Wine Bar To Open In West Newton

NEWTON, MA — A wine bar, complete with charcuterie and small plates, is coming to West Newton in the days ahead. Flora's Wine Bar is set to open by the end of the month in the space that once was home to Coney Island Ice Cream cafe. On Feb. 19, the space got the final go-ahead from city inspectors.

"We're ready to go," owner Andrew Li told Patch Wednesday afternoon. "We have our team in place our menu selected and as soon as the city computers are updated, we can have a concrete opening date."

The Mediterranean-style wine bar will offer hand crafted cocktails and craft beer on draft that you may not be able to find elsewhere along with exclusive, unique wine, that Li said he hopes the neighborhood falls in love with.

The idea behind Flora’s sprang up when Li, who grew up across the border in Brookline and business partner Corey Fletcher, of Abington, who own a craft beer catering business called The Beer Mobile, started looking for a brick-and-mortar space. That led them down the street from the West Newton Cinema, a popular spot for Li's mom ("She was thrilled to find out we were going to open so close," said Li).

"The concept of a little bit more of a high end wine bar in West Newton seemed like a perfect fit," said Li.

The duo behind the new endeavor have years of culinary and drink experience between them. Li and Fletcher met at Legal Seafoods, where they both worked years ago. Li was a front of house manager while Corey manned the bar. Li went on to co-own Mei Mei with his sisters and Fletcher worked the bar at the Not Your Average Joe's flagship in Westwood. Both were familiar with the catering circuit but saw an opening for craft beer out there and got the idea to create The Beer Mobile. They custom-built an eight-line kegerator out of a van. As that business grew, they looked to set up a brick and mortar. A search of the area led them to Newton, where they fell in love with the small space that once was home to Coney Island Ice Cream.

After meeting the landlord and talking with potential neighbors they decided they wanted to call this space home. The landlady was concerned that hot cooking, or smells might disturb her other tenants, so the duo kept it simple.

"So, we thought a Mediterranean wine bar," said Li.

It turned out that concept seemed perfect, not only was the landlord on board, but a number of people have stopped by throughout the past few months eager for them to open. That's promising, he said.

"We really want to be a neighborhood place," said Li of the 20-seat space. "We really just want to be a small cozy place that people can come to, when they're not looking to head all the way into Boston."

Li and Fletcher said they were originally hoping to be open by Feb. 14. That didn't quite pan out, so look for an opening by the end of the month.

The wine bar, which employs about 10, will be closed Mondays, but open at 4 p.m. for the after work crew Tuesday through Wednesday. Thursday through Sunday they plan to open at 11 a.m. The space will close at 10 p.m. every day except for Friday through Saturday.

And yes, once they have the bandwidth, the two will continue operating their mobile bar.

Address: 1284 Washington St.

Related:

Newton Restaurants That Closed, Opened In 2019

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).