The South End's storied 550 Tremont Street address is getting a new tenant nearly two years after B&G Oysters shut its doors. Kathy Sidell, the restaurateur behind Back Bay's Saltie Girl, is opening a new seafood bar called The Shell Bar in the same space, with a target opening of spring 2027.
According to Boston Magazine, The Shell Bar will offer refined but playful seafood in an intimate setting, with 38 indoor seats and 22 outdoor seats, plus the possibility of added sidewalk seating and a four-seat bar. Sidell told the outlet the new restaurant will forge its own identity rather than replicate B&G Oysters, describing the design vision as dark, romantic, and intimate. Plans call for a French ultramarine blue color palette, a wooden ceiling, and hanging roses on a sunken patio, drawing loose inspiration from the original Saltie Girl atmosphere.
B&G Oysters occupied 550 Tremont Street from 2003 through late 2024, helping establish the block as a cornerstone of the South End's so-called restaurant row, a dining corridor that grew into one of Boston's premier culinary strips during the early 2000s, according to Travel Tourister. The restaurant was widely regarded as a pioneer of the city's upscale raw bar and seafood scene and a genuine Boston seafood icon during its 21-year run, per the Boston Magazine report.
How The Old Oyster Bar Space Became Available
B&G Oysters closed for good after a building flood in late 2024, and it was among the last remaining restaurants in chef Barbara Lynch's dining group, which collapsed across 2023 and 2024 following published investigations into a toxic workplace, as Hoodline has previously reported. Lynch's former empire once included high-profile Boston spots like Menton, Drink, Sportello, and No. 9 Park.
In February, the Boston Licensing Board approved transferring the restaurant's liquor license to Dr. Simcha Weller, the neurosurgeon who owns the building, in order to settle outstanding unpaid rent, according to Universal Hub. Weller reportedly sought the transfer specifically to attract a new chef to the space, clearing a path for Sidell Hospitality to move in.
The Shell Bar will apply for its own full liquor license, and the timing lines up with a favorable regulatory backdrop: Governor Maura Healey signed legislation in September 2024 creating 225 new liquor licenses for Boston, including 195 zip code-restricted licenses set aside for underrepresented neighborhoods like the South End, per the City of Boston. Officials have described the measure as Boston's largest liquor license expansion since Prohibition, aimed at lowering secondary-market license costs for neighborhood restaurateurs.
A Menu Built Around Kettle-Fried Fish And A Seasonal Raw Bar
The Shell Bar's raw bar is planned to be highly seasonal, with offerings like oysters, periwinkles, orange clams, and stone crabs in season, per Boston Magazine. The kitchen is also planning kettle-fried fish and chips, using a technique that allows for frying larger pieces of fish in a sizable vat of oil, and the restaurant will serve a lobster roll and shellfish towers that the team says will differ from those served at Saltie Girl.
Sidell has said the goal is to return her restaurant group to a boutique neighborhood experience, with The Shell Bar aiming for an egalitarian, everyday approach to seafood dining rather than an occasion-only destination. The restaurant is expected to serve weekday lunch, weekend brunch, and dinner.
Steering the kitchen is Culinary Director Matthew Gaudet, who joined Sidell Hospitality in mid-2025 to oversee kitchen operations across the group's properties ahead of planned concept expansions, according to Patch. Gaudet was named a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2013 while leading Cambridge's West Bridge and trained at Eleven Madison Park, Jean-Georges, and Aquavit in New York. He is developing the fish and chips for The Shell Bar himself.
Family Ties To Saltie Girl And SweetBoy
Desserts at The Shell Bar will come from Ben Sidell, Kathy Sidell's son, who runs the bakery brand SweetBoy. Ben Sidell founded SweetBoy as a pandemic baking project in 2020 after an endorsement from actress Busy Philipps went viral, eventually expanding to a commercial kitchen on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles before folding the brand into Sidell Hospitality's dessert programs in 2024, according to Wallpaper*.
The Shell Bar arrives about a decade after Kathy Sidell opened Saltie Girl in Back Bay, a raw bar known for its lobster rolls, caviar service, and a signature menu of roughly 65 varieties of imported tinned seafood, or conservas, with individual tins priced as high as $160, per The Caterer. Saltie Girl's current lobster roll runs $42, and the Back Bay flagship underwent a 2024 renovation swapping in seafoam green, teal, and brass design elements modeled after its Los Angeles location.
Sidell has run restaurants in Boston for decades, previously operating up to eight locations under the Met Restaurant Group and helping launch the Back Bay family dining staple Stephanie's on Newbury in 1994, according to Cherry Bombe. Saltie Girl has since expanded to Los Angeles, briefly operated in Mayfair, London, from November 2022 until its closure in early 2024, and signed a lease in early 2026 for a location at Bal Harbour Shops near Miami, set to open in 2028, a project Hoodline covered earlier this year.
