Pax Romana's new Commercial Drive location reopens Friday behind Loula's
The Mediterranean tapas bar returns with a larger kitchen and a dining room that echoes the original.
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To find Pax Romana's new front door, turn off Commercial Drive onto Graveley Street and look for the illuminated sign in the alley. The tapas bar reopens Friday, Nov. 6, at 1608 Commercial Dr., tucked behind its sister restaurant, Loula's Taverna. Hours are Thursday and Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. To midnight.
Both restaurants belong to Ionian Hospitality Group. The partners include Janine Spartano, Stefano and Daniele Magagnin, Bill Kerasiotis and Marco Mirisklavos. Their Commercial Drive history runs back to La Roca, which Stefano and Daniele Magagnin's father opened in 1985; the new Pax's sibling, Claudio's Ristorante, honours him. Loula's, opened on the Drive in 2021, is named for Kerasiotis's mother.
The original Pax Romana at 1670 Commercial Dr. opened in 2023 and closed in July. Chef George Lesner wanted ideas he couldn't fit into its small kitchen, and the new room gives him more space and equipment. Local artist Adeline Poufong painted a mural echoing the original, and bar manager Prateek Balraj is back.
Lesner's patatas bravas ($14) come with fingerling potatoes, bravas sauce, truffle Manchego, fried herbs and aioli. The gambas ($19) are served with Calabrian chili, black pepper and butter, with bread from Livia for dipping. For something heavier, the rabbit ($32) comes with Iberian farrotto, roasted acorn squash purée and sobrasada. At the bar, the Pax Negroni is made with aged rum, Campari and medium cream sherry.
Ionian is also building Bar Tifo at Commercial Drive and Graveley Street, aiming for a spring or summer 2027 opening. Spartano says the partners drew on the sports bars they remembered from childhood, a place for an espresso by day and a pizza and cocktail night out by evening.
