Boston – Architecture and interior design firm PCA, working in partnership with chef and TV personality Tiffani Faison and her Boston-based restaurant group, Big Heart Hospitality, completed design for the 70s-and-80s-inspired restaurant Tenderoni’s Fenway.
Located in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood, Tenderoni’s Fenway features 140 seats, two bars, and an eclectic design inspired by the best of 70s and 80s nostalgia – and celebrating that era’s disco roller rinks and pop culture icons.
The new flagship Tenderoni’s Fenway expands upon the Tenderoni’s site within High Street Place, a downtown Boston Food Hall that opened last year. “I’m really excited about this brand and the enthusiastic response we’ve seen,” said Faison. “It is the kind of place where you can really let your hair down, and that fun spirit carries through in the menu, design, and atmosphere.”
To capture the eclectic vibe of a 70s and 80s disco roller rink, PCA’s team studied the period’s bold fashions, colors, graphics, and popular music culture. “We fell in love with the pure joy and energy that was such a big part of the roller rink experience,” said Dave Snell, a principal at PCA who led the restaurant’s design. “We clicked right away with Tiffani’s creative, unapologetic vision for Tenderoni’s Fenway dining and bar spaces, and we enjoyed working with her to bring these ideas into a lively, fun-based identity.”
The restaurant is designed to celebrate the pop culture of the 70s and 80s with a distinctive, recognizable style. The interior features colorful animal prints splashed everywhere, from furniture fabrics to wall and column coverings to accent pieces. Color-changing neon lighting is designed to create an energetic mood and light up the painted concrete floor’s curving stripes and period colors. Three mirror disco balls, hand-built by Omega Mirror Products of Louisville, Ky., the fixture’s last American manufacturer, echo the disco roller rink’s visual experience. The furniture beneath the disco balls is movable to allow an easy transition from seated dining to dance floor.
Much of the period artwork in Tenderoni’s Fenway comes from the collection of pop culture artifacts curated by Boston’s David Bieber Archives. The archives provided wall posters, vinyl albums, record store and movie theatre displays, magazines, fanzines, and photos featuring the music and pop culture personalities of the 70s and 80s.
