Sweet Caroline's opened last week in the Locust Point space that was formerly, and memorably, Pazza Luna.
The owners are a husband and wife team, John "Jay" Ferrari and Ashley Fowler, who previously ran the Bamboo Restaurant and Tiki Bar in Ocean City.
The thing to know about Sweet Caroline's is that it's not Pazza Luna, which ran under different owners and operators from 1999 to the spring of 2011. The original edition of Pazza Luna, which featured a shrine to Frank Sinatra, was very much the personal vision of Kim Acton. Succeeding editions kept some aspects of Acton's vision and dropped others. But Pazza Luna was always recognizably an Italian bistro.
Ferrari and Fowler have renovated the property's dining spaces into a spruced-up and approachable neighborhood tavern, the kind of place where Locust Point residents might drop in several nights a week.
Sweet Caroline's menu, which Fowler and Ferrari developed with their chef, Patrick Cook, has entrees like jumbo lump crab cake platters, shrimp pasta, pineapple mango pork and lemon-dill salmon. The lunch menu features burgers and panini. The restaurant is serving lunch and dinner daily.
Fowler said that she and Ferrari had looked at several restaurant opportunities in Baltimore before settling on the Clement Street property. They have also relocated to Locust Point, a peninsular neighborhood that Fowler said reminded them of their Eastern Shore home.
A grand opening party is scheduled for Wednesday night, Fowler said, and all are welcome.
Sweet Caroline's is at 1401 Clement St. For information call 410-244-1401.