Food Trends

Restaurants in Gas Stations: Trend or Tragedy?

Tasty Burger's gas station revival.
Tasty Burger’s gas station revival. Photo: The Citizen

Close on the heels of the Tasty Burger opening comes Cognac Bistro in Brookline. And they’re both housed in the bones of former gas stations. In the case of Cognac Bistro, former tenants b.good made the initial filling station transition, but a report from Urban Daddy evidences that the telltale bay doors remain a restaurant feature. Could there be a new trend in the works?

Chowhound chatter voices a couple of opinions on the matter, including MC Slim JB’s speculation: “Maybe it’s like Minsok down Harvard Street toward Brookline Village, another former gas station doomed to be a series of failed restaurants.” Yikes. Maybe that theory explains the real reason why the Allston outlet of gas-station-bound Stone Hearth Pizza was doomed from the start. But longstanding examples of successful gas station conversions, like Elephant Walk on Beacon St, should put such suspicions to rest.

Restaurants in Gas Stations: Trend or Tragedy?