A Favorite North Shore Restaurant is Coming to Chelmsford

Photo: Phantom Gourmet video still.

Chef Jim Rogers opened Andiamo Restaurant and Bar in Newburyport in 2012, and now the time is right to expand.

Rogers has announced that Chelmsford Town Center will be the site for a new Andiamo location that will feature all the favorites that have earned rave reviews at the Newburyport location plus menu items that Rogers can add thanks to the larger kitchen space in Chelmsford.

“We were looking to do a second location,” Rogers said. “We really found the right town and right location in Chelmsford. I think the town is sort of in need of another restaurant. I think an Italian restaurant would round it out well.”

>> Check out the Phantom Gourmet review of Andiamo Newburyport.

Construction is set to begin in September on the inside of the building at 18 Boston Road. Rogers said that he is excited to be building out the restaurant from the concrete floor up, but he didn’t start the process with architectural drawings.

Rogers, a 30-year veteran of the restaurant industry, designed the menu for the Chelmsford Andiamo first. Then, he looked at what he wanted to be able to prepare and serve and designed the kitchen space and restaurant around that.

“By designing the kitchen and the whole restaurant there, we can design everything we need to make the menu work,” Rogers said. “It’s a real treat. I’ve done it, but not from a cement floor.”

Rogers will be bringing all the Andiamo favorites to Chelmsford, but he also plans to have a wood-fire oven, a special machine for cutting prosciutto and a pasta maker that will allow him to continue making fresh ravioli by hand -- “I love making ravioli” -- but also serve up multiple flavors of ravioli on a single night as opposed to the one or two flavors he’s able to serve nightly in Newburyport.

“The base of what we do well here in Newburyport, will be in Chelmsford,” Rogers said. “All the successes we’ve had here, we’re going to expand on that.”

Andiamo in Chelmsford will feature about 50 outdoor seats and ample parking for guests. The opening date is yet to be determined.