
Developer Charlie Diradour hands over the keys to the former Secco space to Gersi Mamega. Photo courtesy of Charlie Diradour
The couple behind Gersi is planning a new restaurant on Robinson Street in the former Secco Wine Bar space.
What's happening: Husband and wife Susannah Proctor and Gersi Mamega are planning a Mediterranean-focused concept heavy on fish, olives and panzerotti.
- The yet-to-be-named restaurant will open in October, Proctor tells Axios.
- In addition to dinner service, they're planning to offer coffee and Italian breakfast sandwiches in the morning and early afternoon.
Catch up fast: Proctor and Mamega launched Gersi six years ago in Brooklyn, New York.
- Proctor, a Richmond native, decided to open a second location here three years ago after a real estate agent flagged space on Davis Street, which had housed a string of failed restaurants, most recently Swan Dive.
- The restaurant's menu focuses on pasta and other traditional Italian foods.
Meanwhile, Secco's owners decided to call it quits in April after 24 years in business, leaving an opening on Robinson.
What they're saying: Proctor says they're still discussing the concept and menu for the new location, but that they're drawing inspiration from the two olive farms Manega's family owns in his native Albania and Proctor's own family's farm in the Shenandoah Valley.
- "It's going to be kind of bringing these two worlds together," she says.

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