Why did the wreck cross the road? To get to the other side!
Amico Nave, an Italian restaurant located at 203 E. Villa Maria Road in Bryan, permanently closed its doors on February 26. Amico Nave was one of three restaurants owned by Wade and Mary Beckman, who also own Shipwreck Grill and 3rd On Main as well as Admiral Catering.
Shipwreck Grill is across the street from Amico Nave at 206 E. Villa Maria Road, and the Beckmans plan to close the restaurant and move the business to Amico Nave’s building.
Beckman said moving Shipwreck to Amico Nave was an idea he had already had, but had no plans to do so until the final decision to close Amico Nave.
“When I bought the (Amico Nave) building almost 11 years ago, I thought if it didn’t work out, I could always eventually move Shipwreck,” he said. “Since it’s across the street, I thought it would be pretty cool…but the move has to do with a lot of factors, like downsizing. »
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The Beckmans do not own the Shipwreck building.
“(The Shipwreck Grill) has been here for 15 years and our lease is coming up,” he said. “At this Shipwreck location, it’s almost impossible to make improvements and add new things to the menu. It’s just tiny. There’s not a lot of room to be creative.
For the current Shipwreck building, Beckman said it will be up to the owner to decide its future.
For the Amico Nave building, Beckman said construction plans are quite extensive because they hope to make it look like a wreck, similar to the current building, and add an air-conditioned patio.
“This is a very significant renovation, especially to the facade and the addition of an outdoor climate-controlled patio,” he said. “At Shipwreck, we have an awning and misters, things like that, but we all know that when it’s 102 degrees in Texas, you’re going to have to have air conditioning.”
The Amico Nave location has much more space than Shipwreck Grill’s current location, making it possible to serve a larger number of people, Beckman said.
“We only have nine tables in the entire Shipwreck building that are air-conditioned,” he said. “The new restaurant will be significantly north of that and we also have a private banquet room at Amico Nave which we will be converting into the ‘Pirate Captain’s Party Room’ and I think that room will be in high demand.”
Likewise, Shipwreck will be able to expand its menu options at the new location, Beckman said.
“At Amico Nave, as an Italian restaurant, we offered a lot of seafood dishes, and people were very fond of that, especially our salmon, our muscles and our oysters,” he said. declared. “We’re going to incorporate some of that seafood into Shipwreck and we’re going to make some improvements to our craft cocktails and bar.”
The best-case scenario is for the new location to open in late summer, Beckman said, while hoping to keep the current Shipwreck Grill location open until then.
“We are awaiting final approval of the plans and we hope to start construction by the last week of this month, but certainly by early April,” he said. “We hope to open the new restaurant before closing the other restaurant around the same time. Best case scenario, maybe a few weeks.
Overall, Beckman said everyone at Shipwreck is excited about all the possibilities ahead and being able to continue serving the people of Bryan.
“For Mary and I, we don’t really have a place to turn in our retirement papers,” he said. “It’s just a natural progression for our family restaurants. A less-is-more sort of situation.
