WILMINGTON — It’s been seven months since Italian Bistro opened its second eatery near Surf City. Owner Jason James wasn’t expecting a Monkey Junction offshoot to take shape, but by the end of May a third restaurant will be open.
READ MORE: Italian Bistro takes over Hampstead eatery
“We’ve had customers asking us about bringing a restaurant to Monkey Junction for a while now,” James said.
He has operated the Porters Neck location since 2011, but originally started the bistro downtown in the Cotton Exchange in 1999.
The 1,800-square-foot Monkey Junction restaurant — roughly the same size as Porters Neck — will seat up to 40 diners inside and 20 outdoors. It is located at 5120 College Road, formerly Antonio’s Pizza and most recently Eric’s Grill — a burger joint that opened in 2021 but closed recently.
Situated near the new Meet the Greeks, Smoke House Monkey Junction and Indochine Express, the restaurant is outfitted with all the equipment necessary — walk-in coolers, grease traps, drains. Thus the upfit is relatively easy, with the goal to be operational in the next few months.
A customer from the Zimmer Development Group, which owns the shopping center, notified James of the availability.
“It’s got a lot of good bones to it,” James said of the space. “We ripped out all the counters, all the wait stations and all the floors are ready — we’ll put some new stuff in, add new paint and furniture.”
The solo owner in Porters Neck, James recently expanded Italian Bistro in the Hampstead/Surf City area in the former JT’s Brick Oven Pizza (201 Alston Blvd.). This operation is jointly owned with head chef Jason Raynor and Chris Harris and opened in August last year, the end of the summer season. Harris runs it and James expects it to pick up more eavily in coming weeks as weather continues to warm and tourist season begins.
“We just poured a slab to put an outdoor patio in,” he said. “So we should have an outdoor patio and Hampstead up and going in the next couple of weeks.”
While Hampstead serves a smaller menu than the flagship, Monkey Junction will mirror Porters Neck’s full offerings — pasta dishes, sandwiches, daily specials, salads and pizzas. It recently added Detroit and Chicago deep dish pies, served every Thursday night, also to be offered in MJ.
James is partnering in the third restaurant with Raynor, Jonathan Bennett and Scott Bragman. Bennett and Bragman have worked in Italian Bistro’s kitchen — the former for six years and the latter for a year-and-a-half.
“But Scott has many years experience in the restaurant business,” James said. “Both are very good at what they do and that’s why I offered them the partnership”
Both will oversee the Monkey Junction restaurant.
Cumulatively, the restaurants will have 100 employees, with roughly 25 hired for Monkey Junction once it opens. It will be operated by Bennett and Bragman. The hours will be the same: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.
James said he likely will take a pause before expanding again, though he’s been searching in Leland for a location for years. He told PCD in August he had been approached numerous times during the Covid-19 pandemic about potential spaces in Brunswick County’s fastest growing town.
“It would be great because it’s close to where I live,” James said. “We ran some numbers, but everything is astronomical to build a place out from scratch. So I think Leland’s on the back burner for a while.”
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