Printer Friendly Version - Coming Soon to Branford: Two Exciting Restaurants, One Prime Location

Branford will soon have two new, exciting restaurants downtown, developed under the creative and talented guidance of long-time Branford resident and accomplished restaurateur, Stephen Goglia. The restaurants, Saltbrick Prime and Lockworks Tavern, will occupy newly renovated and redesigned spaces in the building which last operated as Donovan’s Reef Restaurant and its Sonar Room at 1212 Main Street. Pam Johnson/The Sound

In a single sweep, Branford will soon have two new, exciting restaurants downtown, developed under the creative and talented guidance of long-time Branford resident and accomplished restaurateur, Stephen Goglia.

“We’re bringing two new concepts to life,” said Goglia of the plans he and his partners have for the two venues.

Both venues are located in Lockworks Square in the square’s impressive brick industrial building at 1212 Main Street. The building most recently housed the former Donovan's Reef restaurant and its Sonar Room. Goglia locked in the location in July 2023.

He anticipates both restaurants will be ready to become operational by late spring-early summer 2024. The management team is already in place and Goglia is anticipating creating 50 to 60 new jobs in Branford to help staff the two businesses.

The primary restaurant space, where Donovan’s Reef formerly operated, will be the new home of Saltbrick Prime, a top-end, 120-seat steakhouse. Next door, the same building’s former Sonar Room banquet space is being renovated by Goglia’s team to bring in a second, separate eatery, Lockworks Tavern. The tavern, which will also seat 120, will have an atmosphere steeped in the history of the site’s former lockworks foundry, stoked by great food and drink, said Goglia.

Goglia, president and CEO of Craveable Hospitality Group, has over 30 years’ operating and consulting experience growing restaurant businesses and brands across the country. Among them, he said Saltbrick Prime will bring to Branford some elements of the classic steakhouse-meets-heightened dining experience of the group’s David Burke Prime Steakhouse at Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket.

“We operate a 414-seat premium steakhouse at Foxwoods Casino. We have a U.S. patent on our steaks and how we dry-age the meat. What we will do in Branford is a smaller version of the format we have there. So it will be something new to Branford, but it’s not new to us,” said Goglia, adding, “...and it’s not a stuffy steakhouse, that’s for sure. We have an engaging elegance, and I think the features will really be spectacular for the town.”

Lockworks Tavern will have a different ambiance and is being designed with the site’s former foundry in mind.

“On the tavern side, the offerings will be a collection of our parts of many of our other restaurants; and some nuances and new things that are beyond. It’s also exciting for us because it’s a new name and new brand. But what we’re really excited about with Lockworks Tavern is that we’re bringing some history out, by going back into the history of the building,” said Goglia.

Tavern design features will harken back to the building’s foundry days, when ornate doorknobs, locks and fixtures such as hinges were produced.

“It will be a very nice addition to Branford, in how we bring that out and enhance the building,” said Goglia.

Of the many restaurant ventures Goglia has undertaken, he said the opportunity to create these two new spaces at this site in is special to him as a Branford resident. He raised his three sons in the community, and now, he has grandchildren here.

“It’s my hometown,” said Goglia. “I really love Branford, and I know that we can bring something to the town that will be additive.”

Design plans to create the space housing Saltbrick Prime include an interior that will celebrate the scale of the industrial building, from floor to ceiling, he said.

“The space is so grand,” said Goglia. “We’ve taken down walls and we’ve removed an upstairs room so that it’s now all on one level. So when you’re inside, you’re seeing the skylights and the beauty of the height of the ceiling. The building’s really opened up. It’s breathing now.”

Goglia has tapped a host of business, design, and culinary professionals from the group’s portfolio and other projects to bring these two new Branford restaurants into being.

“We’ve spent hours talking about how does Saltbrick Prime fit into Branford so it feels right for Branford, and the same thing with our tavern,” he said.

Currently, interior renovations are moving from the demolition stage to the “building it back” stage, Goglia said. He added that it’s been a pleasure to work with the Town of Branford and its officials throughout the permitting and construction process.