Bobby on Bobby’s, Wellesley’s newest restaurant

The pizza joints crowding the Lower Falls end of  Wellesley will be glad to hear this about Bobby’s American Grille, the restaurant slated to open in mid-August at 11 Washington Street: No pizza.

“I think that we will distinguish ourselves as the choice for local diners for our home-made recipes, beautiful decor, the fact that there are no ‘grille style’ restaurants in Wellesley and that we are local residents. WE WILL NOT SERVE PIZZA!!!!!!!!!!!! ( maybe a classic flat bread every once and a while),” says Bobby Walsh, who is opening the restaurant with his dad, longtime Wellesley resident Bob Walsh, Sr.

The younger Walsh says that the restaurant will be a “classic upscale American grille” with white table cloths, hard wood floors, black high back booths and espresso-colored wooden chairs. It will also feature a 10-seat hand-crafted bar made of black walnut.

On the menu: lunch items like sirloin cheddar burgers, steak sandwiches, plus specialty sandwiches. Dinner will feature steaks, chops, fresh fish and seasonal specials such as osso buco, braised beef shanks and shepherd’s pie.

The restaurant operators are taking a tech-savvy approach to their business as well, with a website coming soon at www.bobbysgrille.com, accounts on restaurant sites such as OpenTable and a Twitter account already in action.

Bobby Walsh got his start in the restaurant business in high school at the original Comella’s on Washington Street by Marathon Sports. After graduating Wellesley High in 1992, he went to work at Papa Razzi where he learned the front and back ends of the business, plus some bartending skills (he also moonlighted as a bartender in Chicago while out there working on the Chicago Board of Trade). He describes his dad as a foodie who has lived in Wellesley for 37 years. The Walshes are a family of five, including Bobby’s brother and sister.