Chef Michael Serpa Will Open a Parisian Bistro on Newbury Street

Chef Michael Serpa. / Photo by Brian Samuels

Nearly four years after bringing splurge-worthy seafood to a Back Bay brownstone with Select Oyster Bar, chef Michael Serpa and his business partners are opening a second restaurant nearby. Grand Tour, a modern, Parisian-style bistro, is in the works to open later this year at 314 Newbury Street.

Serpa, an avid cyclist, named his new restaurant as a nod to the three Grand Tours of professional cycling: La Vuelta a España, Giro d’Italia, and Le Tour de France. The latter is the most historic and prestigious race of all—so naturally, he was inspired by French cuisine for the Grand Tour menu. Expect dishes like steak frites, roasted duck, and rabbit in mustard sauce, plus seasonal vegetables, cheeses, and charcuterie.

Like he does (to much acclaim) at Select, Serpa will be curating Grand Tour’s wine program, highlighting all American-made juices by-the-glass, and progressively produced bottles from here and France. The new restaurant will be open all day, every day, for lunch and dinner (no dessert or coffee).

“It’s the chef’s fantasy restaurant, a 50-seat bistro,” Serpa says.

A 7-year alum of Neptune Oyster Bar before he opened Select in 2015, Serpa and his wife and operations director, Lina Velez, have been casually mulling over opening a second concept for some time. When a former smoothie shop became available just down a back alley from Select, it was time to move on the space. It’s another chef fantasy to have an “empire of restaurants all next to each other,” Serpa says, like Gabriel Stulman’s West Village restaurant group, and Tiffani Faison’s growing group in the Fenway.

Though small, Grand Tour will span two levels inside, including a lofted private dining room overlooking the retail thoroughfare; and a marble bar and open kitchen on the main floor. Boston architecture firm STA Design is leading the renovation, which is going on now.

A street-side patio out front will up the seating capacity in the warmer months. While the restaurant’s proximity to the Hynes Convention Center and several major hotels will likely appeal to visitors, Serpa envisions a true neighborhood spot with a chill, cozy vibe.

“Our regulars are awesome,” Serpa says of the Back Bay-based clientele at the heart of Select. “They support us in the winter, they plan parties in the summer. It’s fun to get into a neighborhood and meet the people, and then get to see them more often” by giving them a new restaurant to visit.

Grand Tour has claimed its Instagram handle—@grandtourboston—and its place on the World Wide Web. The new Parisian bistro could open as soon as this fall.

Grand Tour, coming in 2019 to 314 Newbury St., Boston, grandtourboston.com.