The Furtados are back in the restaurant business!
Tony and Brenda Furtado, former owners of Scola’s Italian Restaurant in Dracut, sold that business in 2022 and returned to the workaday world. A year of that was enough. While they may have thought they were done with the food industry, the food industry was not done with them.
“Seven to eight months after we sold it, we started to get the itch again,” Brenda Furtado said.
“Hey, you gotta do what you do,” Tony added.
The couple have opened Furtado’s Eatery at the Bridgewood Plaza, 1794 Bridge Street, Suite 26A, in a spot formerly housing Lisa’s Pizzeria. They gutted the interior over the summer and built a brand-new kitchen and dining area, and acquired a full liquor license.
Dracut Economic Development held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 13 to mark the opening of Furtado’s Eatery, which is billed as a “chef-inspired scratch kitchen” featuring Italian-American and Portuguese-American dishes.
The menu includes Italian favorites like Chicken Parmesan, Marsala, and Piccata, and such Portuguese-inspired delicacies as Bife de Casa, Galinha Alentejana, and Clams & Shrimp Verde, as well as appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts, all made under the watchful eye of Tony, line cook Thomas O’Wril, and head chef Mike Eastman, who worked with the Furtados at Scola’s.
Tony said in the five years he and Brenda owned Scola’s, at 101 Broadway Road, it always felt like they were trying to fill the large shoes of the previous owners – not only his parents, Frank and Lisha, who bought the business in 2005, but also original owner Joe DiCarlo, who opened Scola’s in the 1980s and ran it for about 20 years.
“We had to live in the shadow of Joe and then my parents,” said Tony, who managed the front of the house while his parents owned Scola’s, then bought the business from them in 2017. “We’re not in their shadow anymore. We’re working hard, and whatever happens, it’s on us.”
And they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’re in love with it,” Tony said. “It’s different than it used to be. It feels great separating from Scola’s. We’re not going to get comfortable. We’ll keep working super-hard.”
Furtado’s Eatery also caters jobs large and small. They also accept orders through DoorDash.
For more information, call Furtado’s at 978-319-9772 or visit www.furtadoseatery.com.
CAPTIONS: Dracut Economic Development held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 13 to welcome Furtado’s Eatery, 1794 Bridge Street, Suite 28A, to town. From left are Town Manager Ann Vandal; Selectman and Economic Development Committee co-Chair Jennifer Kopcinski; the Furtado family, Bella, Brenda, Tony and Dahlia; head chef Mike Eastman; line cook Thomas O’Wril; and Joe Forster, member of the Economic Development Committee and owner of Tavern on the Line, just a few doors down from Furtado’s. (DRACUT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PHOTO)
The Bife de Casa at Furtado’s Eatery. (COURTESY FURTADO’S EATERY)