The changes at Camp Meade aren’t the only ones afoot on that stretch of Route 2. Next month, Chico’s Tacos & Bar will close up shop at 970 Route 2 and move to Montpelier, taking over for the recently closed Filibuster Restaurant & Bar at 45 State Street.
The Middlesex location of the Southern California-style Mexican restaurant will operate as usual until the move, owner Andrew Lay told Seven Days. Once the liquor license is transferred in mid-September, it will “shut down here on a Sunday and open over there on a Friday,” Lay said.
An expanded menu will include more salads, lunch options and dinner entrées, such as enchiladas, posole, mole and duck carnitas. Chico’s will serve breakfast six days a week in Montpelier, with American classics alongside chorizo and eggs.
The renovated space occupied by Filibuster — where Lay was sous chef before leaving to open Chico’s in January — was once a bank and “totally works for the motif I’m going for,” he said. He’ll replace part of the seating with a pool table and add a lounge to create an “old Western-style saloon.” Décor, including a mural similar to the one he had painted in Middlesex, will reference Arizona and the eastern California desert.
Lay thinks the larger downtown Montpelier location will suit his almost 9-month-old biz.
“We’re growing up a little bit,” he said. “The goal is to be not just a restaurant but a hangout, too.”
Ahead of the move, Chico’s is open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner, plus Sunday brunch starting at 10 a.m.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2 2025.
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