It's no midsummer daydream: Shakespeare & Co. opens on Chinoe Road

After almost a year, a new chapter in the Shakespeare & Co. dining tale has begun: the Lexington eatery opened its new restaurant on Chinoe Road on Friday.

The chain, founded by Dubai businessman Edward Saad, who earned a doctorate in chemical engineering at the University of Kentucky, also has a location at Broadway and Short Street.

The Chinoe Center's Shakespeare & Co. features the same menu (breakfast, lunch and dinner any time) as downtown, company controller Mark Chaffins said.

And the décor echoes that site, with the Victorian parlor-inspired charm, curlicue stenciling, tufted couches and fringed lamps.

The new restaurant (formerly Pacific Pearl and Rossi's) has a patio that is being renovated into an outdoor bar that can be enclosed in winter months.

Shakespeare & Co. plans to open another restaurant in the Hamburg area next summer near Malone's. More expansions are under consideration, Chaffins said. The company also has restaurants in the United Arab Emirates.

Saad also owns the Pita Social franchise, which also is expanding. Besides the one on Bryant Road, Chaffins said, a Pita Social will open this summer in Fayette Mall's food court.

And next week, Pita Social goes mobile: A food truck will be operating downtown.

This story was originally published July 16, 2014 at 11:41 AM with the headline "It's no midsummer daydream: Shakespeare & Co. opens on Chinoe Road."