It appears the space vacated by the extremely well-known and more than 100-years-old Hermosilla’s Deli Market will be filled by another iconic local brand. Well before the end of this year, White Oaks will be home to another storied business as Minard’s has announced they are coming to Bridgeport.

 

The restaurant will be opening a “Minard’s Spaghetti Express” at White Oaks. It’s the first satellite location of the hugely popular Clarksburg restaurant in its 82-year history.

 

“We were trying to branch out toward the Bridgeport area to make it easier for some of our Bridgeport clientele and others that way to get our product for lunch,” said Heather Gillespie, who will be the general manager at the Bridgeport location. “A lot of individuals don’t have the time, nor do they want to drive too far to come here so this allows us to get the product closer to them.”

 

The “express” part of the concept doesn’t mean you can’t dine in. Rather, it means that you’ll order your food to go with the option of taking it with you or sitting down and dining in.

 

“We will have tables and chairs. The way we’ll set it up we’ll have enough seating for 36 people. You’ll walk up to the counter and you’ll get your order in a to-go to container and you then have the choice of sitting down to eat or taking it with you,” said Gillespie. “If you do sit down to eat and want to take what you don’t eat home it’s already ready to go.”

 

Gillespie said the restaurant won’t have the full menu that’s offered at their historic location in Clarksburg. They will have pastas including rigatoni, lasagna, salads that included grilled chicken and steak as well as others, hoagies, the Giovanni sandwich and more.

 

“One item that will be only in Bridgeport is an Italian sub that we’ll be offering,” said Gillespie. “We’ll also be offering desserts.”

For those hoping to get other items seen on the regular menu, all is not lost. Every day of the week Minard’s will have a different special in the Retail Village Building 1 at White Oaks.

 

“The special won’t be on our Bridgeport menu, but it will be something we feature on our regular menu in Clarksburg,” said Gillespie.

 

Officials with White Oaks are thrilled to have the Minard’s brand coming to their thriving development.

 

“I think it will generate a lot of traffic and it will also help all of the food establishments in the park by drawing new people there who will have a chance to see what we offer,” said Ron Stanley, the managing member of High Tech Corridor Development that oversees White Oaks. “It’s great to have a local business, particularly one with their history, to decide to expand and believe this is the place for them to do it.”

 

Stanley’s statement leads to a question. Why White Oaks?

 

“We looked at several different locations closer to the interstate from Emily Drive, Gabe’s Plaza and just about everywhere you can think,” said Gillespie. “The reason for that is everything is moving in that direction and we found a great spot that was available.”

 

Gillespie said the goal is to be open no later than November 1 and have the 1,400 square feet ready and available. The aggressive time frame is aided by the fact the setup left behind by Hermosilla’s Deli is somewhat ideal for what Minard’s is planning.

 

“Everything was pretty much okay as it was. We are doing a small buildout and a kitchen renovation. Outside of that, it was pretty much ready to go,” said Gillespie.

 

The tentative days of operations will be seven days a week. The tentative hours will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Gillespie said a staff of up to 10 people will man the shop.