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WESTFORD — A new restaurant concept will be opening its doors in Westford. Stir, a new martini bar, will be hosting its soft opening on Monday evening.
The restaurant is co-owned by two Merrimack Valley restaurant veterans — Randy Richards and Caitlin Hannagan, two locals each with over a decade of experience in the area.
“We know what this area was lacking,” Richards told WestfordCAT. “There’s nothing really like it in this area, I believe the closest one to us is in Nashua.”
The restaurant will feature a specialty cocktail menu and wine, as well as house-made flatbreads, appetizers and entrées.
“We really want people to come in and for it to be an entire vibe for them, you know,” said Richards. “We want them to know what to expect when they sit down.”
He continued, “there’s a keep it classy sign in the front, its very prominent. So that’s what we’re going for.”
Their signature dish is their sliced petite fillet, which is served uncooked on a hot stone. The goal, Richards says, is to make the dish interactive for the customers.
“It [the stone] comes out hot, and you cook it to your liking,” said Richards.
Hannagan continued, “the kitchen will sear and cut your fillet. They’ll cut it into slices and it will come straight to you and you can cook it to your liking.”
Richards and Hannagan have been renovating the Powers Road building since their lease began on June 1, noting a number of challenges preparing for the Aug. 1 opening date.
“It’s an old house, so nothing fits right,” said Hannagan. “We had to get creative with some of our décor and they way we did things.”
She continued, “modernizing an old building has been a lot. It’s been a lot, and we did most of it ourselves. We’ve been here every day since we took the lease over on June 1.”
Both Richards and Hannagan noted additional challenges with staffing and supply-chain constraints.
“You want to have premium items on your menu without sacrificing quality,” said Hannagan. “We’d rather not have it than serve you bad food.”
Richards and Hannagan plan to host an official ribbon-cutting at the end of August. No date has been set at this time.
“We’ve told people that we’re going to open on Monday, but we’re not going to throw a grand opening ‘party’ until the end of the month, since we will want to invite the people who have helped us tremendously in Town Hall,” said Richards.
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