he said. "There's a whole lot of that going on — retrofitting of restaurants that have failed."
Yella, for example, is opening at the site of the old Cassis, which closed after a family tragedy caused the former owners to sell. The new owners, Carlo and Danielle Berdahn, are putting their personal imprint on the site, offering lunch and dinner in what they say is a more relaxed atmosphere at the Mediterranean food restaurant.
"We have a different style," Danielle Berdahn said. "We are going for hip, trendy, elegant style, steering away from the fine dining, uptight service. We want people to feel comfortable in a warm atmosphere."
But the 36-seat eatery, with a four-stool bar, also is mindful of the economy, offering lower prices than many upscale restaurants, while also coming up with fixed-price menus for special occasions like wine tastings.
One local restaurant that made a successful transition is Jocelyn's Restaurant in Salem.
The owner, Jocelyn Maroun, decided to open at the site of the Phoenician Restaurant, whose owners moved to the site of Michael's Function Hall on Route 110 in Haverhill.
Maroun said she and her family had been running Salem Kabob on Route 97 when they decided to move and expand.
They aren't the only New Hampshire restaurant taking advantage of a shifting market.
In New Hampshire, two experienced restaurateurs had few, if any, reservations about opening new businesses in the economic downturn.
Nicholas and Marina Dimitriou of Dimitriou's Family Restaurant did not hestitate because the owners "knew what they were doing," said Athanasios Sioras, manager of the restaurant.
Dimitriou's specializes in fresh seafood, and Greek and Italian fare. It's open seven days a week, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
At The Halligan Tavern in Derry, Tim Moran of Nashua and his two partners — Ryan Tobin of Hudson and Dan Mancini of Methuen — are confident that will do well when their restaurant opens.
"If you put great atmosphere and food and quality service together in the same building, people will come," Moran said.
Yesterday, while workers hammered down hardwood floors, Moran said the gastro-pub's homemade food, including steak, salmon and fish-and-chip dinners, will accompany 24 different beers and ales on draft.
Moran said he has been working in restaurants his whole life. The restaurant is the building that served as Derry's original firehouse, he said.
Other restaurants are making the move because of lower real estate prices.
Tony Hans, who owns Han Garden in Bradford, is closing his current location and moving downtown to reopen as Hans Garden.
"We've been leasing here for 10 years, but we have an opportunity to buy the building," he said of his move to Washington Street near The Tap. "We want to be right in the center of town with all the other restaurants. The downtown is revived and we want to be part of that."
Christie said that's pretty typical of the current nexus of restaurants and real estate.
"If you can negotiate a great lease, you've got a leg up on those others who can't," he said. "I think we're seeing some expansion going on because real estate prices have come down. People who've had these ideas are able to go for it," he said.
Other companies, like the Chipotle restaurant coming to Route 114 in North Andover in April, sees the area as a fertile market.
Katherine Newell Smith, spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based Mexican restaurant chain, said it is opening 120 to 125 restaurants a year, at least for the foreseeable future.
The company's revenue grew an astonishing 13.8 percent in the third quarter of this year compared with the third quarter of last year, and has continued its blistering pace of new restaurant openings throughout the United States.
Chipotle is contributing to the trend of takeovers, moving into space formerly occupied by Fresh City, which closed abruptly Friday.
Many other area eateries also have closed recently, including the High Street Grill in the East Mill in North Andover.
The owners could not be reached for comment, but a statement on the restaurant's Web page says it all:
"Unfortunately we had been working with a buyer closely and, unexpectedly, that buyer walked away from the sale at the last minute. We had been gearing up for the sale of the restaurant but as a result of the last-minute decision, we were forced to close the doors."
Building manager David Steinbergh could not be reached for comment.
