Getting a new restaurant off the ground is hard, thus the notorious failure rate. But sitting in the packed dining room of the Juniper Grill on Washington Road in McMurray, the mysterious concept of success seems simplified: Find a suburban neighborhood with few independent restaurants, serve well-prepared, flavorful food at reasonable prices and watch your (very large) parking lot fill up.
The attractive yet casual setting is flexible enough to suit the myriad needs of suburban dining: Leather armchairs in the entryway, an enclosed heated patio and an artistically arranged birch woodpile set into the wall suggest it’s worth getting a baby sitter, while flat-screen TVs and a densely packed dining room hint that kids (or raucous groups of adults) can easily be accommodated.