Craft & Commerce Closing For Overhaul, Will Reopen As Dual Concept

Since opening Craft & Commerce in 2010, the prolific and progressive CH Projects have steadily expanded its group's holdings to span from Ironside Fish & Oyster and Polite Provisions to two locations of its UnderBelly and Soda & Swine concepts and more. Now, they're shifting focus back to the Little Italy spot that helped to launch their well-established bar and restaurant empire.

This Tuesday, September 8, CH Projects' Arsalun Tafazoli and Nathan Stanton will shutter Craft & Commerce for an overhaul of the 2,500 square-foot space, overseen by its original designer Paul Basile of BASILE Studio, that will include a refresh of the interior design, an expanded outdoor patio with custom fire pit tables and a complete kitchen remodel.

Stepping in as executive chef of the new kitchen will be Jose "JoJo" Ruiz, Ironside Fish & Oyster's current chef de cuisine and an Eater Young Guns semifinalist who has cooked everywhere from Searsucker and Herringbone to The Oceanaire Seafood Room and Tower 23. Ruiz will create an entirely new menu (say farewell to those mini corn dogs) that draws from his experience with whole animal butchery and revolves around Craft & Commerce's new custom-made wood-fired grill.

CH Projects tells Eater that the multi-million dollar renovation will be completed by early 2016. When Craft & Commerce reopens anew, it won't be alone; a neighboring 1,000-square-foot space, currently an adjacent apartment in Allegro Towers, will be built out into a still-undisclosed new concept. Similar to their Neighborhood and Noble Experiment, Fairweather and Rare Form and Juice Saves and Coffee & Tea Collective combos, both concepts will share a space but the group says they will function as two different attractions under one roof.