Village Pizza & BBQ moving into old Long Grove Cafe

A new restaurant that will offer Long Grove residents pizza and barbecue is moving into the space at 235 Parker Coffin Road in the Mill Pond Shoppes area that housed the Long Grove Cafe for more than a decade.

Village Pizza and BBQ is expected to open in January, village staffers and neighboring businesses said. And with a new owner and a new theme, Village President Angie Underwood said she hopes the business will look attractive to a new crowd.

"I think Long Grove is being discovered by people in a younger generation," she said. "The owners are young and enthusiastic, and it's always nice to have someone new and excited in Long Grove."

A message on the Long Grove Cafe's answering machine says it's been closed for business since Oct. 23. The cafe had video gambling machines it shut down this fall. The building and land are owned by the Forsythe family, who own about one-third of the buildings downtown, including their own business, Broken Earth Winery.

The restaurant's new owner, Joane Shunia-Gault, could not be reached for comment.

Penny Welch has owned Especially Maine Antiques, next door to the old Long Grove Cafe, for 38 years.

She says Shunia-Gault has already stopped in the antique store a few times.

"I always welcome change," she said. "Even at my age."

Welch recounted the different restaurants that have been in the building.

"It was the Pond View Cafe for probably about 25 years," she said. "Then Long Grove Cafe took over, and Bill (Hrispakos) was here for about 10 years, and then Pam (Besbeas) owned the cafe after that."

Longtime operator Hrispakos decided not to renew his lease after the Forsythe family bought the Mill Pond Shoppes buildings about two years ago, Underwood said. And Besbeas runs another business and decided not to renew the restaurant lease this year, she said.

The new restaurateur showed interest in opening in the village around the time when Long Grove Cafe closed, Underwood said.

"Any time a new business is interested in coming to town, we're always very hopeful," she said.

Welch said that while some longtime Long Grove businesses have faded, and some have been replaced, the community has always been tight-knit.

"We all try to support each other, we really do," she said.