Cruz Goler, who recently purchased the Judge Roy Bean Saloon on State Street, is a chef who has spent the last couple of decades honing his skills in the hyper-competitive New York restaurant scene. But when it came time to settle down with his young family and open his own establishment, he returned home to Bristol.

Goler grew up on High Street, graduating from the Moses Brown School and Boston College before moving out to Colorado and discovering an affinity for the the restaurant and hospitality industry. He returned back east and attended cooking school at the Culinary Institute of America, then settled in New York City in the late 1990s.

Since then he has spent time in the kitchens of some of the industry’s biggest names, fine dining restaurants helmed by a who’s who of culinary stars. He did an externship with Scott Bryan, a classically trained chef who was described as a “cult figure” by Anthony Bourdain in his memoir “Kitchen Confidential.”

“It was very difficult, initially,” said Goler of those early days, “but that's kind of where I cut my teeth.”

Goler also worked in the kitchens of such notable chefs as Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Mark Ladner, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich for many years, helping the latter open the famed Del Posto restaurant, which earned a Michelin star.

“It actually became the first Italian restaurant to get four stars (awarded by The New York Times and Times Critic Sam Sifton in 2010) in something like 30 years,” said Goler. “So it was a unique place and a unique environment. I worked with a lot of really passionate people who are really excellent at what they do.”

Goler also worked with Mario Carbone, who started Major Foods, a multinational restaurant group, as the corporate Chef for Parm, one of their restaurants. He worked at the Standard Hotel for a few years, and then helped expand Pecora Bianca, an Italian comfort food concept with multiple NYC locations. He also partnered with some friends with Hospitality HQ, launching restaurants and food halls around the country.

The future at Judge Roy Bean

What this means for Bristol and Judge Roy Bean is something that Goler is looking forward to exploring in the months ahead.

“I think that every bar or restaurant, whatever the concept is, sort of needs a breath of fresh air, and a little bit of new energy and and that's kind of what I’d like to do here,” said Goler, who was hoping to open a cafe on the corner of Hope and State streets when Judge Roy Bean became available.

“I’ve always loved this space,” he said. “When I was like about 19 I was I was a deckhand on the Prudence Island Ferry, back in the day when Gillary's was very busy, and Aidan’s, and those bars were really busy. My grandfather used to have his boat across the street here, and this area is really special to me. And so to have a chance to be down by the water and to look at the water every day, It's an awesome opportunity.”

Goler plans to start slowly, making incremental changes to the food and drink offerings.

“We’ll start making some adjustments and I hope to do a little bit of a rebrand and renovation which probably won't happen until the new year,” he said. “But the goal is to keep the same sort of bar identity with a repertoire of some elevated delicious bar food, but also create a section of the menu where people can come and have a three or four course seasonal delicious meal with maybe fresh pasta, some local fish, local vegetables, Usher’s corn, and stuff like that.”

He’s also looking forward to expanding daily service into the underutilized spaces on the upper floors of the building.

So what led Goler to return to Bristol? Like so many in recent years, the pandemic impacted his trajectory.

“I have always wanted to come back to Bristol, but my wife wasn't quite ready,” he said. But during the pandemic, they came and rented an apartment over the Sunset Cafe.

“Despite the fact that it rained like pretty much every single day for like the month of April, I think my wife really felt like this is a place where she could she could live, so we started thinking about how to make that happen,” said Goler, who said that other than the energy of living in a 24-hour city, there’s not a lot he misses about NewYork. “Living there for so long you get a little numb to the things that are exciting…here I can get out on the water when I want, I can have a big garden, and that's stuff's pretty impossible in New York.”

As for Bean’s, Goler values the opportunity to be a steward of this property.

“It’s a bit of an institution here,” he said. “It’s been a lot of things to a lot of people, so I want to be respectful of that and what I do here, it's not because of ego. I wanted to move back here because there's like a more of a sense of community, a place you want to raise a family, make a good living and and provide something that everybody here can be proud of.”