Sage: open or closed?

What could be going on with Sage in the South End? First chef Anthony Susi announced he would be opening a new restaurant at an undisclosed location, featuring Italian small plates. [EDIT: Looking back, it appears I remembered wrong and the concept was "rustic trattoria," so perhaps the South End is still safe for big plates.] Then rumors began to swirl that Sage was closing. A staffer mentioned to a diner last week that it would shut down after the weekend. And now, the official statement...

"Sage restaurant is currently undergoing renovations as Chef / Owner Anthony Susi explores new restaurant concepts for the space."

Safe to say: Sage is closed for the time being while Susi rethinks things.

Could the Italian small plates restaurant be coming to the current Sage space? Or, at least, was that the plan until Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette's Coppa was announced? And, with Myers + Chang and the new Ginger Park in the old Banq space, will the South End soon be a small-plates-only zone? Stay tuned.

A larger question here is: How does relocation affect restaurants?

Sage seemed to do very well in its North End space, while perhaps it never really found its footing in the South End. (Which is too bad: It was my favorite Italian food in that neighborhood.)

Others -- say, Pho Republique, a few doors down from Sage and a relocation from Cambridge -- do just fine.

We'll have to see how the Bombay Club, moving from Harvard Square to the current Pho Republique space, fares. But it just goes to show what a delicate equation it is matching restaurant concepts with locations.