A new, old favourite is making a comeback in Steveston and it鈥檚 all thanks to complete and utter boredom.
Almost two years after selling Paesano's, an Italian restaurant, to take his first summer vacation in half a century, Satinder Jaswal got fed up with retirement.
This time Jaswal, 64, has taken over George鈥檚 Taverna on the corner of Moncton Street and First Avenue.
And in a script that you couldn鈥檛 make up, the former Italian restaurant owner, who is of East Indian ethnicity, is set to re-open the Greek eatery sometime next month.
However, it won鈥檛 be a fusion of Italian, Greek and East Indian cuisine 鈥� it will be straight up Italiano, says Jaswal, and will be called Cucina Piccolo, meaning 鈥渓ittle kitchen.鈥�
鈥淚 left almost two years ago and took some time off, did a bit of travelling. But I got really bored of all of that very quickly. It was just so boring,鈥� Jaswal told the Richmond News.
鈥淚 really missed working and working with people especially. Now word has gotten out and people are calling me up asking for tables and I鈥檓 not even open yet.
鈥淚 do have an extended contact list and people from all over have been reaching out.鈥�
Don鈥檛 start lining up just yet, though, as Jaswal said the former tavern, which was popular in its day, was in 鈥減retty bad shape鈥� when he took the keys a few weeks ago.
鈥淚 still need another month or so here; this place was a mess,鈥� he added.
鈥淲e had to gut the entire place; I don鈥檛 know how people managed to eat in here.鈥�
Despite edging closer every day to official retirement age, Jaswal, who until recently had spent 36 years serving up Italian food in Richmond, said he still feels up for the challenge of running his own restaurant again.
鈥淚 feel good and I feel healthy. I鈥檓 not into sitting at home doing nothing.
鈥淭his place is going to be an Italian through and through. But I can鈥檛 use the Paesano鈥檚 name, I gave that up with the last place (now Britannia Brewing).
鈥淭his will be a fresh start. I鈥檓 hoping to get open by the end of April.鈥�
In May 2016, Jaswal told the News, 鈥淚 want to retire, basically. It鈥檚 a lot of work and I just want to take it easy now.鈥�
When he announced back then he was closing, Jaswal said he was bombarded with calls from loyal customers, asking where he鈥檚 going to open up next.
鈥淵ou never know where we might pop back up,鈥� he said at the time.
