Troubled Canal Street watering hole could be reborn as Mexican restaurant

The Boston Licensing Board decides Thursday whether to let Nicholas Frattaroli - of the North End Frattarolis - buy the liquor license from the owners of the shuttered Grand Canal and re-open it as a Mexican restaurant called Bodega Canal.

The restaurant, at 69 Canal St., would serve food until 1 a.m. and drinks until 2, Frattaroli's lawyer, William Ferrullo, told the board at a hearing today. He added the restaurant, which would back up against Frattaroli's Ward 8 restaurant on North Washington Street., would also serve lunch.

Maria Lanza, liaison from the mayor's office, offered strong support, saying a full-service, late-ish-night restaurant would fit in well in a neighborhood with "changing dynamics" such as the blocks around North Station. She also praised the Frattaroli family in general and Nicholas Frattaroli in particular, as excellent business owners.

An aide to City Councilor Sal LaMattina (North End, East Boston, Charlestown) also supported the request. Nobody spoke against.

In its later years, Grand Canal had problems with bouncers beating patrons.