The owners of Via Cannuccia restaurant told the St. Mark’s Area Civic Association (SMACA) last Tuesday (May 28) that they are planning to add outdoor dining in the next few weeks and are planning to build a back patio behind the restaurant for next year.

The successful Italian restaurant and bakery operating at the southern edge of St. Mark parish property celebrated its one-year anniversary on April 9, and its owners, Dorchester’s Stefano Quaresima and Tsedenia Kiros, said they have rolled out more hours and will have present outdoor options very soon.

“We just got approved for the Main Streets street patio outdoor dining,” said Kiros. “We’re going to start [constructing] that within the next week or so. We are also open a lot more hours now, including for breakfast and lunch. This operation is moving fast in all different directions…It’s been an interesting, fun, and intense ride this first year.”

The outdoor dining option has proved to be a hit with the neighbors and patrons of the restaurant, with it being the only al fresco option in the St. Mark’s parish stretch of the Dorchester Avenue corridor. The new hours were introduced last month to fanfare as well. Though an Italian restaurant, Quaresima is a classically trained chef, Kiros said, and his baked goods have proved as popular as the main courses.

The restaurant is now open for breakfast and lunch during the week from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and for weekend brunch from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner is served as usual from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Quaresima and Kiros said that as they ease into the changes, they have started working more with the city on their plans. “We’re now in the process of working with the city and Greater Ashmont [Main Streets] to open a patio in the back” for next spring and summer, said Kiros.

She noted that Crawford Drug, which owns the strip behind the restaurant, has agreed to allow Via Cannuccia to build out the space this year.

Civic leader Michael Folan indicated an abutters’ meeting on the back patio was held recently, and all were in favor of the expansion.

Neighbors have been very supportive of the restaurant in its first year, said Kiros and Quaresima. Now, said Kiros, they are seeing patrons from the South Shore, Quincy, and Milton along with their Dorchester regulars. “The success we’ve having is due to this association in St. Mark’s, Ashmont-Adams, and Ashmont Hill in particular, but all of Dorchester, too,” said Kiros. “You stepped up to support us when we were just starting and continue to do so.”

SPEEDHUMP STRATEGY
Virtually everyone in District 3 Councillor John FitzGerald’s area have asked for speed humps and traffic calming, but he says his neighbors aren’t likely to see them on the city’s schedule for several years. He has told civic members that he has asked Mayor Wu to allow each councillor to be able to choose 10 miles of priority area speedhumps outside of the regular budgeted city schedule. He said that would let every councillor to hit the worst areas to get some relief immediately.

“Otherwise,” he said, “I’ll be honest; you’re not getting them anytime soon.”

PUBLIC SAFETY
Last year at this time several areas of St. Mark’s were experiencing a lot of crime, including armed robberies, shootings, and assaults. That has changed significantly this year, according to SMACA and CSO Michael Keaney. That said, Keaney reported that on May 12 at 10:20 p.m., an alert neighbor called 911 to report five teens in the Florida and Wrentham streets area trying to break into cars. Police located them very quickly and found a 16-year-old in the group with a loaded .22 calibre handgun. He was charged with four felonies.