Acquaviva Winery plans new restaurant in downtown Batavia

The owner of Acquaviva Winery plans to open an Italian restaurant in downtown Batavia.

The city council is expected to grant a liquor license Tuesday to Vito Brandonisio for 35 N. Water St., the site of the former Range Grill and Tap.

"Personally, I am quite excited about what they are proposing to do here," Mayor Jeff Schielke said.

Brandonisio owns Acquaviva, which has a vineyard, restaurant and banquet facility in Maple Park, as well as a restaurant in Sycamore. He said the menu will "basically mirror" that of the Maple Park restaurant, which serves pasta, pizza and Italian entrees. The spot will offer seven to eight specials each week and a full bar.

The restaurant is not Brandonisio's first venture in Batavia. He ran a pizzeria in the city in the 1980s and a construction business.

"I was here many, many years before, doing business," Brandonisio said.

Brandonisio will seek permission from the city to remove a small parking lot in front of the building so he can make a patio for outdoor service.

"We want to improve the facility by doing planting, and using an outside garden area," he said. "We believe very strongly it would bring us more taxpaying money and more people to Batavia."

The site is across Houston Street from Depot Pond and the Riverwalk.

The space has been home to several restaurants over the years, including Open Range, The Lodge on the Fox and the Fox Grill & Outpost. Before restaurants took over the space, the building housed the Feece Oil Co.