Greater Boston’s First Vlach Restaurant Is Coming to Brookline

At Bar Vlaha, diners can expect traditional, rustic food inspired by central Greece’s nomadic shepherds

Late this fall, a unique, open-flame Greek restaurant called Bar Vlaha is coming to 1653 Beacon St. in Brookline under the care of chef Brendan Pelley, who has taken on the role of culinary director for newly formed restaurant group Xenia Greek Hospitality.

At his Pelekasis pop-up in 2015 and 2016, Pelley served “modern Greek” food, but the chef told Boston Magazine that at Bar Vlaha he’ll hew closely to the traditional, rustic cuisine of Greece’s Vlachs. This is an ethnic minority group of nomadic shepherds with their own language, Aromanian, which is also another name for the Vlach people. Accordingly, Pelley, who has Greek heritage himself, spent some time this summer in the mountains of central Greece researching Vlach culinary traditions.