Sale of Red Wing Diner in Walpole almost complete. What we know so far

WALPOLE – A culinary couple from Milton is one step closer to bringing new life to a restaurant that is well known to local residents and Patriots fans: the former Red Wing Diner on Route 1 near Gillette Stadium.

The couple, Peter and Patricia Crowley, received unanimous approval from the Walpole Select Board on March 12 to transfer Red Wing's alcohol license to their new venture, Blondie's Barbeque. They were also approved for an entertainment license for a TV and non-live music.

In a Sept. 5 Facebook post, Red Wing's owners said they were closing the nearly 100-year-old restaurant for repairs. Instead of reopening, a for-sale sign appeared outside the diner the following week.

From the Gardner museum to the Red Wing Diner

The Crowleys, who met at culinary school, have owned Café G at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston since 2002, said their lawyer, Michael Cabral, who spoke at the select board meeting.

The upscale café began with 22 seats and has since expanded to 75 following its move from one part of the museum to another as part of an overall 2012 expansion project there.

In an email, Peter Crowley said he and his wife have no plans to detach themselves from Café G as they shift their food focus in a new direction with Blondie's.

Red Wing sale still pending

The list price for the Red Wing Diner is $1.35 million, and the sale hasn't been completed. Peter Crowley and the real estate agent handling the transaction said the closing will probably happen at the end of the month.

Blondie's design and business model discussed

At the board meeting, Cabral described the couple's concept for how Blondie's would operate after an interior redesign.

The bar area of the former restaurant would be removed and replaced by an ordering counter. After customers order, they would grab an open table and the food and drinks would be brought to them.

While the restaurant could, like Red Wing, serve as a game-day draw, Cabral said the design concept would not "lend itself to people lingering for hours drinking there."

"Generally speaking, they need a turnover of tables to make it work," he said.

Takeout and catering preparations for tailgaters heading to Gillette are also being considered, Cabral said. Outdoor seating, which some select board members encouraged, is not on the shortlist of plans while the Crowleys focus on completing the sale and getting the restaurant up and running.

Because Café G offers alcohol, Cabral said Patricia and Peter Crowley already have state certification for alcohol service and sales.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is known to many for the infamous – and still unsolved – March 18, 1990, art heist there.

Two thieves dressed as Boston police officers spent 81 minutes stealing 13 artworks valued at $500 million. Among the items stolen were “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” the only known seascape by Rembrandt; “Chez Tortoni,” by Manet; and “The Concert,” one of only 36 paintings by Vermeer.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Gardner museum café owners plan to buy Red Wing for Blondie's Barbeque