Boccie, Saladalley to re-open as one restaurant

They're back. Boccie and Saladalley, two popular campus restaurants located at 4040 Locust Street, will re-open as a single restaurant sometime before the end of the semester, former Boccie/Saladalley President Mike Cullina said last night. The two restaurants closed last November when Cullina's company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Cullina said then that the restaurants had been struggling and carrying debts from an unsuccessful expansion in the mid-1980s. Cullina said last night that he sold the restaurant to the property's landlord, whose representative, Dan Lai, will re-open the eatery along with partners Henry and Connie Louie. The new restaurant will be called Boccie Pizza and Salads. The Louies, who are husband and wife, will act as the working managers. Cullina said he is "quite happy" about the sale, and pleased that "Boccie will continue as a good restaurant in the future." He added that he will assist Lai and the Louies in setting up the new place, and then will have "nothing to do with it after that." Henry Louie, who hails from Nashville, Tenn., said he and his wife owned an establishment in Nashville and "thought it would be fun to run a restaurant in Philly." He added that the new Boccie will keep the same woodburning ovens and salad bar concept, but will replace the frozen yogurt store with an espresso bar. One big difference, he said, is that since the two restaurants will be combined into one, patrons will be able to choose from a wider variety of food. In other words, diners can order both pizza and salad at the same time, a luxury that was not available under the former setup. While Cullina said the separateness of the old restaurants was not "the source of our problems," he is anxious to see if the new system works. "We chose to keep them separate because we felt that the two separate identities would do more business than one restaurant," he said. "I think we'll find out if it's better for them to be more integrated because that's what the new [owners are] going to try to do." Henry Louie said due to "a few setbacks," he is "not sure" when Boccie Pizza and Salads will open. He did say, though, that he and his wife are trying to open it near the end of April or beginning of May. Connie Louie was unavailable for comment last night.