Eight months after launching the Wise Fool at 260 North Street in Burlington for takeout only, chef Elliot Sion and his wife and co-owner, Becca Christie, will open to the public for on-site dining on Friday, October 17. They just completed a major renovation of their 25-seat restaurant. The core menu of Middle Eastern street food — such as chicken shawarma, beef kofta and falafel wrapped in house-baked laffa bread or served over rice — will stay largely the same but will be supplemented by weekend specials.
Family meals featuring multiple proteins with rice, condiments and laffa will also be available, along with late-night meals. Dine-in guests will be able to order beer, wine and cocktails from the full bar, which is equipped with two large television screens. The casual eatery will offer counter service only.
Sion, 37, noted that although he did not plan it, the restaurant’s first trial day of on-site service for friends coincided with National Shawarma Day on October 15. “I’m going to take credit for that,” he quipped.
Prior to opening the Wise Fool, Sion worked his way up over several years to become chef de cuisine at Burlington’s Honey Road and then briefly cooked at the Tillerman in Bristol. The New York City native’s parents have Egyptian and Syrian roots, and he grew up on Middle Eastern food at home and from the city’s many halal street carts.
The Wise Fool will be open from 5 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday through Monday, with service until midnight on Friday and Saturday. It will continue to offer takeout.
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