The Chase, an out-of-the-box dive bar concept, is something owner Josh Tolk has been dreaming up since the early 2000s. In 2026, the doors are finally open. Weston’s brand new drinking and dining saloon (located in the former Lunch Box space in Weston Center) is unlike anything else around: part open-air pub, part N.Y.C-style underground club, part vintage diner, and completely inspired by Josh's love for eye-catching collectibles and personal memorabilia. “One of my first thoughts when designing this space was, ‘I can finally get my beer can collection out of my mom’s attic!’” he tells Westport Lifestyle. (Other decor includes his framed Zeta Beta Tau fraternity composite, an authentic Boston T sign, and other treasures Josh has collected from Elephant's Trunk and Brimfield Market over the years.) Its inviting, nostalgic atmosphere welcomes guests back to the days before smartphones and AI.
Trumbull-native Josh, a professional real estate property manager, has been the Weston Center landlord since 1990. In 2014, he and his wife Jessica—hungry to get into the restaurant business—purchased Weston’s beloved Lunch Box (est. 1977) from original owners and friends Dante and Barbara Zacavish. But the concept for The Chase was on Josh's mind long before then: when he first approached Dante in 2006 with his Bridgeport billiard hall idea, Dante's response was “'I have a better idea: why don’t you buy the Lunch Box,'” Josh recalls. Eight years later, he did, but he never let go of his saloon dreams.
Between that original conversation with Dante in 2006 and his Lunch Box purchase in 2014, Josh and his wife got married, pregnant with their first daughter (they now have two), and he secretly enrolled in culinary school to prepare for his new endeavor. “I’d come home at one a.m., and Jessica would hand me a baby, and I’d sleep sitting up in a chair, covered in garlic, in my whites,” he says.
When the Tolks took over the Lunch Box, they added a full alcohol menu and their own personal flavor. “My wife and I like to have fun. We wanted to have a place where it’s common to see someone with a Bud bottle sitting next to someone having breakfast,” he says. But after COVID hit, the Lunch Box was struggling, and the couple started ideating about what could come next. “Over the last five years, we’ve been experimenting at the restaurant to no avail,” he says. Finally, in 2024, to make space for to create the a lunch counter that Jessica had always dreamed of (now "an actual bar with a top" fashioned from an old bowling alley), Josh and his architect began the onerous zoning process to accommodate a new restaurant entrance on the east side of the building from the original south. “This venture has been pretty risky," he admits. "I wouldn’t have proceeded without my wife by my side. She’s the gunslinger.” Ultimately, in the summer of 2025, the doors to the Lunch Box officially closed, and The Chase began to come to life.
Walking into The Chase today (a name inspired by the Tolk's family dog), you’d never know that this antique fever dream once housed the “quirky, grab-and-go spot where the staff always knew our names,” as Caroline Cannon, a Weston native, describes the Lunch Box. The Chase menu consists of the staples: pizza, burgers, chicken sandwiches, and cocktails, with plans to expand offerings down the road. “There are so many fancy restaurants,” says Josh. What he and his family have created is, instead, a respite. “We are making it fun and different, so people can hang out.” So come in and slow down. The Chase is open for a good time well after midnight.
The Chase is located at 190 Weston Road in Weston. @thechasebar for more.