The homey Randolph breakfast-and-lunch spot wit & grit. will close on June 28 after four and a half years of serving up loaded Piles o’ Taters and chicken-and-cheese Stake Your Claim wraps at 29 Merchants Row. Owner Hannah Arias and her family moved to Maine last August for her wife’s job. The weekly commute from Portland for the restaurant’s Friday-through-Monday hours eventually became too much, she said, despite invaluable help from head chef Cassidy Dezan and manager Dana Wachtman.
Arias, 49, and her wife have two children, ages 10 and 13. “I’ve missed birthday parties and softball games,” she said.
Arias opened the business with friend and business partner Ericka Grygowski in January 2022 and has owned it solo since July 2023. After the loss of a line cook last month put her back in the kitchen, she said, she realized it was time to close, despite her desire to keep going.
Wit & grit. “is not just part of my life, it became a part of me,” she said. Hosting the community and mentoring young employees “fed my soul.”
The restaurant space is for lease, but Arias will keep the wit & grit. brand. “I need to close this chapter, but I hope it can be reborn,” she said, “just a bit farther east.”
This article appears in June 10 • 2026.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
