Urban Outfitters is closing Amis Trattoria

The flagship Amis Trattoria will close Aug. 30 as its lease runs out, and chef Brad Spence, who operated the restaurant since its opening in 2010, has left the company, Urban Outfitters confirmed Thursday.

Spence told me that he planned to spend the next few weeks painting (he’s an artist), boxing, and “cooking for my family. Then I’m ready to work for a group of positive people. That’s all I ever want.”

Urban Outfitters bought the Center City restaurant from Marc Vetri and Jeff Benjamin as part of the deal three years ago for most of their restaurant empire.

Amis opened in early 2010 at 13th and Waverly Streets in Washington Square West, bringing a rock-and-roll vibe to Roman-style Italian cuisine.

No decisions have been made about the future of newer Amis locations in Devon and Westport, Conn., a company rep said. These Amises are tucked into large-scale Urban retail locations.

Rumor has it that those locations will be rebranded with Urban’s Terrain name.

Bar Amis, a more casual version located near Urban’s headquarters at the Navy Yard, supposedly would not be affected.

In late 2015, Vetri and Benjamin sold Amis (then only on 13th Street and at the Navy Yard, where it was known as Lo Spiedo); Pizzeria Vetri; Osteria (by then down to its location on North Broad Street); and Alla Spina to Urban in a deal, consummated in 2016, that was valued in public filings as $18.9 million.

The Vetri Cucina on Spruce Street was not included in the deal. It remains under Vetri and Benjamin’s control.

URBN has since rebranded Lo Spiedo, shuttered Alla Spina, and sold Osteria to chef Jeff Michaud and Michael Schulson.

Besides Amis, URBN operates three Pizzeria Vetri locations in Philadelphia as well as several Terrain Cafe locations, including Glen Mills and Devon.

In its most recent annual report, dated April 1, URBN said it would open “approximately two new restaurants in fiscal 2020.”