Rock Bottom Will Replace Brew Moon

The Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery chain will open a restaurant in Harvard Square in late January, replacing the now-closed Brew Moon.

But little will change except for the name and the ambience, according to Rock Bottom Marketing Manager Jennifer E. Chavez-Hartman.

“It’s a new concept with the same beers, same brewers and same managers,” Chavez-Hartman said.

Earlier this year, Rock Bottom Restaurants Inc. bought out the Brew Moon chain. The company has already converted the Brew Moon at Braintree in North Shore Plaza. Rock Bottom currently owns 86 restaurants nation-wide.

Renovations on the Square location will begin in early January and are expected to be completed by the end of the month. The company also plans to convert the last two Brew Moons in the Boston area to Rock Bottom Restaurants.

Chavez-Hartman said the new restaurant’s decor will feature earth tones and nature photos. Rock Bottom will have a warmer atmosphere in place of Brew Moon’s lunar theme.

The new restaurant will serve traditional pub fare as well as southwestern cuisine.

The Brew Moon chain has locations around the Boston area as well as in Pennsylvania and Hawaii.

Matt V. Perone ’04 described Brew Moon as a place with “good food, good atmosphere.”

Jinny Nathans, the president of the Harvard Square Defense Fund, a group that works to preserve Harvard Square’s “unique character,” said she regretted that Brew Moon was being replaced by another national chain.

“Here is yet another national chain coming into the Square and that’s always a loss to the local character of the Square,” Nathans said.