The Grand Tour is closing on September 3. However, the same team will be opening a new restaurant in its place on September 12.
Chef Michael Serpa and his team at Serpa Hospitality Group are opening “Little Whale Oyster Bar” in the Grand Tour space on Newbury Street in September. Following in the footsteps of his other seafood restaurants, Little Whale Oyster Bar will be a New England-style-seafood concept.
The Grand Tour opened in January 2020 and while it survived the pandemic, Serpa’s team is looking to breathe new life into the space—honing in on the chef’s specialty, seafood.
“I’m tremendously proud of our talented team and look forward to them being part of the Little Whale team as we transition over. We have come to realize that the neighborhood and visitors alike have a huge appetite, literally and figuratively, for classic New England seafood that we are going to focus on. Personally, I have been passionate about cooking seafood for the past 15 years in Boston and love the classic New England dishes we are going to showcase at Little Whale. It will perfectly complement our other two seafood spots, Select and Atlántico while offering a menu and vibe completely its own and we are excited to get it up and running,” explained Serpa.
The restaurant will offer an all-day menu filled with classics. The raw bar will have local oysters and on the hot side of things there will be Ipswich fried clams, New England clam chowder, Maine lobster rolls and lots of local fish. On the drinks side of things, the wine list will showcase “seafood friendly wines” like Chablis and Sancerre. Whereas the beer menu will be filled with local craft creations from the New England brewery scene.
Little Whale Oyster Bar will be located at 314 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02115 in the two-floor space currently occupied by The Grand Tour and will have seating for 48 guests including 14 seats at its lower-level bar. The restaurant will be open for continuous service from 11:30am to 9:30pm (closing at 10:30pm on the weekends.)
Luckily this end of Back Bay has some fantastic newcomers this summer, both Faccia Brutta and Hecate are worth a visit! And if you are looking to try the best of the best right now, check out our guide to the best restaurants in Boston right now.