A new year-round, “fast casual” restaurant is planned for what was formerly Linda Jean’s Restaurant, a beloved diner-style eatery on Circuit Ave. that closed last year.
The business was sold for $4.95 million to a team made up of local and off-Island restaurant operators. Charles Richard Hajjar who runs Boston-based company Hajjar Management, a company his father founded, along with local restaurateur Douglas Abdelnour Jr., who owns Nancy’s and Noman’s in Oak Bluffs, purchased the property last week.
“The general vibe will be a coffee shop, cafe, sort of blended with a general store,” Abdelnour said in an interview. “The goal is to definitely offer something for people year-round when they’re going to get groceries or going to get their mail.”
According to Hajjar, they will move away from table service, which Linda Jean’s was known for, and focus on quality and affordability. However, there will be tables where people can eat their food after purchasing.
“The new restaurant concept will keep doing breakfast and lunch, and possibly dinner. It will no longer be table service (more of a fast casual restaurant), filling a need in Oak Bluffs for good-quality, affordable comfort food,” Hajjar said in a statement to The Times.
The Hajjar and Abdelnour purchase is the latest management team trying to bring new life to the location.
Marc Hanover, who established the iconic eatery almost 50 years ago, sealed a deal in February to lease 25 Circuit Ave. for five years to Mike Santoro, president of the Santoro Hospitality Group, with an option to buy the property. Santoro told The Times then that he planned to name the restaurant “Michael’s,” but the location never got off the ground.
According to some Oak Bluffs residents who were meandering around the town on Wednesday afternoon, a fast casual eatery is exactly what they’d like to see in that location.
“I love grab and go,” Rita Hansen said as she walked past the post office. “As long as there’s some seafood and salads in there!”
Thomas Dresser, local writer, agreed. With his small, grey dog in tow, he said he’s looking forward to a restaurant moving into that space. He’s been sad to see it empty for over a year now, and cited the other business closures recently, such as Philip’s Hardware.
“It’s a great opportunity to bring more business into Oak Bluffs,” Dresser said. “If it’s a reasonably-priced business and good service I think it’ll do well.”
Glad there will be a restaurant there but sorry it won’t be a sit down. I miss a reasonably priced sit down restaurant.
Interesting that along with this one the Ocean View was another business that Mike Santoro wanted to open and Mr Hajjar has come along and changed course on him. The restaurant concept sounds just what the island needs as another full service high end food place we have enough of.
Like that Linda Jeans will be opened as a restaurant. It has been missed but we are very disappointed that you have eliminated wait staff. Beyond the quality of food and pricing, the wait staff is truly the heart and soul of a restaurant especially in these post-Covid times. People need year-round jobs and many customers enjoy not only having the service but also the conversation. We see this as a business decision but at the cost of peoples’ jobs?
Marge and Jamie, I share your mixed feelings. Like you, I’m grateful to see something happening in that long-empty spot — a year-round restaurant is welcome — but it’s still impossible to ignore how different this model will feel.
The owners have every right to choose their approach, yet table service at the old Linda Jean’s wasn’t a convenience. It was the heartbeat of the place. The wait staff created warmth, familiarity, and the sense of belonging that carried people through the quieter months.
Fast casual may be efficient, but efficiency isn’t connection. The conversations, the check-ins, the year-round jobs — those weren’t extras. They were the foundation of what made Linda Jean’s part of everyday Island life. With the holidays around the corner, it’s a reminder of how much community is built in these small, everyday interactions.
I’m glad something is opening there again, and I hope it succeeds, but I also hope the new team finds ways to keep the human element alive. Linda Jean’s was always more than a place to grab a meal — it was a place where people felt known, and that’s worth remembering as this new chapter begins.