Who is Johnny Bechamel?
The trio behind Dio Mio’s squid ink pasta and Redeemer Pizza’s smoldering slices may or may not answer that question when they open two new restaurants that bear his name.
The first, Little Johnny B’s, will take over for Roberta’s, a Brooklyn-based pizzeria that opened last fall inside the newish, 16-room Urban Cowboy boutique hotel, at 1665 Grant St. in Capitol Hill. It will serve up wood-fired pies, along with salads and Italian-inspired snacks, at the Public House bar on the property starting April 21. (It will also provide room service.)
Urban Cowboy didn’t say why Roberta’s — long touted as being part and parcel with the hotel — was closing. A statement said the move would give Urban Cowboy a chance to work with local restaurateurs, that Roberta’s would focus on new and existing locations nationwide, and that the partnership between the two would continue in other cities.
But it worked out well for Spencer White, Alex Figura and Lulu Clair, the founding partners behind Dio Mio and Redeemer, which are both located on Upper Larimer Street in the River North Art District.
“It felt like too good of an opportunity to pass up,” Clair said.
That’s in part because their company, Mamas & Papas Hospitality Group, also plans to open a much bigger concept, Johnny Bechamel’s, this summer at 81 S. Pennsylvania St. The kitchen there will turn out pastas like the ones that garnered Dio Mio recommendations from the Michelin Guide in recent years, as well as sourdough pizzas that can be eaten in house or to go.
Compared to their RiNo establishments, the new restaurants “are more of a look into who we are as people,” Clair said.
The pizza at Little Johnny B’s will be different from Redeemer or Johnny Bechamel’s because of the hotel’s wood-fired oven, Clair said.
As for Johnny Bechamel himself, Clair was happy to partake in some myth-building about the fictional character. When asked who he was, she said his grandparents own a pizza shop in New Jersey and that his previous stint was at Olive Garden.