• Courtesy
• Sean Richards in front of the future Queen City Café

The wood-fired oven at the former Myer's Bagels location at 377 Pine Street in Burlington will heat back up this spring. Starting on April 1, chef-owner Sean Richards will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at Queen City Café.

The Myer's team had considered keeping the space when it moved to Shelburne Road and opened Myer's Wood Fired last year but instead focused on the new location. Richards' all-day café will make the most of the oven it left behind.

He'll serve wood-fired biscuit sandwiches in the morning, grab-and-go lunch items such as soup and salad, and wood-fired rôtisserie chicken for dinner.

"That part of town is a new traffic corridor for people going in and out of downtown," Richards said. "After work, they can come in and pick up a chicken and a couple sides to take home."

Whole roasted cauliflower heads will be available alongside the chicken, each with nightly special dressings and accompaniments: chipotle lime served with a stack of tortillas and housemade salsa, tandoori spice with naan, Greek marinade with pita. Most side dishes will be vegan, and Richards is even working on a vegan biscuit recipe.

The café will have on-site seating decorated with help from Adelle Lawrence and Jeremy Smith of Barge Canal Market next door, the latter of whom is Richards' childhood friend. That's not Richards' only neighborhood connection: He was the chef at the now-closed ArtsRiot across the street.

The Fair Haven native honed his skills in Tennessee, on the road cooking for touring musicians, and back in Vermont at Charlotte's Philo Ridge Farm and most recently Prohibition Pig in Waterbury.

Now, back in what he calls his "Goldilocks city," Richards looks forward to feeding his friends and community. "I definitely want it to be a locals' joint," he said.