Easy Street Restaurant Operator Promises An Establishment Where "Everyone Can Come Together"

Every time Milan Basnet walked past the vacant building at 31 Easy Street at Steamboat Wharf, he imagined the possibility of reopening a restaurant at the location, which is one of the first places people see when arriving on Nantucket.

If all goes according to plan, Basnet will soon have the opportunity to do just that.

"This is a dream come true for me," said Basnet, who has worked in the restaurant business off-island for nearly two decades. "I've done this for a lot of people and now I'm doing it myself."

Basnet will be the manager of the new Easy Street Restaurant when it opens this spring after striking a deal to lease the property from Todd Arno, who has owned the building since the 1970s. The historic building, the former location of Schooner's restaurant, has been vacant for years as Arno disputed an eminent domain taking attempt by the town. That effort by the town to acquire the property now appears to be on hold, and Basnet said he approached Arno and his attorney Ken Gullicksen about the possibility of reopening the restaurant late last year.

The Current caught up with Basnet over the weekend to ask about the concept for the new restaurant, and his connection to the island.

"We aim to create a space where every generation could come together and be authentically themselves," Basnet said. "Where the cuisine is outstanding, prepared daily in house from genuine local and high quality ingredients, featuring a menu that is varied, accessible, and reasonably priced. Our menu will comfortably cater to gluten-free, vegan, and other dietary-restricted options."

Basnet, whose fiancé Rekha worked at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, has been coming to the island for years. In his career off-island, he has opened and managed several restaurants, including The Friendly Toast, an IHOP, and a TGI Fridays.

"Now I'm bringing my experience to this restaurant," he said. "Nantucket already has a great food culture."

The Easy Street Restaurant will likely be open from Daffodil Festival weekend through the end of December for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he said. It will feature mostly American cuisine, some comfort food, along with experimental and creative dishes that he hopes will include as many locally sourced ingredients as possible. 

"I used to see that building and I said ' love it'," he recalled. "It has so much potential. I always wanted to put some life into that place."

On March 10th, Basnet will go before the Select Board seeking a new common victualler (restaurant) license, an all-alcoholic beverages liquor license, as well as a non-live entertainment license to operate the establishment.

Arno has filed for a special permit with the Nantucket Planning Board to reopen the property as a 200-seat restaurant. That application will be reviewed at the Planning Board's next meeting, also scheduled for March 10th. The application filed with the Planning & Land Use Services office shows the 2,040-square-foot building with two floors of dining, as well as patio seating on three sides of the structure.

The property at 31 Easy Street has been eyed for years by the town, along with the Land Bank and the Steamship Authority. Those entities had been collaborating to secure the property through an acquisition or by eminent domain as a last resort. In a joint statement released in April 2023, the three entities stated it was necessary to acquire the property for a "long-range planning effort to stabilize, protect, and improve the Steamboat Wharf as the gateway entrance to the island for future generations. We strongly believe it is needed to enhance public safety, coastal resilience, and economic security for the next century."

But Arno disputed the acquisition and the potential for an eminent domain taking, calling it "an unprecedented abuse of authority by the Select Board. A precedent would be established to pay unknown millions of dollars to use eminent domain to take commercial properties, not only at Steamboat Wharf, but at Straight Wharf as well."

Island voters initially rejected a warrant article at the 2022 Annual Town Meeting to acquire 31 Easy Street by "purchase, gift or eminent domain for public way, sidewalk, drainage, flood control, coastal resiliency, and transportation and maritime improvements..."

But the same article was brought back in 2023, and this time voters endorsed the acquisition on a vote of 157-101, as town officials called an eminent domain taking an option of "last resort."

Nearly two years have passed since that vote, but it does not appear the town has moved forward with any further negotiations or actions to initiate an eminent domain taking. Select Board chair Brooke Mohr said she was unaware of any ongoing negotiations with Arno.

The building at 31 Easy Street was constructed in 1900, making it 125 years old, according to the Nantucket assessor's database. The property is assessed at $3.97 million.

For many years, the building served as Schooner's restaurant, then the Easy Street Restaurant, but over the past decade it has been mostly vacant other than a few brief stints as a retail outlet, including when TownPool moved in during the summers of 2016 and 2019.

Nearly a century ago, the renowned artist and puppeteer Tony Sarg moved his shop from Centre Street to the building at 31 Easy Street. According to the Nantucket Preservation Trust, "It continued operations there past his death in 1940, until the 1950s...The building was originally constructed as part of the infrastructure of the Nantucket Railroad, and though altered since Sarg’s days, the c. 1900 building still maintains many of its characteristic features. Nantucket’s National Historic Landmark designation recognizes the importance not only of the island’s history as a whaling port, but our development as a heritage tourism destination in the 20th century. 31 Easy Street is a contributing building to our Landmark status and should be preserved."