Interest rates have risen and are predicted to rise more, this year. The current 30-year fixed rate for conforming
and jumbo loans is 4.25% at some local lenders, but you can still get a 15-year or adjustable rate (ARM) loan below 4%. For those of us who remember double-digit interest rates of the 1980s, these rates still seem astonishingly low. The rise in rates has not dampened the enthusiasm of buyers looking for a new home, and sales continue to be brisk not just in the Somerville/ Cambridge/Boston markets, but also in the surrounding suburbs. Once again, our strong local economy is rooted in many of the new businesses (software, pharmaceuticals, engineering, robotics, bioengineering, etc.) based in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville. The result is a growing population of people who want to live near their workplace. With our limited housing stock and lack of buildable land, that puts a lot of pressure on the housing market, and prices keep rising accordingly. Some buyers have resigned themselves to looking in communities farther out; but many are committed to submitting offers on properties in their target area until one is accepted. There is a high percentage of buyers who have very large (25% or more) downpayments or can pay cash. This has made the market especially challenging for those mere mortals putting down “only” 20% or less. More inventory is in the pipeline for the spring and summer, but our sense is that it is not enough to saturate buyer demand.
New Listings 111 Spring Street, #2, Medford This lovely, pet-friendly, 2-level condo offers lovely wood details, an updated kitchen, shared yard/patio, garage parking, and exclusive loft space in the garage. The first level has a contemporary open plan living/dining area, 1 bedroom, office/nursery, and full bath. The top floor has an open plan, built in bookcases, large walk-in closet, and a half bath. Walk to Wegman’s.
24 Belmont Street, Somerville 42-44 Gordon Street, Somerville Well-maintained, classic West Somerville two-family that has been in the same family for decades. Each unit has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. Driveway and yard.
Commercial 62 Bow Street Unit #60-b, Somerville for sale at $299,000 or for lease at $2,800/month
This highly visible, centrally located, street-level commercial condo is in the heart of Union Square with residential condos above it. Open room with exposed brick, picture windows onto the street, half bathroom, and separate area. Currently used by the owners as a small music lesson/performance space, previously used as a drop-off (no plant onsite) dry cleaner, it could be used for other retail or office purposes. (Buyers should review Somerville zoning code and condominium documents for any restrictions on use) Near restaurants, grocery stores, businesses, offices, residential neighborhoods, universities. Quick access to Boston and Cambridge by public transit, car, bike, or foot. On several bus lines, including the CT2, 85, 86, 87, 88, and 91. Steps from longawaited Union Square Green Line Extension subway stop (now slated to open 2021). Close to several highways, including Routes 93, 38, 28, 90, 16, and 2. Excellent opportunity at an exciting time.
122 Sharon Street, #102, Medford Spacious 3-bedroom, 2-bath loft in converted schoolhouse in ideal West Medford location. Entry hall leads to kitchen and dramatic open living space with enormous windows, wood floors, very high ceilings. Laundry off kitchen. Master bedroom with bath en suite. Central air, ceiling fans, private storage, and common exercise room.
366 Somerville Avenue, Somerville $35 nnn
Class A office space in prime Union Union Square location with 2 dedicated parking spaces in the parking lot next to the building. The 3,918 sq.ft. space is fully built out, consisting of most of the first (above ground) floor of an elevator building, including 3 large private offices, kitchenette/breakroom, storage room, and 2 bathrooms. Shared use of front reception area with bathroom and partial use of 33’x21’ conference room. Second floor space may also be available. MBTA bus stop in Union Square include the CT2 (to Kendall, Ruggles, Sullivan); 85 (Kendall, MIT, Lechmere); 87 (Arlington Center); 91 (Sullivan, Inman, & Central Square); and 90 (Davis Square, Assembly Row, Wellington Station). Future Green Line stop nearby.
Spacious, 3-level townhouse with high ceilings, central air, private driveway, deck, and yard. On the first level, open living/dining rooms separated by gas fireplace; kitchen with large dining area and sliders to deck; half bath; and door to large, unfinished basement. Two bedrooms, full bath, and separate laundry room on the second floor. Master bedroom with full bath en suite and Boston views occupies entire top floor.
Somerville PorchFest 2018 Saturday, May 12th Enjoy free music outdoors on porches throughout Somerville between 12-6 pm. At our office, we’ll be hosting
THE SORRY HONEYS from 12-2 PM in our driveway at 128 Willow Avenue. Stop by! Go to www.somervilleartscouncil.org/ porchfest/map/2018 to views bands and locations across the city.
Coming Soon lovely porter square condo – 2 bedroom, 1 bath with porch, parking, and yard space large davis square townhouse – with parking and garden by bike path magoun square contemporary townhouse – near bike path with 3 bedrooms,
Thalia Tringo
President, Realtor ® 617.513.1967 cell/text Thalia@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
2 1/2 baths, central air, private yard, 2 parking spaces and driveway
Free Classes
Niké Damaskos
Residential Sales and Commercial Sales and Leasing 617.875.5276 Nike@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
First Time Home Buyers:
an overview of the buying process Wednesday, May 23rd
6:30 – 7:45 pm
If you’re considering buying your first home and want to understand what’s in store, this is a quick and helpful overview. Led by our agents and a loan officer from a local bank, it includes a 45-min presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
How to Buy and Sell at the Same Time:
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.943.9581 cell/text Jennifer@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
for homeowners contemplating a move Thursday, May 31st
6:30 – 7:45 pm
If trying to figure out the logistics of selling your home and buying a new one makes your head spin, this workshop will help make the process understandable. This workshop, led by our agents and a loan officer from a local bank, includes a 45-min presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
Eco-Friendly/Green Homes Wednesday, June 6th
6:30 – 8:00 pm
If you’re dreaming of a home that’s the ultimate in energy efficiency, join us for a presentation about green homes, also known as passive homes. We’ll discuss the lingo associated with this technology, show various examples of homes that use the passive home design/standards, and the various programs currently available to retrofit your home. Presented by a local Architect/Designer, Tagore Hernandez with Group Design Build. One hour presentation and 20 minutes Q&A. Handouts and refreshments provided.
Mitigating Water Issues on Your Property Monday, June 4th
6:30 – 7:45 pm
Every year, homeowners struggle with the consequences of water infiltration through foundation, roof, siding, flashing, or elsewhere. Repairing the damage can be costly and time-consuming and can result in more serious issues, including mold. Join us to learn ways to diagnosis and prevent water issues before they occur, whether from street flooding, ice dams, poor drainage, roof damage, and other causes. Lead by our team and a local home inspector.
How Individuals Can Buy Property Together as a Group: a primer for non-traditional homebuyers Monday, June 11th
6:30 – 8:30 pm
When two or more people, whether or not they are related, buy property together, what are their options for taking title? How do you determine each one’s financial contributions, percentage legal interest in the property, and expense allocation? What kind of arrangements can be made in the event one or more parties want to move on but others want to keep the property? What type of financing is available? We will address these and other questions, followed by a Q&A session. Lead by our team and a local real estate attorney. If you are a first time homebuyer, please attend the First Time Home Buyers Workshop (May 23rd) or make an appointment with one of our agents so you’ll have your prerequisites for this class.
To reserve space in any class, please email Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com. Admission is free, but we appreciate donations of canned goods for the Somerville Homeless Coalition.
Best Real Estate Agency
Jennifer Rose
Best Real Estate Agent
Lynn C. Graham
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.216.5244 cell/text Lynn@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Brendon Edwards
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.895.6267 cell/text Brendon@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Adaria Brooks
Executive Assistant to the President, Realtor ® 617.308.0064 cell/text Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
About our company... We are dedicated to representing our buyer and seller clients with integrity and professionalism. We are also commi ed to giving back to our community. Our agents donate $250 to a non-profit in honor of each transaction and Thalia Tringo & Associates Real Estate Inc. also gives $250 to a pre-selected group of local charities for each transaction. Visit our office, 128 Willow Avenue, on the bike path in Davis Square, Somerville.
MAY 15 - JULY 8, 2018 ::: VOLUME 32 ::: SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM
The Netflix of Food
contents 6 // EDITOR’S NOTE 7 // JUST VISITING 8 // WINNERS & LOSERS On the bright side, loyal bookstore employees are on track to become business owners. In not-so-good news, Ryles Jazz Club’s exit from Inman Square is ruffling some feathers.
18 14
10 // WHAT’S NEW? A new bus route, a world
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD! 16 // FOOD FOR ALL, EXCEPT THE DUMPSTER A local app is tackling food waste head on—and making eating out more affordable.
24 // NEW FOOD TRUCK PROGRAM GETS ROLLING Taco Party is one of 16 food trucks that are slated to be part of the city’s food truck pilot this year.
18 // AHEAD OF THE CURVE AND STRAIGHT TO YOUR COUCH Puritan Trading Company brings Puritan & Co. to the cutting edge by offering food on demand.
30 // CAMBRIDGE’S CANDY MAKING LEGACY Candy was once the city’s secondlargest industry. Here’s how Main Street became “Confectioner’s Row,” and what’s left of our candy empire.
20 // SEASON’S EATINGS Amy Larson mixes family traditions, timely feasts, and today’s activist climate into monthly handmade cookbooks. 22 // ‘LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE’ Community Servings crafts medically tailored meals for some of the city’s most vulnerable populations.
34 // AFTER DETOUR, HIGHLAND KITCHEN OWNERS WELCOME HIGHLAND FRIED TO THE FAMILY The story of the new Inman Square restaurant starts and ends with a local chef ’s exalted fried chicken. 36 // SPROUTING HEALTHY EATING CitySprouts brings the outdoors into local elementary schools.
Photo, top: Crispy chicken sandwich. Photo courtesy of Puritan Trading Company. Photo, bottom: Musician Anna Rae. Photo by Evan Sayles. On the cover: Chicken Niçoise salad. Photo Courtesy of Community Servings.
baking shop, and revived woolly mammoths are heading our way. 14 // NEWS: MUSICIANS FACE LEAVING THE CITY AS EMF EVICTIONS LOOM For nearly a decade, EMF has been a “one-stop shop” where artists could rehearse, record, and network. 42 // CALENDAR 46 // PHOTO CONTESTS
It’s devastating for the individual artists and the music community. It’s a critical resource that we need to do our work.”
SAT / JUNE 2 / 11–6 EAST CAMBRIDGE WATERFRONT
An exuberant celebration of the arts along DCR Cambridge Parkway and Lechmere Canal Park
MORE INFO cambridgeartscouncil.org
EDITOR’S NOTE
W
hen I tell people we’re coming out with a food issue, their faces light up. Cambridge’s homes and squares are packed with delicious food from all over the world, and in this issue we dive into how that food reflects the city that cooks it. What’s more Cambridge, for example, than an app aimed at reducing food waste and increasing food access (p.16)? What’s more Cambridge than a ghost restaurant that tries to make your food as on-demand as your TV shows (p.18)? What’s more Cambridge than leveling the playing field through food education (p.36)? You’ll find stories on all these topics, and more, in the pages of this issue. You’ll read up on the city’s newest food trucks (p.24). You’ll learn about Cambridge’s oftforgotten candy-making glory days Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. (p.30). And you’ll get the chance to hear about how the creators of Highland Fried added a new gem to Inman Square by trusting their instincts (p.34). We hope this issue makes your mouth water and that we’ll see you at our Local Flavor event on June 24, where we’ll be featuring the people you read about in this issue and other local restaurants for a day of demos and tastings to benefit Community Servings and Food For Free. You can find more details about the event on our calendar (p.42).
Reena Karasin
PUBLISHER Holli Banks Allien hbanks@scoutmagazines.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Reena Karasin rkarasin@scoutmagazines.com ART DIRECTOR Nicolle Renick design@scoutmagazines.com renickdesign.com PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Adrianne Mathiowetz photo@scoutmagazines.com adriannemathiowetz.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Jerry Allien jallien@scoutmagazines.com STAFF WRITER AND SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Tim Gagnon tgagnon@scoutmagazines.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Adam Sennott, Emily Frost, Nicholas Golden CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Chris McIntosh, Mark Ostow, Christina Picz, Evan Sayles COPY EDITOR Joe Palandrani
Reena Karasin, Editor-in-Chief rkarasin@scoutmagazines.com
BANKS PUBLICATIONS 519 Somerville Ave, #314 Somerville, MA 02143 FIND US ONLINE scoutcambridge.com scoutcambridge
2018 SCOUT’S HONORED
ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS NOW THROUGH JUNE 3 SEE PAGE 39 6 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
2 NEW PHOTO CONTESTS CASH & PRIZES COULD BE YOURS! SEE PAGE 48
scoutcambridge @scoutmags
Office Phone: 617-996-2283 Advertising inquiries? Please contact hbanks@scoutmagazines.com. GET A COPY Scout Cambridge is available for free at more than 250 drop spots throughout the city (and just beyond its borders). Additionally, thousands of Cambridge homes receive a copy in their mailbox each edition, hitting every neighborhood in the city throughout the year...sometimes twice! You can sign up for home delivery by visiting scoutcambridge.com/shop.
JUST VISITING
JUST VISITING Students who survived the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School spoke about their push to end gun violence to a packed room at the Harvard Institute of Politics on March 20. We have to empathize. We can’t rely on apathy, that’s been brewing, voter apathy. We can’t be that way anymore ... We can’t settle into that stew of thinking, ‘I can never change anything.’ You need to act.” —Emma González
JUNE 24
3 TO 7 P.M.
(DOORS OPEN AT 2:30 P.M.) AT CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL OF CUL 2020 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, CAMINARY ARTS BRIDGE
6
COOKING DEMOS
Lots
OF BEER AND WINE TASTINGS
1
1
FOOD TRUCK
FINAL COOK OFF COMPETITION
(between selected event attendees)
AL L TO B EN EFI T: COMMUNITY SERVINGS servings.org
Not-for-profit food and nutrition program providing services to Somerville, Cambridge and throughout Massachusetts and in Rhode Island to individuals and families living with critical and chronic illnesses.
FOOD FOR FREE foodforfree.org
Food For Free improves access to healthy food within our community by rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste, strengthening the community food system, and creating new distribution channels to reach under-served populations.
TICKETS $75. GET YOURS AT: TINYURL.COM/LOCALFLAVOR18 ABOUT JUST VISITING
Renowned photographer and Cambridge resident Mark Ostow has taken portraits of many powerful people in politics and culture, including Barack Obama’s cabinet and several presidential candidates. Just Visiting features Ostow’s snapshots of influential people who are passing through Cambridge and Somerville. Photo by Mark Ostow.
Sponsored by Scout Magazines and Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.
scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food!
7
W&L WINNERS
LOSERS
DITCHING SCHOOL (FOR PROTESTS, OF COURSE) Gun control reform has unprecedented momentum after February’s school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Over four hundred students from Cambridge Rindge and Latin and nearby schools staged a walkout on March 7, WBUR reports, observing 17 minutes of silence for the 17 students and teachers murdered in the Florida shooting. Organizers hope to have hundreds of students visit the State House in the future to lobby legislators, according to the Boston Globe.
SINKING SAILING CENTERS Harvard’s sailing team earned some of the most curious headlines of the year when its sailing center started “partially sinking” after an early March nor’easter damaged a barge underneath it. Harvard officials told the Boston Globe that the building was “significantly compromised” and, in the wake of the damage, only coaches have been given clearance to enter the building to collect belongings. Since the sinking, the sailing team has temporarily set up shop in MIT’s boathouse down the river, the Harvard Crimson reports.
THE CAMBRIDGE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND FOR IMMIGRANTS Mayor Marc McGovern announced a fund in March to assist Cambridge-based immigrants who are at risk of deportation and discrimination, the Cambridge Day reports. McGovern referenced the Trump administration’s attacks on immigration and Cambridge’s proud status as a sanctuary city at a press conference, but said that “symbolism is not enough.” The fund started off with $50,000 from an unnamed donor and the Cambridge Community Foundation. McGovern hopes to see the fund expand to $500,000 by the end of May with the help of donations from the community.
SUPERINTENDENTS/SNOWSTORM SOOTHSAYERS After a couple of blizzards and a bait-andswitch “snowstorm” that ended up being a mild flurry, Superintendent Kenneth Salim came under fire for keeping public schools open during a storm that most surrounding cities closed for, Cambridge Patch reports. With absences reportedly “above average” that day, Salim said in an open letter that he was “less certain about whether staying open was the most productive decision” at day’s end. Salim wrote in his letter that when the city calls a state of emergency, implements a parking ban, or declares it is unable to plow necessary parking lots and streets, he is more inclined to cancel school, but that the city had taken no such measures on the day in question.
PORTER SQUARE BOOKS Porter Square Books owners Dina Mardell and David Sandberg have come up with a retirement plan that will ensure a future at the store for their most loyal employees. The bookstore owners sold half of their stake in the business to nine of their long-term employees, Publishers Weekly reports, loaning the employees the funds for the share, which they will pay off over the next decade. While the owners don’t plan on retiring anytime soon, the split share will ideally allow the employees to buy the other share of the store when the owners do step down, the article explains.
RYLES JAZZ CLUB’S 30-YEAR CLAUSE Sorrowful eulogies to jazz brunches were abundant when Ryles Jazz Club announced its closing earlier this year, but a restriction in the property’s for-sale listing left a bad after-meal taste in some people’s mouths. A listing says the purchaser would be prohibited “from opening a restaurant, bar, gourmet food store, or music venue” in the space. The stipulation extends over the next 30 years, the Cambridge Chronicle reports, and is thought to be a preventative measure against competition for the Ryles owners’ other business venture, the S&S Restaurant, also in Inman Square.
Someone rustle your jimmies or tickle your fancy?
Let us know at scoutcambridge.com/contact-us, and we just might crown them a winner or loser.
8 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
NEWS FROM THE NORTH Here’s just some of what you’ll find in the “Food, Glorious Food!” Issue of our sibling publication, Scout Somerville.
THIS LITTLE PIGGY... While prepping a whole pig for an April wedding, La Brasa chef and owner Daniel Bojorquez lays out the four key elements that guide him as he cooks.
A GLUTEN-FREE LABOR OF LOVE Tucked away in an unassuming home kitchen in West Somerville, the Clancy family works up to 12-hour days to create some of the best gluten-free baked goods in the region.
DITCHING THE DESK: MEET THE SOMERVILLIANS FOLLOWING THEIR MEAL PREP PASSIONS Erin Baumgartner spent the last 10 years working at MIT, but her attention kept getting pulled back to food.
Know someone who you think is a real leader in our community? We want to hear about them! Email us at scout@scoutmagazines.com to recommend people for our next issue: Do-Gooders, Key Players, & Game Changers.
Come in as a customer
, leave as a friend.
Ride with Pride. Call John directly on his cell at
617-512-5511
181 Somerville Ave (across from Target)
johnsautosales.com
QUALITY USED CARS BOUGHT AND SOLD FOR 40 YEARS
scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food!
9
WHAT’S NEW?
RESTAURANT TALK HARVARD SQUARE
POKÉWORKS
A
side from your good ol’ avocado toast, we might have to vote COMING for the sushirito as the most millennial thing to happen to food. MOVED SOON Fearlessly combining a traditional Mexican burrito base of rice and greens with sushi’s raw fish and seaweed, the sushirito is irreverent, yet strangely logical. Rising Hawaiian cuisine chain Pokéworks isn’t questioning what the kids want, but rather choosing to offer up its own poké-rito variation alongside your standard poké bowls and salads. Arriving in Harvard Square early this spring, Pokéworks already has the millennials’ fiercely individualistic spirit down pat, offering seven different proteins, eight sauces, and 27 different additions to top, mix, or add some “crunch” to your meal.
aiming for 1 billion by 2025. And it doesn’t serve up your run-ofthe-mill burritos, either—the chain uses meats cooked sous vide (placed in a container and slow-cooked in a water or steam bath, in case you’re wondering) and offers black rice in addition to more traditional rices. PORTER SQUARE
ONE RAMEN AND SUSHI
HARVARD SQUARE
BLACK SHEEP BAGEL CAFE
COMING SOON
Have fond memories of Pizza Bagel Bites commercials in between cartoons growing up? If you’re looking to relive those glory days, call up the parents for a ride to Black Sheep Bagel Cafe. Along with the promise of a dozen fresh bagel varieties, the incoming Harvard Square spot will include your classic melted cheese and pepperoni options as toppings, Eater 10 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
Boston reports. The cafe aims to open in May.
MOVED
HARVARD SQUARE
ZAMBRERO’S
Australian burrito chain Zambrero’s arrives in Cambridge (andCOMING America at MOVED large) with a loftySOON humanitarian mission, according to Eater Boston: to donate a meal to Rise Against Hunger with every burrito or bowl purchased. Zambrero’s has donated 20 million meals since 2005, and is
Porter Square isn’t dealing with a shortage of ramen spots by COMING any means, but there can beMOVED SOON only one One. No, that wasn’t a typo. One Ramen and Sushi replaced Super Fusion earlier this spring, Eater Boston reports, joining Sapporo and Yume Wo Katare and building up Porter’s unofficial claim as a mini-hub for ramen. The new kid on the block’s serving up cost-efficient combos of its namesakes (a small soup and sushi roll could total under $10) along with kimchi and tempura. HARVARD SQUARE
WHOLESOME FRESH
After six months full of legal troubles and name mix-ups, Church Street in COMING Harvard Square MOVED SOON needed a “Wholesome” win. Corner store Market in the Square was seized in November due to unpaid taxes and, thanks to a Licensing Commission error, rumors spread that meal service HelloFresh would take its place with a terrestrial location, the Cambridge Day reported. Now that
the dust has settled, Wholesome Fresh, the new market’s actual name, is open for business. While still aiming to be a neighborhood deli and multi-purpose stop, a significant part of its inventory is free of artificial ingredients in an effort to be the kind of organicminded spot where “everything’s made to order and the menu changes everyday,” the Harvard Crimson reports. INMAN SQUARE
MOONA’S NEW BAR BITES
Bar snacks are a delicate art form in our humble opinion—oversalted popcorn or stale pretzels can make or break a decision to stay for a second round—so we’ve got to give props to Moona for going bold with its bites. The new snacks are only offered on Mondays, Eater Boston reports, but those curious to see what the Mediterranean-inspired spot’s serving up will be rewarded with feta and honey fritters, falafel, and a Moroccan-style lamb sausage called merguez. Averaging between $1 and $3, Moona’s bites look like a cost-effective but classy alternative to having questionable potato chips at the dive bar … again.
Photo, top left, courtesy of Pokéworks. Photo, bottom left, courtesy of Black Sheep Bagel Cafe. Photo, bottom right, courtesy of Moona. Photo, top right, courtesy of the Mayor’s Office.
LOCAL POLITICS
The greatest satisfaction is understanding our client’s needs to translate their vision into form and functional art.
MAYOR MCGOVERN GETS INTO NATIONAL CONSERVATION CHALLENGE
Mayor Marc McGovern joined mayors from 4,800 other cities across America in encouraging their residents to use water more conscientiously, according to a press release from the city. The nationwide challenge ran throughout April and aimed to effect long-term changes like using less freshwater, redirecting stormwater, preventing waste from getting into watersheds, and sending less waste to landfills.
COULD MUNICIPAL BROADBAND COME TO CAMBRIDGE?
A group of residents banded together under the name Upgrade Cambridge this spring to lobby for a municipal broadband network. In addition to ending Comcast’s monopoly across the city, co-founder Saul Tannenbaum sees municipal broadband as the best avenue to securing free internet for lower-income residents who can’t
afford access because it represents a permanent investment rather than a subsidy that the city would have to make to a company repeatedly.
TENSIONS RISE OVER VIOLENT COP FOOTAGE
Mayor Marc McGovern called a video of a Cambridge police officer repeatedly punching a black Harvard student midarrest as “disturbing” before reaffirming the city’s alliance with the Black Lives Matter movement in a press release. The incident, which stemmed from several calls alleging that the student had taken off his clothes and thrown them at a woman before retreating to Massachusetts Avenue naked, is currently under investigation, according to Police Commissioner Branville Bard. “As Mayor, I will continue working with my colleagues to make sure that the horrific treatment of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement has no place in Cambridge,” McGovern added in the release.
Architectural Services
• New construction, additions, renovations • Restaurants, homes, and interiors • Sustainable materials and methods
amortondesign.com 617.894.0285 info@aMortonDesign.com scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food!
11
WHAT’S NEW?
FRESH STARTS AND TECHIE UPGRADES EAST CAMBRIDGE
BON ME’S TEST KITCHEN
B
on Me decided it was COMING MOVED time to mixSOON things up, CEO Patrick Lynch tells Scout. The outcome? The beloved Asian chain revamped its East Cambridge location into a test kitchen in April, giving space to a new menu and electronic ordering kiosks. “We opened seven years ago, and we chose to do a lot of things that I think were really new and exciting at the time,” Lynch says. “We feel like it’s time for us to change things up and try to get ahead of some of the big trends again.”
ELMENDORF IS SIFTING THROUGH CAMBERVILLE FOR A HOME
Some fixate on different types of coffee. For Alyssa and Teddy Applebaum, it’s all about the grain. The married duo tells Scout that grain will be the backbone of Elmendorf Baking Supplies, a home baking equipment and ingredient shop that they hope to open in
Cambridge or Somerville this year that will focus on world baking. Bringing their collective experience working at Formaggio Kitchen, Oleana, and Eataly, the Applebaums plan to have a kitchen in Elmendorf where they can have local experts teach everything from cake baking 101 to pasta making.
CLOVER GOES DIGITAL Look, there’s an app for
everything, and if you’re anything like us, your phone’s overloaded with foodie apps, but trust us when we say Clover’s new app is worth the risk. Yes, you can order food from one of Clover’s Cambridge locations, but the app also breaks down
nutritional information, ingredients, and even the farm where the ingredients came from, according to Eater Boston. You can also sift through the menu based on dietary restrictions and get notifications when new dishes and seasonal favorites are on the menu, Eater reports.
FOUR WHEELIN’ FINGER FOODS who works in Boston and needs a lunchtime taco fix: it’s recently added wheels to its operation, Eater Boston reports, and is camping out on Newbury Street to bring Cantabrigian flavor to Back Bay. Replacing Clover’s former spot, Naco Taco’s truck will stay open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
MEI MEI’S TRUCK IS ROLLING OUT OF CAMBRIDGE CENTRAL SQUARE
NACO TACO’S NEW WHEELS
This Central Square taqueria’s got some good news for anyone COMING SOON
MOVED
12 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
Chinese-American family restaurant Mei Mei has been driving its food trucks through Cambridge and Boston since before it opened a brick-andmortar near Fenway, earning its
cred by serving up its beloved “Double Awesome” scallion pancake sandwiches from a truck. After six years on wheels, though, owner Irene Li says Mei Mei’s stopping its food truck service. Li cites an increased focus on the restaurant, which also announced a new, counterservice-style menu, and the desire to “open up spots for new food truck entrepreneurs.” KENDALL SQUARE
BARTLEBY’S SEITAN STAND
Regardless of your religious leanings, there’s a new food truck MOVED looking to serveCOMING up the kind of SOON
“hellishly good fast food” that’ll involuntarily make you hail Satan … or, rather, “seitan.” Bartleby’s is the child of former VO2 Cafe manager Stephanie Kirkpatrick, who told Eater Boston that she was inspired to find an overlap between American-style comfort food and “quick-service options for non-meat eaters.” The result is a bevy of seitan-centric twists on fried chicken sandwiches and nuggets that, according to Kirkpatrick, prove you “don’t have to turn to eating rabbit food” when going vegan. Bartelby’s is converting the non-believers in Kendall Square on Mondays from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Photo, top left, by Nikhil Watson. Photo, bottom left, by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Photo, top right, by Bernie Birnbaum.
NEW ROUTES AND PREHISTORIC REVIVALS
is
at
THE RED LINE CONNECTS TO ... THE BLUE LINE?
I
We’re pretty sure Jeff Goldblum cautioned against meddling with the prehistoric
ac
ch
WOOLLY MAMMOTHS ... NOW COMING SOON?
pe
pea
Greater Boston tried out and lost late-night T service, but the MBTA’s latest experiment is for the early-morning crowd. Bus service on select routes now starts at 3:20 a.m. and will continue to do so throughout the course of a year-long pilot program that began in April, the Cambridge Patch reports. The 70 line is the only Cambridge bus that will get earlier routing for now, but the MBTA might expand the program after the pilot year.
in “Jurassic Park,” but a research fellow and one of the top geneticists at Harvard are confident that the woolly mammoth can (and should) be brought back from extinction. Research fellow Justin Quinn says he and geneticist George Church have made possible the recreation of woolly mammoth herds that are “indistinguishable” from their extinct ancestors, according to the Cambridge Day. The mammoths would be revived by mixing preserved mammoth DNA with Asian elephant DNA. Quinn anticipates the first revived mammoth won’t come along for a decade, but says the species could potentially help preserve the earth’s permafrost due to its behavior of puncturing through snow in the tundra to let cold air circulate.
h
THE MBTA’S EARLY MORNING BUS ROUTE
pie
t sounds almost too logical: You head across the river to Charles/MGH, hop off, walk down a flight of stairs … and you’re greeted by the Blue Line, waiting to whisk you off to Wonderland. The proximity of the Red Line to the Blue’s Bowdoin stop has been a subject of connective possibility since “at least the 1970s,” the Cambridge Patch reports, but in early April the MBTA announced a formal, three-month study to figure out how such a transfer could feasibly work. Boston’s bid for the second Amazon headquarters foreshadowed the study, stating it’s a “clear goal” to connect the two lines.
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scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food! 13
NEWS
CAMBRIDGE MUSICIANS FACE LEAVING THE CITY AS EMF EVICTIONS LOOM BY ADAM SENNOTT | PHOTOS BY EVAN SAYLES
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ocal musician Anna Rae says she was surprised and angry when she found out that her band and nearly 200 other artists and musicians were being evicted from the EMF building near Central Square this past February. “It’s devastating for the individual artists and the music community,” Rae says. “It’s a critical resource that we need to do our work.” For nearly a decade, the building, located on Brookline Street, has served as a “onestop shop” where artists could rehearse, record, network, and 14 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
even get their music played at the radio station that once operated there, says Rae, who is part of a band called Hemway. “It was basically a place where artists could go to develop,” Rae says. “It was everything from meeting people and getting into a band, to finding your sound and developing it, to recording that sound, to having it played on the radio and being interviewed and learning how to promote shows.” The building contains 60 band spaces, about a dozen work spaces, a CD production company, and three recording studios. The rents are more affordable than at
most comparable spaces, and the building is close to Central Square, where musicians have found work performing at places like The Middle East, The Plough and Stars, and The Cantab Lounge. But on Feb. 28, building owner John DiGiovanni, president and CEO of Trinity Property Management, notified the building’s tenants that they had 60 days to vacate the premises. When asked why the building owners were making the artists move out, building manager Bob Logan told Scout in an email that “Century-old buildings are typically in need of
significant overall repair.” DiGiovanni did not respond to requests for comment. The Boston Globe reported that DiGiovanni says the building will undergo a “wholesale renovation”: “We knew going in that this building was going to need upgrades and repairs. We came to the conclusion that there’s no way to do this in a piecemeal fashion.” DiGiovanni “has not yet hammered out a plan for the building’s future,” the Globe reports. While city officials were able to convince DiGiovanni to extend the deadline until May 31, Rae
Photos, left, Jon Glancy (member of The Sound Down Cellar) and Anna Rae (member of Hemway). Photo, right, the EMF building, where the studios are located.
says that if the building closes, many of those tenants could be forced to leave Cambridge because the cost of renting a new space is too expensive. “There’s nowhere else to go,” Rae says.
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he building was originally home to EMF (Electrical Motor Frequency) Electrical Supply from 1924 until it closed in 1995. In 2006, William “Des” Desmond, owner of the Sound Museum in Brighton, says he spoke to the Katz family— which owned the building and operated the electrical supply company—about running an affordable arts and music incubator in the building. Desmond had been working to renovate warehouses to create inexpensive band spaces since about 1984, and says he “saw a business opportunity in creating the spaces there” because it was probably the “last inexpensive building in the area.” “I knew that was gold for the artists and musicians,” Desmond says. He says he was able to lease the building for “very cheap” because it was in “very bad shape” at the time. He was then able to work with the Katz family to make it “habitable.” “We replaced the roof [and] did a lot of work to it,” Desmond says. “I subdivided it into band spaces and the arts studios.” New Alliance East and New Alliance Audio were among his first tenants. Desmond also started WEMF Radio to help promote the bands and studios. Tenants paid $100 per month for drum rooms, $550 for practice space, and between $700 and $1,400 for recording space under Desmond’s management. Desmond managed the building until 2016, when it was sold to DiGiovanni. Logan is now the building’s manager. Musician Jonathan Glancy saw an ad for the building in DigBoston shortly before it opened. He says he had rented space from Desmond before and moved quickly to reserve a room. “I wanted to be one of the first people there, and I was,” Glancy says. He’s been practicing there for the past 11 years, and says it’s
unlike any other space he’s ever worked out of. “The community of the EMF is a really beautiful thing,” Glancy says. “It’s just a mecca for creativity and people who want to have a space to make their music or art.” The community members look out for one another, he says—he can remember three occasions over the past 11 years where someone forgot expensive equipment in the hallway or parking lot and later had it returned to them. “In all three of those cases, people who could have easily walked away with very expensive equipment went out of their way to contact the people that lost them, or the person that lost them put a flier on the wall, and then someone called them,” Glancy says. “This is a community that really cares about each other and takes care of each other.” Melissa Nilles says her band, Miele, has been practicing at EMF for four years. The room is shared by 13 people, who split the $465 a month rent, which comes to about $35 per person. Nilles says she’s looked for a new space at the Sound Museum in Brighton, The Loft in Somerville, and another facility in Malden, but the buildings were either full or not conveniently accessible by public transportation. She says it’s possible her band could break up if they are not able to find a new home. “I think it will cause a lot of problems if we do not find a new space,” Nilles says.
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he plight of bands and musicians at the EMF has caught the attention of city officials. The City Council voted on March 26 to consider creating an arts overlay district in Central Square that would incentivize businesses to provide affordable space to artists. “The basic idea of any overlay district is to place a set of additional requirements and incentives on top of the base zoning for an area in order to shape new development to meet certain objectives—such as providing space for arts uses,” Vice Mayor Jan Devereux told Scout in an email. The zoning would have to
define what types of arts uses qualify, as well as what happens if the use conflicts with the uses allowed by base zoning, according to Devereux. “The hardest part is determining the level of incentives needed to produce the desired result in a market economy,” Devereux said. “The overlay could increase the allowed height or density for the site in exchange for providing a certain amount of space configured and reserved for an arts use; the zoning could even require that the rent be kept below market.” Still, Devereux says there are no guarantees that an overlay district would be enough to convince developers to rent space
had met with DiGiovanni and worked out an extension giving the artists until May 31 to vacate the property. The City Council also voted on April 2 to ask DiGiovanni if he’d consider selling the building to the city. As of press time, the city had not reached a deal with DiGiovanni. “Our hope is that we can resolve this issue, one way or another, in the next few weeks,” McGovern said. “My Office will continue to update the community as new information arises.” McGovern told Scout in a follow-up email that the only long-term solution to preventing local artists and musicians from being displaced from Cambridge
“It was basically a place where artists could go to develop. It was everything from meeting people and getting into a band, to finding your sound and developing it, to recording that sound.” to artists at below-market rent. “It’s still a market economy,” Devereux said. “So a developer might decide it wasn’t worth including an arts use if the project was more lucrative or simpler to do without it, unless a minimum amount of arts space was required to be included in every project and unless the developer sought a variance on the basis of the requirement posing a hardship.” Mayor Marc McGovern said in a statement on his Facebook page that he, Councilor Alanna Mallon, and Cambridge City Manager Louis A. DePasquale
would be for the city to purchase a building and provide them with affordable rental space. “The only way to ensure that we have an affordable artist space is if it’s in a city-owned building,” McGovern said. “Otherwise, there will always be a risk that the building could be sold, as we are seeing with the EMF building.” Desmond says that if the city bought a building, he’d be happy to manage it. “I’d be willing to manage it and do everything that I did before,” Desmond says. “Build out the studios, everything.” scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food! 15
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
Food For All,
EXCEPT THE DUMPSTER HOW A CAMBRIDGEBASED APP IS TACKLING FOOD WASTE HEAD ON 16 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
BY REENA KARASIN
I
f you’re a restaurant, you never want to run out of food. Customers expect that you’ll have options available at all times, even near closing. They might find sparse shelves offputting, and you’ll lose money if you don’t have what a customer wants to order. This expectation from
customers pushes restaurants, especially grab-and-go establishments, to overproduce. “It’s difficult for them to prepare less, because it is both one of their policies and psychological for the users that every time that a customer arrives, no matter the time of day, the tray needs to be always full,” says David Rodriguez, co-founder of Food For All, an app that lets restaurants sell their leftover food at a discounted rate.
“[It] is a culture of abundance.” Fifteen percent of all food in landfills comes from restaurants, an Environmental Protection Agency analyst told NPR. Food waste is a double-edged sword: not only does the wasted food not go toward combating food insecurity, but it also harms the environment by emitting methane from landfills. “People only see the consequence after it’s already
Photo, top, by Evan Sayles: David Rodriguez and Sabine Valenga. Photo, right, courtesy of Food For All.
being wasted, but it’s not clear how many resources and how much energy has been put into that food to make it to your plate and then get wasted,” Food For All co-founder Sabine Valenga points out. “All the resources, water, labor, energy, transportation, all this cost and time are going to waste.” “Another big problem with food waste, I think, is that nobody likes to throw away food, but at the same time it’s a problem that is taken for granted,” she adds. “It’s part of everybody’s routine already, and it’s part of everybody’s daily life, and it’s accepted.” Over 84 percent of unused food at restaurants is trashed, according to a Food Waste Reduction Alliance study. Only 1.4 percent is donated, the study finds. Food For All lets grab-and-go restaurants sell their leftover food for about half price. Restaurants make available the average number of meals that are left at the end of each day, and customers reserve meals through the app and pick them up at a designated time. Restaurants typically don’t know which foods will be left over, so Food For All’s founders created “meal boxes” and “meal options.” A customer can purchase a meal through the app, but won’t know for sure what they’re getting until they pick it up. A meal at Pita Cambridge (marked down to $4.85 from $9.70) could be chicken shawarma with rice and tahini or falafel with rice and tahini, depending on what’s available. The pickup window at Pita Cambridge is from 10 to 11 p.m. Rodriguez, Valenga, and fellow co-founder Victor Carreño launched a beta version of the app in December 2017, and now work with just over 100 restaurants in Greater Boston and New York City. They got overwhelming support through a Kickstarter, they say. Single moms and college kids flooded the message box, explaining what a difference it would make for them to be able to access prepared foods at such a discount. “People would write how much something like Food For All would help them,” Valenga says. “When I need inspiration, I
just go through the messages. It gives us purpose.” Those Kickstarter messages foreshadowed how the affordability aspect of Food For All would come to blossom. Some restaurants that don’t have much food waste but are committed to improving food access have joined the app, Valenga and Rodriguez say. Boloco has agreed to donate all its Food For All proceeds to the Greater Boston Food Bank. This setup is more effective than just donating the leftover food, according to Food For All’s founders, because rescuing prepared meals is challenging, time-sensitive, and expensive. Additionally, the Greater Boston Food Bank is good at stretching its resources, and can serve 10 meals from the $3.50 it receives from each burrito sale. Boloco and Food For All generated almost 3,400 meals for the food bank in the first three months of the partnership, according to a Food For All blog post.
A
nthony Carpinelli has been using Food For All since its Kickstarter campaign. When he switched careers and experienced a decrease in income, he found that using Food For All was an effective way to keep his spending down while also supporting a cause he cares about. “It gives me a good feeling for a business, seeing that they’re on that app and that they’re doing something proactive, because it alarms me how much food in this country goes to waste,” he says. Carpinelli is a Dorchester resident, and says that Food For All has brought him into Cambridge and Somerville frequently. “It also benefits the restaurants by giving them exposure,” he says. “One of the restaurants I had discovered through the app, I really, really liked it, and I’ve actually been back twice.” Increased exposure is just one way that Food For All can double as a profit driver for restaurants. Some restaurants, like El Jefe’s Taqueria in Harvard Square, put the pickup window during off-peak hours rather than closing time to draw in
more customers. And for smaller restaurants in particular, the app can help reduce lost profits from wasted food. “It’s a win-win app, and I’m really enthusiastic about it,” Carpinelli says. “I hope it does really well and that more restaurants join in. It’s exciting to see things like this happening.” Valenga, Rodriguez, and Carreño live together in Cambridge and recently hired two new people to the team. They’ve launched a brand ambassador program with students from local universities who can help the founders reach students, one of their main target groups. Another target group is rideshare drivers. Whenever the founders get into an Uber or a Lyft, they pitch the app. Rideshare drivers are often traveling all around Greater Boston at odd hours, they explain, making Food For All a natural fit. For now, Food For All’s founders are setting their sights on fundraising and attracting new customers and restaurants, but they have lofty goals for the future. In addition to spreading geographically—the app will launch in three yet-to-bedetermined cities this summer— the founders want to
expand beyond grab-and-go establishments. Other restaurants, food trucks, and supermarkets could eventually be part of Food For All. The founders would also like to expand the number of “meal multiplier” restaurants like Boloco. “We are more than an app, we are a movement,” Valenga says. “We are creating this community around being environmentally and socially responsible.” The founders’ most ambitious goal is to let people use SNAP benefits in the app. This would involve lobbying at the federal level, since hot and prepared foods are not eligible through the program. “A lot of the SNAP recipients live in food deserts, and that means they don’t have access to grocery stores that are close to their home or work,” Valenga says. “They’re probably working a lot, they arrive home late, they do not have time to go grocery shopping, especially if it’s far away from them. What happens, normally, is that they end up eating fast food. It’s cheap and it’s easy for them. So we really believe that restaurants do have a big role to play when it comes to [getting] quality food to everyone.”
CHECK OUT FOOD FOR ALL AT THESE CAMBRIDGE AND SOMERVILLE RESTAURANTS: Cambridge • • • • • • • • •
Bom Café Catalyst Cafe Chutneys Desi Dhaba El Jefe’s Taqueria Noodle Stix Petsi Pies Pita Cambridge Tom’s BaoBao
Somerville
• Cantina la Mexicana • Davis Square Hand-crafted Donuts & Bagels • Gauchao Brazilian Cuisine • Maya Sol Mexican Grill • Mineirão • Mint Indian Eatery • Noor Mediterranean Grill
• • • • • • • •
O Ginger Sushi Oat Shop Opa Greek Yeeros Petsi Pies Taco Party Tu Y Yo Victor’s Deli Yoshi’s
scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food!
17
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
Ahead of the Curve and
Straight To Your Couch PURITAN TRADING COMPANY BRINGS PURITAN & CO. TO THE CUTTING EDGE BY NICHOLAS GOLDEN PHOTO BY ADRIANNE MATHIOWETZ
C
all it the Amazon or Netflix scenario—translated into the food industry. That’s how Will Gilson, chefowner of Puritan & Company in Inman Square, describes the drive behind launching Puritan Trading Company, his new, delivery-only ghost restaurant. “We didn’t think our menu here would translate well into the growing sector of folks that are really trying to get any food they want in the city, any time, on demand,” he says of Puritan & Co., an acclaimed sit-in restaurant. “We didn’t want to be standing here a year from now
18 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
with sort of our hands in our pockets wondering what was going to happen,” Gilson says. “So we wanted to take the advantage of coming up with foods that we knew would travel well, taste good, and be fun and different.” Gilson is as big a name as they come in the Cambridge culinary landscape. He grew up on his family’s farm in Groton, Mass. and is now in his fifth year leading Puritan. He’s been the subject of “Best of ” lists and pieces in publications from Bon Appétit to the Boston Globe, making his name at ventures like Garden in the Cellar and the family farm/ restaurant Herb Lyceum. In February, Puritan began delivering out of converted extra space in its Inman Square location. The new ghost restaurant uses the online
platform Caviar—chosen for its eye-teasing presentations of restaurants’ offerings—to deliver plates for a specialized menu of East Asian-inspired dishes and fried chicken. The unusual pairing grew out of customer demand, according to Gilson. “Many of the things on there are more Asian-inspired, and that isn’t the type of food you think of when you come and dine at Puritan & Company,” Gilson says. “We put a poll in the field and basically went on social media and asked folks what are the foods they like to eat when they’re ordering take out, and what foods don’t exist when they want to get takeout in Boston.” “We did a kind of mash up of [high-quality Asian food and fried chicken] and created our menu,”
he continues. “Then we tested out sending the menu to friends who would enjoy it, let [items] sit in the packaging for about an hour to see what things worked and what things didn’t, and from that we came up with a list of items that are really good.” What they produced ranges from their most popular item—a Crispy Chicken Sandwich with pickles and aioli on a potato bun (an absolutely delicious must-have, we can tell you from firsthand experience)—to the Kung Pao Cauliflower fan favorite. The chicken sandwich arrives in a thoughtfully wrapped box, with an eye toward making sure what you eat on your couch looks and tastes as though it has just left the kitchen. “This is a very different venture, trying to give people
COME TRY OUR
Legendary
PUPU PLATTER
food in their homes,” Gilson says. “Once it leaves this door, it’s kind of out of my control—and that’s the scary part.” There are many reasons for this new project, according to Gilson. Reconnecting with a talented former employee spurred talks with tech consultants about doing more marketing and exploring the power of data mining tastes across cities. The weather is a factor as well—the long, gray, raw-cold Boston winter is bad for a walk-in business model between December and February, and especially when area colleges are on break. “For us, it was an exercise in figuring out like, if the world all of a sudden changes as far as how people dine, then we’re ready to do that instead of trying to play catch up,” Gilson says. “If we can use this platform to expand a bit more or to reach out to an audience that we wouldn’t otherwise get, it’s just as effective as a marketing campaign
to get butts in seats—except it can’t sell alcohol,” he notes. Cambridge, he observes, is seeing a lot of mom-andpop neighborhood restaurants struggle, with incredible levels of competition—whether due to national acquisitions, a lack of vertical density, limited public transit, or the bottom-line challenge of running a restaurant in Massachusetts. “In restaurants, it’s kind of the real estate adage of ‘location, location, location,’” Gilson says. “That used to be the case, and now it’s all those things and ‘How’s your social media campaign? How’s your marketing initiative? What do you do for discounts? How much money are you paying in Open Table fees?’ All those things can make or break businesses.” “We always try to do things a little bit ahead of the curve, and then the curve sort of catches up with you, and by that time we’ve moved on,” he adds.
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scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food! 19
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
S ’ N O S A E S EATINGS HOW OVERSEASONED MIXES FAMILY TRADITIONS, TIMELY FEASTS, AND TODAY’S ACTIVIST CLIMATE INTO MONTHLY COOKBOOKS BY TIM GAGNON PHOTOS BY TINA PICZ PHOTOGRAPHY
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he first leaves of spring haven’t even sprung in Amy Larson’s tree-lined West Cambridge neighborhood on the day that I visit her, but summer feasts are already on the food writer’s radar. “It’s the best time for food, obviously,” Larson says conclusively. “A lot of my [family] memories are from summer. We would do beach picnics and my mom would make fried chicken for that a lot. We were always making summer pies … my favorites are blueberry and peach, so I usually start making those in June and July.” Larson seems to have an entire summer mapped out as she adds littlenecks steamed in beer and oysters to her family’s beach essentials list, but when running a part-time business as seasonally fixed as Overseasoned is, a bit of forward thinking (and a massive arsenal of recipes) never hurts. Larson began writing recipes under the Overseasoned name two years ago as a tribute to the seasonally minded eating instilled in her by her mother 20 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
and to her own penchant for adding a lot of new spices and flavors into a recipe. While trying to find a unique voice in the foodie world without getting lost in a sea of food bloggers, Larson looked to the handwritten recipe cards traded among the cooks of her coastal Rhode Island family. “That’s why I decided to handwrite my recipes, even though typing it would be one million times faster and easier for me,” Larson says with a chuckle. “My main interest was always the cooking, but when I thought of the design of it, I liked how watercolor and those types of little doodles looked with it, so I started practicing a bit more.” The Overseasoned minicookbooks, initially released at a monthly clip, glued the homemade embellishments of a zine together with the localized pride of a family newsletter. Larson’s handwritten recipes loop confidently above her self-taught watercolor illustrations and delectably plated photographs that occasionally feature her dog, Chowder.
The recipes’ seasonal focus is “inspiring, not limiting” in Larson’s eyes. Old seasonal standbys like pierogis around Oktoberfest mingle effortlessly with quirky Larson family traditions like roast beef sandwiches the night before Thanksgiving dinner. Each issue makes for a personalized seasonal tapestry of cuisine that aims for ease over expertise. “At first, I was kind of making recipes that I felt were showing off what I knew and liked with creative ingredients that wouldn’t necessarily work with a novice cook,” Larson recalls. “I started going out and exhibiting at different events … and I was talking to people that were saying things like, ‘I want to make biscotti, but I don’t know how,’ or ‘I don’t have time to make fancy things, this is perfect.’ They want something easy, but they want to know how to cook for themselves. I started realizing that I don’t need to try and be like a Bon Appétit Magazine.” Little anecdotes about each dish’s significance and chipper notes like “let’s do it!” over a shrimp scampi recipe populate Overseasoned’s pages, making for an intimidation-free read. Her recipe for pumpkin gnocchi is a perfect case-in-point: Although the recipe is listed as “advanced,” Larson dutifully breaks down the steps in a timeline over a picture of the rolled-out gnocchi, with a handwritten “yum!” awaiting at the end of the line. Still, the desire to impress and inspire more creative cooks in the kitchen remains on Larson’s mind as well as in the pages of Overseasoned. Coming from an Italian family that remains in the kitchen from sunrise until 10 p.m. on most holidays and serves the marathon Feast of Seven Fishes every Christmas, Larson frames seasonal cooking as a welcoming challenge to explore the unexplored reaches of your local market and come out with something new for dinner. “Sometimes it’s daunting if you have this giant horde of tomatoes and you don’t know what you’re going to do with them and they’re going to get rotten,” Larson adds. “You can get past
“YOU CAN BE WORKING IN THE KITCHEN AND REALLY ENJOY THAT, BUT ALSO BE A FEMINIST. IT’S ABOUT HOW IT INTERSECTS AND WORKS TOGETHER, NOT AGAINST EACH OTHER.”
that and think of all the different things you can make with it. [It’s about] forcing yourself to be creative with the ingredients.” Overseasoned is as much a display of Larson’s own philosophies on life and food as of her upbringing. In the wake of the Women’s March in downtown Boston last January, Larson drew up a slogan and design that would become the business’s unofficial logo: “Smash the Garlic and The Patriarchy.” The design now adorns aprons, tea towels, and tote bags, and a portion of the proceeds from her sales go to Planned Parenthood. “You can be working in the kitchen and really enjoy that, but also be a feminist,” Larson adds. “It’s about how it intersects and works together, not against each other.” In recent months, the monthly mini-cookbooks have
been put on hold, but it’s all part of Larson’s plan to expand Overseasoned’s reach. With influences as farranging as feminist food publication Cherry Bombe and local restaurant Oleana, Larson’s work now includes submitting recipes to Fresh Magazine, offering her services to local couples looking for wedding cakes, teaching pie-making classes at the Local Fare in Arlington, and tabling at events like Food Book Fair in New York. Her underlying goal is ultimately to reach out to more people in the community on a face-to-face, dish-to-dish level. “I really like just giving people food on the spot and
seeing their reaction to it. When it’s just recipe testing, it’s just me working by myself, so doing the events and being with other people is something I really like.” Still, Overseasoned’s seasonal recipe entries aren’t things of the past. Larson is currently going through the 200 recipes she pulled together from the original run of mini-cookbooks, re-testing them, and tightening the list to 100 for a full-length Overseasoned cookbook organized by each month of the year. The undertaking involves reshooting photos, repainting a few designs, and a whole laundry list of considerations, but Larson is resolved in her solo effort. “Some other cookbook authors have a photographer and a stylist, but then some just do it all themselves,” Larson says. “I really like those kinds of people.”
scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food! 21
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
‘Let Food Be Thy Medicine’ COMMUNITY SERVINGS CRAFTS MEDICALLY TAILORED MEALS FOR SOME OF CAMBRIDGE’S MOST VULNERABLE POPULATIONS BY REENA KARASIN
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woman with diabetes had to call an ambulance every month to stabilize her glucose levels. The financial burden and disruption to her life were enormous. But after getting connected to Community Servings, a Boston-based nonprofit that serves medically tailored meals to people with critical illnesses, she went six months without having to call 911. Community Servings got its start in the early 1990s to help people living with AIDS get the nutrition they needed. That’s when Cambridge resident David Waters, now CEO of Community Servings, started volunteering with the organization while
22 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
working in the food industry. “As a food person, I knew how important the care of delivering beautiful food was,” he says. “But also, as a young, gay guy, I was looking for a way to cope with the fear and isolation of the height of the AIDS epidemic.” Community Servings has since expanded to help people with dozens of illnesses, including cancer, diabetes, and kidney disease. Widely known for its Pie in the Sky fundraiser each Thanksgiving, Community Servings works with 20 communities in the Greater Boston area, including Cambridge and Somerville. Cambridge is one of the areas the organization works in most, according to Waters, who says they serve 100 clients and about 28,000 meals annually in the city. Each meal can address up to three health needs, Waters says. “If you have advanced diabetes, over time it might give you blindness, so you wouldn’t be able to shop and cook for yourself,” he explains. “But it also might attack your kidneys and give you kidney disease. So for diabetes, you would need a meal that was controlling glucose, but as your illness evolved, you would then need to control for potassium for kidney failure, and then somewhere in there you might have a stroke, and you would need to control for what’s called vitamin K, based on being on a blood thinner.” There’s data, in addition to accounts from clients, to back up the organization’s efficacy. A recent study found that eating Community Servings’ meals was correlated with a 16 percent decrease in health care costs. People typically get referred to Community Servings by their doctors, Waters says. Community Servings’ dieticians then work with a client’s care team to make sure the meals are meeting their needs. Community Servings provides enough food for a client’s family—“Knowing that a sick parent is going to give the first meal to their child,” Waters explains—and brings enough food each week for five days’ worth of lunches, dinners, and snacks. Income isn’t a factor in
eligibility for Community Servings, but the organization says that 92 percent of its clients are living in poverty. This statistic shows how many elements can contribute to chronic illnesses, Waters says. Food access and eating habits early in a person’s life can have a large impact on whether they develop chronic illnesses, he explains. Research shows that people of color are significantly more likely to live in food deserts. Sixty-four percent of Community Servings’ clients are people of color. “If you have lived your life struggling financially, or without some of the benefits that the rest of us have, your food choices are much more limited—what you can get in your home, do you live in a food desert—and so you’re often pushed more toward processed foods and less toward healthy fruits and vegetables,” Waters says. “Those are often the things that are going to drive diet-related illnesses, the epidemic of obesity and diabetes, leads to kidney failure, and then on top of that, all the normal aging things.” Community Servings also offers nutrition education to people who are healthy enough to no longer need meals delivered. Rachael Solem, owner of the Irving House and the Harding House in Cambridge, has volunteered with Community Servings, donated to it, and participated in its Pie in the Sky fundraiser for years. She praised the organization’s nutrition education and its food service training, which helps people “facing barriers to employment” get the training they need to work in the food service industry. “Seeing what they’re doing— expanding their services beyond AIDS patients to anyone with lifethreatening illnesses, expanding their service area, and really studying what diets help people get better—everything that they’ve chosen to address they’ve done with great intelligence and care,” Solem says. “They’re my favorite charity because of this.” Photo, top, by Adrianne Mathiowetz: CEO David Waters in the packing and bagging area of Community Servings. Photo, bottom, by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Photos, middle, courtesy of Community Servings.
Layer upon layer of tension drops away CONSIDERING A FIRST-TIME FLOAT? IS THE WATER CLEAN?
Absolutely. Float tank water is generally cleaner, in fact, than most swimming pools or hot tubs because only one person uses them at a time, and they aren’t sweating or wearing sunblock. And we take keeping our water clean very seriously. The main factor keeping the float tank water clean is the high salt concentration itself. Nothing pathogenic can grow in such salty water. Then we sanitize by treating with germ-killing UV light between each client, and back that up by maintaining an active dose of hydrogen peroxide in the tank at all times. Filtering to remove oils and particulates is taken care of by a swimming-pool-sized filter unit. We filter aggressively between every client, turning the whole contents of the tank over three to four times, to keep our water sparkling.
IS THE WATER HOT?
The water is warm but not hot. We keep it as close as we can to skin temperature, 93.5°F. That allows you to float as long as you like without getting chilled or overheated, and it’s neutral for your skin temperature receptors so you won’t even really feel it’s there. If you do get chilled in the tank, or you’re worried you might, let us know. Not everyone runs at exactly the same body temperature, and there are adjustments we can make to let your float be a little warmer if you like.
IS IT CLAUSTROPHOBIC?
Many people have worries of one kind or another, but it’s very rarely a problem. For one, the tank is actually much bigger on the inside than you might think, and you can sit up and move around easily. If you want, you can also leave the door cracked or wide open with a light on — some people find that helpful. The key to remember is you’re in total control of the experience.
WILL I FLOAT? I SINK IN THE OCEAN.
Our tanks contain over 850 lbs of epsom salt, so the water is denser than the Dead Sea. Don’t worry, you’ll definitely float. (Unless your bones have been replaced with adamantium – sorry, Wolverine.)
WHAT IF I DO IT WRONG?
There is no wrong. You’re alone in a private room and no one can judge you. Just do what’s comfortable and let your body relax.
WILL I ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO RELAX?
Your brain will chat at you for the first 30-40 minutes of your float, but then a reflex kicks in, and you drop into a brain wave state very much like the moment between waking and sleeping. With less input to track, your brain resources are free to turn to healing, learning, and memory. We encourage a 90 minute float because we want you to have plenty of time to enjoy the good stuff! Some people experience it as losing time, or dreaming. Some people use the time actively to let their imaginations run free. The possibilities are limitless.
Find our full Q & A at floatboston.com
515 MEDFORD ST (MAGOUN SQUARE) • 844-44-FLOAT scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food! 23
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
k c u r T d o o F New g n i l l o R s t e G m a r g o r P BY EMILY FROST | PHOTOS BY CHRIS MCINTOSH
O
n Taco Party’s first day as a food truck, the stove’s gas valve broke. “I burned my eyebrows off, and it was my first day,” owner Keith Schubert recalls. “From the get-go it was brutal. Just brutal,” he adds. Local operators say that nothing compares to the slog of running a food truck—even owners who also run restaurants, which are infamous for involving long hours and demanding days. Running a food truck means navigating fickle weather, desolate spots, tight kitchens, and mechanical mayhem. But wheeled restaurants have their own appeal, as well: Launching a food truck lets would-be restaurant owners test their concept with a variety of audiences before taking the bigger step of signing a lease or buying a space. “People realized [starting a
24 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
food truck] was a much cheaper way to get a foot in the door if you wanted to have a restaurant,” says Schubert, who launched Taco Party as a truck in 2013 and serves Mexican-inspired vegan tacos. Working in a truck is rarely an owner’s end-goal, he says: “You’d be hard pressed to find a food truck owner who is all about the truck.” Launching a truck first has paid off for Taco Party, though— Schubert drew on its success to open a brick-and-mortar location in Somerville’s Ball Square in 2015. “[Running the truck has] been a huge door into all this,” Schubert says, gesturing to Taco Party’s dining room. Taco Party’s still hitting the pavement, and is one of 16 food trucks that are slated to be part of the City of Cambridge’s food truck pilot this year. The trucks are taking up shifts by North Point Park, City Hall, and Cambridgeport through
the end of October. While food trucks often pop up at Harvard University, MIT, and on other private properties, this is the first city-approved program. The inaugural class includes newbies like Bella Food Truck and The Pull Up, more established vendors like Frozen Hoagies and Taco Party, and big brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Bon Me. Ten truck owners identify as women or minorities, which enhances economic equity in the food industry—a stated goal of
the pilot—according to Christina DiLisio of the city’s Community Development Department (CDD). The city was careful to “assuage fears” when it came to food truck competition with brickand-mortar restaurants, says Lisa Hemmerle, director of Economic Development for the CDD. The department collected menus from restaurants near the three spots to make sure there wasn’t direct conflict with what the trucks were serving, according to Hemmerle.
Photo, bottom: Gangsta Wrap from Rhythm ‘n Wraps.
“I burned my eyebrows off, and it was my first day.”
S
chubert’s food truck journey began in Queens, N.Y., where he secured a beatup truck for $2,500 that was a former delivery vehicle for FedEx and DHL. He got it back to Massachusetts and had a kitchen installed for about $30,000. The truck requires a couple thousand dollars each year to keep it on the road, he says. “The truck is a pain in the ass,” says Schubert. “It’s a kitchen with fragile kitchen equipment bouncing down the road that’s not meant to have that stuff [on it].” Finding success with a food truck comes down to “hustle,” a word both Schubert and Rhythm ’n Wraps truck owner Aaron Cohen use to encapsulate the past five years. “It will chew you up and spit you out,” Schubert says. Rhythm ’n Wraps is serving globally inspired vegan wraps as part of the pilot. Cohen
remembers the early days with a rueful laugh, recalling the dread of “opening the window and seeing a long line.” Cohen and his partner hadn’t realized just how much labor their multi-ingredient wraps demanded, he says. It also took time for Rhythm ’n Wraps to find a loyal base, says Cohen. “We tried Dudley Square [in Roxbury] … It wasn’t good. I remember people being in line being like ‘Vegetarian? What, are you trying to kill us?’” he says. Taco Party faced similar blowback for its vegan food when people who wouldn’t choose to seek out a vegan restaurant stumbled upon the truck. “When you have a vegan menu and people are looking for regular tacos, patience is key,” says Schubert. “You have to be willing to sit there and explain things and field some weird criticism.” Both Schubert and Cohen say preparing food from a truck for customers who expect a fast meal taught them efficiency and speed, an advantage at any brickand-mortar restaurant. Schubert has also transferred the lesson of “keep it simple, stupid” from his truck, where limited space meant a limited menu. A focused menu that doesn’t try to do too much has been part of Taco Party’s success in Ball Square, he says. Ensuring people know where to find your truck, and dealing with the weather—which Cohen calls “the biggest factor”—add more layers of difficulty, he says. Trucks can only park at a location once a week during the pilot program, which makes them harder for customers to track. “No pun intended, food trucks are a super amount of moving parts,” Cohen says. Opening brick-and-mortar locations made operating trucks easier for both Schubert and Cohen, as they could switch their main cooking and staging spaces for their trucks out of shared kitchens—a luxury not available to food trucks without a permanent restaurant. For the first few years, Taco Party rented space at a shared kitchen in Malden for $1,400 a month in order to prepare food ahead of time. Employees had
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FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
Meet the Food Trucks Rolling into Cambridge
to contend with about 20 other food businesses using the space and vendors simultaneously trying to load their trucks, says Schubert. “The last [shared kitchen] we were in, they just jammed it. We were the only vegan business in there and it was horrible,” he recalls. Every day, Schubert woke up at 5:30 a.m. to pick up the truck and get to the communal kitchen by 6:30 or 7 to do prep work. He had to make it to the truck’s designated spot by 10:30 and handle the lunchtime rush with one or two other employees until around 2:30 p.m. The team would then head back to the kitchen to clean up and prep for the next day, park the truck for the night, and get home by
around 7 p.m. or later. Opening a restaurant also meant long days initially, but Schubert says he’s trying not to be “a control freak” and actually go home for dinner. “We’re in a great spot right now. The big question is, do I want to add stress to my life by opening another spot? I think I do, but I’m not positive,” he says.
F
or Sergio Rubio, the owner of the new Bella Food Truck, getting access to Cambridge customers represents a big opportunity. The truck has spots in Cambridgeport and in North Point Park thanks to the pilot. “I’m very excited to start in Cambridge. I’m hoping we get more people out there and get more events and catering,
“You’d be hard pressed to find a food truck owner who is all about the truck.”
FIND THE TRUCKS Location
Time of Day
The Trucks
CAMBRIDGEPORT (Sidney Street at Erie Street)
MONDAY – FRIDAY 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Bon Me (Mon.) Taco Party (Mon.) Rhythm & Wraps (Mon. & Tues.) Amigos Locos (Tues. & Weds.) Bella Food Truck
CENTRAL SQUARE / CITY HALL (795 Massachusetts Avenue)
THURSDAY – SATURDAY 8:00 p.m. to midnight
The Pull Up (Thurs.) Ben & Jerry’s (Fri. & Sat.) The Dining Car (Sat.)
NORTH POINT PARK (Education Street, adjacent to North Point Park)
SATURDAY – SUNDAY 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The Pull Up (Sat.) Frozen Hoagies (Sat. & Sun.) Bella Food Truck
More trucks will be added to the schedule once they receive authorization from the Cambridge License Commission. Source: Cambridge Community Development Department.
26 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
company meetings. We’re hoping to expand more after working in Cambridge,” he says. Bella Food Truck serves American food—an array of sandwiches, burgers, and salads for lunch, and croissants, muffins, fruit, and acai bowls for breakfast, says Rubio. Stationed in Everett since launching in January, the truck did better each week, he says. That’s part of his positive outlook, but he also loves interacting with people from the truck. “It’s much better than running a restaurant where you don’t have much contact with the customers. It’s much more interesting and fun,” he says. Customer engagement is a high point for Cohen as well. From credit card receipts, Cohen has seen that 70 percent of Rhythm ’n Wraps’s orders are from repeat customers, he says. And despite the challenges of unpredictable weather, “We’ve got some people who will come and see us no matter what,” he says. “That’s the best feeling.” It’s too early in the season to tell whether Rhythm ’n Wraps’s Cambridgeport location will turn a profit, but it has potential, Cohen says. But as successful as the pilot program may prove, truck owners need to think bigger, says Schubert. “Don’t rely on the city spots to be your income. You need to have special events, you need to cater,” he cautions. Otherwise, “You’re not going to survive, plain and simple.”
Summer Programs Enrolling Now
MEMBER PROFILE:
BRIAN MARTINS, NK LABS HOW DID YOU END UP AT INDUSTRY LAB? Almost three years ago, I was in a boring corporate job and got recruited to work at NK Labs, a product design consulting firm based at Industry Lab. I came to interview and was so confused – I didn’t expect this to be here! I got lost, I was in a suit... but everyone was cool and friendly. It’s really fun at IL: there are people from other parts of my life, and lots of friendly characters who also know each other in different ways. At NK Labs I get to work on really varied, cutting-edge projects with awesome people.
INDUSTRY-LAB.COM 288 NORFOLK ST. CAMBRIDGE
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TOOL TO USE AT NK? I like arbor presses. And the X-Ray machine. SO, I HEAR YOU LIKE COFFEE? I have been known to walk to Industry Lab on the weekend just to make coffee and to leave. There are a lot of coffee-focused companies here: I worked with Nuli for a brief but intense period, helping them to test their espresso machine, and since then I’ve been a close observer. WHAT’S YOUR DREAM COLLABORATION? Food and technology. It was a lot of fun working on that coffee project for a week.
Summer Creative Arts Workshops Rising grades 6-9 • Six Weeks • July and August Six unique weeks to choose from! Programs available in ceramics, sculpture, painting, illustration, printmaking, book making, fabric manipulation, and screenprinting.
See yourself at Industry Lab, Cambridge’s uniquely flexible, neighborly co-working space? Drop us a line at hi@industry-lab.com.
20 Sacramento Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 www.MaudMorganArts.org | 617.349.6287 MMA is a program of Agassiz Baldwin Community
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scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food! 27
Revolutionary Edibles Somerville’s Revolutionary Clinics has brought a unique culinary spin to the Massachusetts cannabis scene with the addition of award-winning Chef Matt Morello.
and food share, whether it be a complimentary flavor, an aroma, a sensation, or a common terpene profile allows us to create a more refined and holistic experience.
Taking a culinary approach to our cannabis edibles is the same as pairing food to wine. Finding a common thread that both cannabis
Chef Morello is adding new items our menu on a regular basis. You may find these and others on your next visit.
HIBISCUS TEA CHEW A blend from Boston’s MEM Tea imports, the hibiscus tea blend with flavors of citrus, spice, lavender and flowers compliment a wide range of cannabis terpene aromas and flavors. The brilliant ruby red natural color of the tea makes for a stunning hue to the edible.
ORANGE BLOSSOM DARK CHOCOLATE CBD FLOWERS
GORILLA GLUE #4 MANGO TERPENE FRUIT CHEW
Revolutionary Clinics will be creating gourmet chocolates, truffles, pralines and chocolate bars using only the finest chocolates. The aroma of orange with dark chocolate is a natural pairing and is a sweet element to bitter chocolate.
Using Revolutionary’s extracted GG4 terpene extraction, we are pairing the sweet flavor of mango that contains the terpene Myrcene to the pungent sour aroma of GG4 with the cannabis terpene Humulene. Both terpenes share anti-inflammatory medicated effects.
DO YOU HAVE MARIJUA MOROCCAN MINT GREEN TEA CBD CHEW
The health benefits of loose leaf tea is a natural pairing to medicinal applications of CBD in cannabis infused edibles. We use local Boston Tea experts MEM Tea imports custom loose leaf tea blends with herbs, dried flowers, spices and fruits to create very special tea infused products.
FULL RANGE OF MEDICA
WE OFFER A FULL RANGE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA PRODUCTS
My personal goal is to reinvent the possibility of what these edibles can be and what they can do for our patients.” - Chef Matt Morello
YOUR MEDICAL REVOLUTIONARY EDIBLES Revolutionary Clinics is proud to welcome awardANA CARD? DO YOU HAVE YOUR MEDICAL winning, fine-dining Chef Matt Morello to our
ETHIOPIAN HARRAR BLACK MAMBA team. Matt has worked at some of the world’s finest COFFEE CHEW TERPENE CONCORD MARIJUANA CARD?restaurants and has been a stalwart of the Boston GRAPE FRUIT CHEW culinary scene for decades. Artisan coffee and curated
cannabis is a perfect pairing. The coffee guru behind local Karma Coffee roasters in Sudbury scours the earth to only find pristine fair trade coffee beans that they roasted to perfection. Coffee infused edibles to come will include chocolates, lozenges, beverages and bakery items.
The aroma of Black Mamba has a profound grape-like scent. Using Revolutionary’s extracted Black Mamba terpene, we are highlighting the complimentary flavor by using Concord Grape juice. The cannabis terpene profiles of Caryophyllene and Linalool both enhance a floral sweet woody aromas of grapes.
Foodies take note! Chef Morello is bringing his unique experience and impeccable commitment to perfection to all our Revolutionary products. Perfectly mixing chemistry and the culinary arts, Chef Morello is creating never before seen products. Patients will truly enjoy every bite of their medicine.
AL MARIJUANA PRODUCTS FULL RANGE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA PRODUCTS RevolutionaryClinics.org Hours: 11am-4pm 67Sunday: BROADWAY Monday - Saturday: 9am-8pm SOMERVILLE, MA /REVCLINICS
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FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
CAMBRIDGE’S
CANDY MAKING LEGACY By Reena Karasin
THE RISE AND FALL OF CAMBRIDGE’S CANDY EMPIRE
A
hundred years ago, Cambridge smelled bad. Meatpacking in East Cambridge gave off an obvious stench, while the soapmaking factories— then part of the city’s largest industry— emitted their own terrible smell. But if you walked down Main Street, you might have gotten a whiff of candy. Nicknamed “Confectioner’s Row,” Main Street in Kendall Square was the beating heart of Cambridge’s candy-making empire. Where tech and pharmaceutical companies now dominate, once Charleston Chews, Junior Mints, and Fig Newtons shaped Cambridge’s identity. Greater Boston was well set up for a candy boom. With its location on the water, the area had access to sugar and molasses through triangular trade—and therefore, of course, also implicated itself in the slavery that was the backbone of the trading route. The country’s first chocolate mill opened in Dorchester in 1765, according to the Cambridge Historical Society, and a sugar refinery in Cambridge followed suit in 1871. The Boston area pioneered crucial technological advancements, as well—the lozenge cutter, the first candy-making machine, was invented here in 1847, according to the historical society. The lozenge cutter, the ready availability of candy ingredients, and expanding railroads paved the way for independent candy30 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
making companies. While many got their start in Boston, most moved their factories to Cambridge because the land was cheaper. The area’s climate made it an ideal spot for candy-making in a time before air conditioning. Companies manufactured candy 10 months a year, halting only in July and August, according to Jeremy Spindler, owner of Spindler Confections and an amateur historian. A seemingly unrelated law might have contributed to the candy boom as well, Cambridge Historical Commission Archivist Emily Gonzalez proposes. Alcohol was illegal in the city from 1886 until the 1930s, she says, and ingredients like molasses that could’ve made rum might’ve been earmarked for candy instead. And there’s a link between giving up alcohol and craving sweets, according to Psychology Today. “Candy kind of took over in terms of a vice, perhaps,” Gonzalez theorizes. Candy making swelled in Cambridge between the 1850s and the 1950s. The peak was in 1947, when the city was home to 66 candy manufacturing companies, according to the historical society. Candy-making was the city’s second-largest industry, Gonzalez says, and many immigrants worked in the factories. “In 1957, I worked at NECCO’s,” Cambridge resident Bea Harvey says in Advertisements, left, courtesy of Cambridge Historical Commission.
THE CANDY SCENE’S HEAVY HITTERS
FOX CROSS COMPANY
292 MAIN ST. Came to Cambridge: 1931 Famous for: The Charleston Chew What it is today: Fox Cross company was sold to Nabisco in 1980, then to a drug firm, and finally to Tootsie Roll Industries. Today, it is owned by MIT and is being turned into student housing and condos, according to the Cambridge Historical Commission.
SQUIRREL BRAND NUTS
12 BOARDMAN ST. Came to Cambridge: 1903 Famous for: The “Squirrel Nut Zipper,” which the Cambridge Historical Society describes as “a vanilla, caramel, and nut taffy that supposedly was named after an illegal drink during Prohibition.” What it is today: Southern Style Nuts bought Squirrel Brand Nuts and moved it to Texas. Today, the building has been converted into affordable housing.
Liz & Ellie Real Estate You are selling a cherished home or buying your first condo. Being transferred to Greater Boston or starting grad school. Moving on at the end of a
DAGGETT CHOCOLATE
relationship or moving in with a new partner.
400 MAIN ST. Came to Cambridge: 1925 Famous for: Boxed chocolates What it is today: MIT bought the Daggett Chocolate building, which once filled a full block in Kendall Square.
We are patient, experienced, resourceful, and successful. Here to listen carefully, educate you,
and make your buying or selling adventure the best it can be.
NABISCO
(formerly Kennedy Biscuit Factory) 129 FRANKLIN ST. Came to Cambridge: 1869 Famous for: Fig Newtons What it is today: Nabisco still exists, but not at this location. This factory is now home to the Kennedy Biscuit Lofts condominiums. Information from the Cambridge Historical Society.
Your life, our expertise. A team that works. Liz & Ellie Real Estate Residential Specialists 617-444-9644 lizandellie@compass.com | lizandellie.com scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food! 31
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
Cambridge’s Candy Making Legacy
“Crossroads: Stories of Central Square,” a book compiled by the historical commission’s former oral historian, Sarah Boyer. “I packed the Rollos [sic]. They came down the chute, and we’d put ten in a package, tchoo, tchoo, tchoo. Our hands had to be quick.” Cambridge’s candy industry started to decline in the second half of the 20th century as giant national companies—specifically Hershey’s, Mars, and Nestlé—put independent manufacturers out of business. Companies that were more centrally located could distribute widely, and a move to corn syrup deemphasized Cambridge’s access to sugar. But Cambridge’s candy factories weren’t left empty.
SPINDLER CONFECTIONS CARRIES ON THE CANDYMAKING SPIRIT
J CANDY MAKING TODAY NECCO STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE
THE LAST CAMBRIDGE CANDY FACTORY
ECCO (New England Confectionery Co.) once ran the world’s biggest candy factory in Cambridge, according to the Cambridge Historical Society. The company, best known for its NECCO Wafers and Sky Bars, moved to Revere in 2004 and may go out of business, the Boston Globe reports. NECCO is the country’s longest continuously operating candy company, according to the historical society. It got the rights to produce Daggett Chocolate’s recipes, and others’, after the companies closed. The historical society says this collection makes NECCO “somewhat of a retro candy empire.” Biomedical research company Novartis took over NECCO’s Cambridge building after the company’s move to Revere. Transforming the factory into a lab cost $175 million and involved cleaning off “sugar spores in the pores of the walls and sticky residue from the floors,” according to the historical society. NECCO could lay off most of its workforce in May, the Globe reports.
ambridge’s last operating candy factory is shrouded in mystery. Most people don’t know about the factory at 810 Main St. that produces over 15 million Junior Mints every day. The James O. Welch Company founded the factory in 1927, according to the historical society. The company, best known for its Junior Mints, Sugar Daddies, Sugar Mamas, and Sugar Babies, changed hands several times in the second half of the 20th century before ending up with Tootsie Roll Industries in 1993. Candy companies “are notoriously secretive, like something out of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’” the historical society writes on its website. Candy companies often fear that others will steal their recipes. A representative from the factory declined Scout’s request for an interview. The factory is the last remnant of Cambridge’s 20th century candy empire. Cambridge Historical Commission Assistant Director Kit Rawlins points out that when you walk by the factory, sometimes you can smell a hint of the furtive candy making inside.
N Biomedical research company Novartis took over the NECCO building on Massachusetts Avenue, removing sugar spores from the walls and turning the factory into a laboratory. MIT nabbed the former Daggett Chocolate building. Whereas once people might have thought “candy” when they thought of Cambridge, now they think “technology.” “It was really an industry town, there was a lot of innovation. This was the place to be, and it still is that,” Gonzalez says. “I have seen comparisons, like ‘From NECCO to Novartis,’ that change.” The candy boom differs from the plethora of technology and pharmaceutical companies, though, members of the historical commission contend. The companies were local, almost like the proliferating craft breweries, Gonzalez suggests, and they employed working class people. “To me, it seems unique,” Gonzalez says. “I don’t think we’ll see anything like this again.”
32 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
C
eremy Spindler didn’t know he was going to become a professional candy maker. He loved making sweets with his mom as a kid, but moved from Indiana to the Boston area to study music theory. Coming from the midwest, Spindler was impressed by the amount of American history that’s deeply rooted here. He and his husband became “amateur history buffs,” and after they’d started their business, they dove into Cambridge’s candy-making past. Spindler has a “candy museum” in the shop—relics of Boston and Cambridge’s sweet histories adorn the walls of the store, pressing against Spindler’s own creations. Spindler and his husband scour eBay and antique fairs to build their collection. Artistic chocolate boxes, poster advertisements, and vintage jars of vanilla extract form the backdrop of Spindler’s shop. Candy making in Cambridge today is entirely different from what it was in the 20th century. Independent manufacturers have foundered, and the major, national conglomerates eat up the mass market. But in Cambridge, there’s still an appetite for locally made candy that echoes the days when independent companies proliferated. “It’s a pretty different world, but still, it feels like we’re bringing back a little bit of that history, on a much smaller scale that fits the market today,” Spindler says. “We’re able to survive because there’s a turn away from a lot of mass producers, big factories, artificial flavorings, colorings, ingredients you can’t pronounce. So with this turn back to small producers and supporting locally, it helps businesses like mine and a lot of other smaller businesses to be able to thrive in this area.”
Photos, left and middle, by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Photo, right, courtesy of Spindler Confections.
YOUR FUN, NEIGHBORHOOD PUB A few of your neighbors have taken over the space formerly known as On the Hill Tavern. We’ve updated the menu, brushed up the look and welcome you to come by and hang with us.
4 9 9 B R O A D WAY, S O M E R V I L L E
scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food! 33
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
After Detour, Highland Kitchen Owners Welcome Highland Fried to the Family BY EMILY FROST | PHOTOS BY ADRIANNE MATHIOWETZ
T
he story of the new Inman Square restaurant Highland Fried starts and ends with a local chef ’s exalted fried chicken, but a detour where the owners veered from their gut instincts nearly derailed the nowflourishing restaurant. Husband-and-wife restaurateurs Mark Romano and Marci Joy—owners of Somerville’s Highland Kitchen— weren’t planning on taking over a previously owned restaurant, but when they heard in 2016 that Cambridge’s fabled East Coast Grill would close its doors for good, they pounced on the opportunity to revive it. 34 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
Romano and Joy’s iteration of East Coast Grill, with a renovated interior but some of the same beloved spicy dishes, survived less than a year, however, shuttering in December. The duo thought focusing on the food was enough to win back fans, who in the restaurant’s heyday had flocked to East Coast Grill for its “Hell Night,” a marathon of spicy dishes, and its laid-back atmosphere. “We just misjudged that everybody had already said goodbye to East Coast Grill, and then it was closed for a year before we got it back up and running,” says Romano.
Rather than dwell on the loss, just five days later Romano and Joy opened another restaurant, Highland Fried, in the 1271 Cambridge St. space. They could have sold the lease, says Romano, but decided to stay. “We liked the location. We felt like we could do it better our way,” he says. The neighborhood spot, a mash-up of a tiki bar, a barbecue joint, and a fried chicken shack, represents a return to their original vision for a second restaurant. With the success of Highland Kitchen, the gastropub Romano and Joy opened in Somerville in 2007, the couple had been toying
with opening another restaurant for years, they say. Their instinct told them a second restaurant in the area should build on the “Highland” brand. “Originally, we were looking for another offshoot from Highland Kitchen for a while, kind of off-and-on, semi-serious, and then whenever we saw a spot that we thought might work we kind of dug in a little bit. We never really found anything,” says Romano. “We switched gears from our original plan” by buying the 31-year-old East Coast Grill, Joy explains. But a return to their initial idea brought Highland
Kitchen’s “younger sibling” to the table.
A
juke box, a pool table, vintage arcade games, a tiki bar (in a nod to East Coast Grill), and an all-day menu make Highland Fried a place you can sidle up to and end up sticking around in for hours. And that’s part of what’s made the new restaurant a success, Romano and Joy say. Their menu has range. “We’re not just a strict barbecue house,” says Romano. But you should order what they’re famous for, he says: “Three-piece fried chicken dinner with a biscuit and mac and cheese.” “And a nice salad,” Joy adds. Wash that down with the “Pain Killer,” a mix of pineapple and orange juice, coconut, and overproof rum. Cap it off with their Key lime pie, both agree. The couple knew they wanted their new venture to have an
“It’s more like a state of mind, like ‘Let’s all get Dixie Fried,’ ‘Let’s all get Highland Fried,’ meaning, you go out, you have a good time, there’s a little something for everybody, good food, reasonably priced, everybody’s welcome, neighborhood place,” he says, referencing the Carl Perkins song “Dixie Fried.” Joy, who’s not a big meat eater, made sure there were vegetarian and non-fried foods on the menu. But leading with a guilty pleasure has worked, they say. “Look, everybody loves fried food—everybody wants to pretend like they don’t,” says Romano. “You know fried food is decadent, it’s a treat, it’s like ice cream, it’s like pizza,” he adds.
E
ast Coast Grill made its name in part due to its casual atmosphere—excellent food didn’t have to be served on a white table cloth, former owner Chris Schlesinger proved.
“MOST BARBECUE PLACES IN THE SOUTH SERVE FRIED CHICKEN, BUT I THINK OUR TWIST ON IT IS THAT WE’RE A FRIED CHICKEN PLACE THAT SERVES BARBECUE AS WELL. WE KIND OF FLIPPED IT.” obvious tie to Highland Kitchen and draw on its reputation, hence the “Highland” part of the new spot’s name. However, “We didn’t want to open up another Highland Kitchen,” says Romano. “We wanted to take one of the good things about Highland Kitchen and expand on it a little bit.” So Romano decided to build Highland Fried’s menu around his “really popular” fried chicken, which began as a Monday night special at Highland Kitchen. “Most barbecue places in the South serve fried chicken, but I think our twist on it is that we’re a fried chicken place that serves barbecue as well,” says Romano. “We kind of flipped it.” Romano thinks the restaurant’s name conjures a relaxed mood and invites people to indulge in foods that would be more of an ordeal to make at home.
That vibe continues in Highland Fried. Romano and Joy believe in keeping things down-toearth, and they argue that creating an atmosphere is just as important as creating good food. It’s a lesson they learned at Highland Kitchen, a place that’s “welcoming to all walks of people,” says Romano. And just like at Highland Kitchen, the decor is a work-inprogress, a mish-mash of found objects, vintage memorabilia like records and a 3-D painting, and gifts including a taxidermied wild boar head from the Everglades. Highland Fried plays to Inman’s “funky” side, especially with the tiki bar, Romano says. “That’s where the kind of funky Inman Square thing comes into play, where it’s like, ‘What does that really have to do with fried chicken or barbecue? A tiki place?’ But that’s why I like it, because it’s different. Why not?” says Romano.
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FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
g n i t a e y h t l a g n e i t h u o r Sp BY REENA KARASIN PHOTOS BY ADRIANNE MATHIOWETZ
CITYSPROUTS BRINGS THE OUTDOORS INTO LOCAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
“S
o pretty,” a kindergartener at the King School exclaims as her class troops onto the school’s rooftop garden on a warm April morning. She jumps up and down several times. “Finally, we get to go to the garden!” CitySprouts Garden Coordinator Solomon Montagno asks which of the students has tried spinach. Most of them have, but only about half like eating it. Today the kindergarteners
36 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
will get the chance to plant spinach, Montagno tells the class, and then taste leaves from mature plants that have been growing in the garden’s hoop house. “Those of you who don’t like it, hopefully when we taste it fresh, it will change your mind,” he says. The lesson is organized by CitySprouts, a Cambridgebased nonprofit that works with elementary schools districtwide to teach kids about gardening, healthy eating, and sustainability. Jane Hirschi helped found CitySprouts in 2001 when her daughter was a young student in the district. When Hirschi came in to help in the classroom one day, she was surprised to learn that many of the kids were unfamiliar with common produce like tomatoes. “So many of her peers, these foods were foreign to them. They
hadn’t eaten them, they hadn’t touched them,” she says. “The teachers were really excited about how the kids were responding … Before I knew it, [I was] wheeling a cart around, bringing this garden and food experience to kids and watching the teachers use it.” The program snowballed from there, according to Hirschi. It’s now CitySprouts’s mission to give students from all different socioeconomic backgrounds the chance to learn about and have access to healthy foods. “Our teachers here really pushed us to think about the garden as a leveling of the playing field for their really diverse students, talking about how the garden is a place for kids who might have [emigrated] from an agrarian society and culture to feel more comfortable than any other place in the school, a place
that invites children who have radically different experiences outside of school, like some of our Cambridge students do, to have some common experience that they can talk about, they can write about, they can build a vocabulary around,” Hirschi says. CitySprouts works with kids ages 3 to 14 to supplement what they’re already learning in school. Rather than coming in with their own curriculum, CitySprouts eductators work with teachers to develop programming. Gardening lines up well with many math and science topics, according to Hirschi, who calls the gardens “outdoor, edible learning classrooms.” Classes have met the math standard of measuring change over time by planting and tracking pea growth—an experiment that ended in a pea party celebration when it was time
to harvest them. Teachers can explain topics like perimeters and volume in a way that’s “very real for kids,” she says. “I am on a mission, maybe I would even say a crusade, to change how people think narrowly about science,” Hirschi says. “It’s not only beakers and labs and lab coats and biotech, it’s also the outdoors, it’s the natural world, and it’s food systems.” Ninety-six percent of
“I AM ON A MISSION, MAYBE I WOULD EVEN SAY A CRUSADE, TO CHANGE HOW PEOPLE THINK NARROWLY ABOUT SCIENCE.” teachers said “that the garden helps them create meaningful hands-on learning opportunities for their students,” according to responses CitySprouts received from 200 teachers. “It really gets the kids thinking about where their food comes from,” kindergarten teacher Jennifer Orr says as the children line up to plant spinach seedlings. “There’s a salad bar downstairs, and the kids just absolutely love it. And they do point out things, they’re like, ‘Oh, we planted that!’” In a place as urban as Cambridge, agriculture can be a remote concept for kids. “That’s one reason why we’ve been able to pitch these edible
learning gardens in an urban place,” Hirschi says. “For a lot of these kids, this is the [only] chance they have to grow food at all. We have kids, fifth and sixth graders, every year, there are some new kids in the program who’ve never put their hands into the dirt before.” CitySprouts has also proved a valuable tool for socialemotional learning, according to Hirschi, promoting perseverance, teamwork, and behavior management. The program has been especially valuable for students with special needs or who are learning English as a second language, she says. Seventynine percent of the teachers CitySprouts surveyed said “that the garden experience makes curriculum more accessible to special education learners.” CitySprouts also runs after-school and summer programs for middle schoolers, both of which are tuition-free. It’s the first day since the fall that the kindergarteners have gotten to spend much time in the garden, but CitySprouts doesn’t halt during the winter months. CitySprouts educators and school teachers work on cooking, growing windowsill plants, and sorting seeds when it’s too cold to grow outdoors. Montagno says he’s made tea in a class that was studying Japan and made Vietnamese spring rolls when a class was learning about Vietnam. As Montagno hands each child a spinach leaf, they exclaim observations. “It smells like a leaf!” one says. “It looks like a leaf!” another responds. “It is a leaf!” a third pronounces. A fourth child notices that the spinach has veins, and tells the rest of the class that the veins are for sucking up water. The kindergarteners try the spinach all together. When Montagno asks who liked the spinach, all but one raise their hands.
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38 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
VOT E O N L I N E AT S C O U TC A M B R I D G E . C O M
VOTING IS YOUR CIVIC DUTY. (But it’s also a lot of fun!)
Got opinions? Good. Nobody knows Cambridge like the people that call it home—that’s why we’re once again asking you to shout out the best our city has to offer. Nominations are open through June 3. To submit your nominations, visit scoutcambridge.com/vote or mail this paper ballot to Banks Publications, 519 Somerville Ave. #314, Somerville, MA 02143. Finalists will be announced in our next issue, out in early July. Make your voice heard!
Best of Wellness HOLISTIC HEALTH SERVICE MASSAGE OVERALL GYM YOGA STUDIO DENTIST DOCTOR ACUPUNCTURE
Best of Beauty BEAUTY CARE HAIR SALON HAIRCUT HAIR COLOR BARBERSHOP MANICURE FACIAL
ORTHODONTIST
TATTOO OR PIERCING STUDIO
EYE DOCTOR
EYEBROW SERVICES
DERMATOLOGIST PSYCHOTHERAPIST PHYSICAL THERAPY OR PHYSICAL THERAPIST
Best Arts & Entertainment EVENTS SPACE MUSIC VENUE COMEDY SHOW OR CLUB ART GALLERY MOVIE THEATER
Best Shopping BIKE SHOP RECORD SHOP BOOKSTORE GARDEN SUPPLIES EYEWEAR SHOP HARDWARE STORE KITCHEN SUPPLIES THRIFT OR VINTAGE SHOP MEN’S CLOTHING
PRINT SHOP OR DESIGN FIRM
WOMEN’S CLOTHING
LOCAL MEDIA
KIDS’ SHOP
LOCAL TOUR
GIFT SHOP
VISUAL ARTIST
HOME DECOR
PERFORMING ARTS GROUP
FRAMING
KID-FRIENDLY ENTERTAINMENT
Continued on next page
VOT E O N L I N E AT S C O U TC A M B R I D G E . C O M
Best Food
Best Drinks
RESTAURANT OVERALL
WINE SHOP
RESTAURANT IN CENTRAL SQUARE
LIQUOR STORE
RESTAURANT IN AREA FOUR/ CAMBRIDGEPORT
BARTENDER
RESTAURANT IN HARVARD SQUARE RESTAURANT IN EAST CAMBRIDGE RESTAURANT IN PORTER SQUARE RESTAURANT IN HURON VILLAGE RESTAURANT IN INMAN SQUARE RESTAURANT IN KENDALL SQUARE RESTAURANT IN NORTH CAMBRIDGE
BARISTA BREWERY OR DISTILLERY BEER PROGRAM COCKTAILS
Best Services TUTORING COMPANY
BAR EATS
PRESCHOOL OR DAYCARE
BAKERY
COMMUNITY CLASSES
VEGAN OR VEGETARIAN
INSURANCE AGENCY
CHEF
REAL ESTATE AGENCY
SERVICE STAFF
ARCHITECT OR ARCHITECTURE FIRM
SERVER CATERING KID-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT COFFEE SHOP OR CAFE BUTCHER OUTDOOR DINING BREAKFAST BRUNCH SWEET TOOTH SATISFIER
INTERIOR DESIGN BANK OR CREDIT UNION MOVING COMPANY PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO FLORIST DOG WALKING PET GROOMING MECHANIC
TAKEOUT PLACE TO SPLURGE CHEAP EATS FOOD TRUCK GOURMET OR SPECIALTY SHOP PIZZA BURGER SUSHI TACOS ITALIAN FOOD AMERICAN FOOD ASIAN FOOD GREEK FOOD MIDDLE EASTERN FOOD LATIN AMERICAN FOOD
Wildcards NEIGHBORHOOD TO EAT IN NEIGHBORHOOD TO SHOP IN NEIGHBORHOOD TO WORK IN NEIGHBORHOOD TO LIVE IN DATE NIGHT SPOT PLACE TO PEOPLE WATCH NEW BUSINESS ECO-FRIENDLY BUSINESS LATE NIGHT HAUNT
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Make your appointment today! 617-665-1305
Primary care for Every Body As the population of Somerville continues to grow and change, so do we. CHA is bringing the care you need closer to where you live or work: • Evening hours (until 8:00 pm, Mon.-Thurs.)
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CALENDAR MAY 18
| MUSIC
AROUND HEAR SPRING GALA 8 p.m., $15-100; free for SHA residents and staff 149 Broadway, Somerville Around Hear, a free chamber music series that is based in the Somerville Housing Authority Mystic River Development, is celebrating its first full season with a concert fundraiser. The gala will include a “wacky piece” composed by Around Hear founder Marji Gere and her husband, Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat, and a dessert reception. The fundraiser will support future Around Hear programming.
MAY 18
| COMEDY
MAY 19
| RUNNING
Photo courtesy of East Somerville Main Streets.
MAY 27
JUNE 2
Photo courtesy of Cambridge Arts Council.
Photo by Glen Kulbako.
| THEATER
T’S 30TH ANNUAL ELEGANZA EXTRAVAGANZA 7:30 p.m., $25 OBERON “Circus. Drag. Burlesque. Dance. Song. Drama. Is it one of OBERON’s most ambitious shows?” Aerialist TtheAmazing has rounded up some of his favorite Boston-area artists for a performance that will “thrill, titillate, excite, astound, and move you.”
JUNE 9
| BOOKS
JUNE 13
| FOOD
TASTE OF SOMERVILLE 5 to 8 p.m., $50 Nathan Tufts Park The annual chance to give your tastebuds a tour of the city is back this June. Last year, Taste drew more than 75 food and drink providers and over 1,500 people. Visitors can expect art installations and music in addition to tons of food at this outdoor event. Proceeds from Taste of Somerville will go to the Walnut Street Center.
JUNE 22-24 Photo by Kyle Klein.
| ARTS
CAMBRIDGE ARTS RIVER FESTIVAL 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Free East Cambridge waterfront (DCR Cambridge Parkway, Lechmere Canal Park) Cambridge Arts is expecting about 150,000 people to attend this annual outdoor arts celebration, which will offer people the chance to watch “staged and roving performances,” buy art from vendors, and even try their own hand at making art.
| DANCE
FESTIVAL OF US, YOU, WE, & THEM Times and prices vary The Dance Complex The Dance Complex considers itself “a home for dance of all forms and for all people,” and this festival is its way of celebrating that mission. The dance studio is still hammering out the details for this festival, but promises it will include classes, presentations, and performances. Last year, the festival included a flash mob, an illumination show, and outdoor dancing.
JUNE 24
Photo by Chris McIntosh.
42 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
| OUTDOORS
SOMERSTREETS: CARNAVAL Throughout the day, Free Lower Broadway (McGrath Highway to Pennsylvania Avenue) Every summer Somerville hosts several SomerStreets festivals, interpretations on the Open Streets concept where streets are temporarily closed to vehicular traffic in favor of outdoor celebrations and activities. The first SomerStreets theme of the year is Carnaval. Last year’s Carnaval event included parkour, short films, craft making, and musical performances.
READER PROM 7:30 p.m., $35-100 Davis Square VFW, 371 Summer St., Somerville Wish that at your high school prom an Author and Illustrator had reigned instead of a Prom King and Queen? Or that your date had been a book? Good news: Porter Square Books is making sure you have the prom of your dreams and that you can support a good cause in the process. You can expect dancing, music, and a cash bar at this book prom, plus well-known authors as “chaperones.” Book donations will go to Y2Y and proceeds will support the Porter Square Books Foundation.
THE OREGON FAIL: YOU HAVE DIED OF COMEDY 7 p.m., $15 The Rockwell Based on the popular but largely impossible-to-beat computer game “The Oregon Trail,” this “improvised period comedy” comes out of exploring “gamecreated danger.” This show debuted at The Rockwell last year, and has since had several sold-out runs at ImprovBoston.
HAPPY SOLES AMERICAN FRESH 5K 11 a.m., Free Starts at 490 Foley Street Think running and beer is a match made in heaven? Lucky for you, every month Somerville Brewing Company holds a 5K run out of its American Fresh Brewhouse in Assembly Row. When you get back from running “there will be plenty of water, snacks, and beer” available for purchase.
JUNE 3
| FOOD
LOCAL FLAVOR 3 to 7 p.m., doors open at 2:30 p.m., $75 Cambridge School of Culinary Arts We’re getting together the people we featured in this issue and other culinary trailblazers in Somerville and Cambridge for a day of food and fundraising. You can expect demos and samples from your favorite local restaurants, wine and beer tastings, and even a meal prep kit challenge. This event will raise money for Community Servings and Food For Free.
HEALTH & WELLNESS DIRECTORY 255 Elm St #302, Somerville 617-684-4000 Leader in clinical bodywork and therapeutic massage since 1997.
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180 Highland Ave., Somerville 617-864-6111 Dr. Talmo provides a personalize approach to dental care. Come enjoy a comfortable dental experience in her newly renovated office space.
55 Broadway, Somerville 774-517-5195, medwellhealth.net Medical Marijuana Certifications to fit your needs, in your home or ours.
617-665-1000, challiance.org A Harvard Teaching Hospital that offers primary care, specialty and emergency services, and more.
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617-733-8937 CambridgeRealEstate.com SomervilleRealEstate.com Making your next move a reality.
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67 Broadway, Somerville 617-213-6006, revolutionaryclinics.org Professional, well-respected medical marijuana clinic offering natural solutions to a wide variety of illnesses and chronic conditions.
This is a very rare opportunity to own a single family home with garage on one of the largest lots in Davis Square . The Victorian-era house has 4 bedrooms and one and a half baths on two levels. The detached garage
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1493 Cambridge Street, Cambridge 24-hour emergency department Lovely Agassiz 2 bedroom/2 bath condo with private porch on a pleasant side street between Harvard and Porter Squares. Near great shops, restaurants, and Harvard campus. 617-665-1000 ~ $349,000 challiance.org/cambridge Roomy Ten Hills 2 bedroom/1 bath condo with charming details, reonvated kitchen, parking, ~ $519,000
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LIZ & ELLIE REAL ESTATE AT COMPASS 617-444-9644 lizandellie.com Your Life. Our Expertise. Together, let’s find a home.
~ $229,000 Near Medford Sq., this 1 bedroom/ 1 1/2 bath condo is in an elevator building with parking.
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At 11 CHA care centers in Cambridge and Somerville 617-665-1305 challiance.org/primarycare
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BE. IN UNION YOGA
In the heart of Davis Sq., this 2 bedroom/1 bath condo in a brick building has a parking space.
440 Somerville Ave., Somerville 617-623-9642, beinunion.com Empowering classes, workshops, Renovated 1 bedroom/1 bath near Prospect Hill with central air, in-unit laundry, private porch, and shared yard. trainings and retreats helping you build a practice to fuel your life. Equidistant from Davis and Porter Squares, this 3 bedroom/1.5 bath condo on two levels has in-unit laundry, 2 porches, private yard, and exclusive driveway for 3 cars.
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scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food! 43
LOCAL SHOPPING DIRECTORY MAGPIE
416 Highland Ave., Somerville 617-623-3330, magpie-store.com
Unique jewelry, apothecary, art, edibles, housewares and more!
MAGPIE KIDS
95 Elm St., Somerville 617-764-4110, magpiekids.com Modern gifts for modern kids. Clothes, toys, books and more!
STINKY’S KITTENS & DOGGIES TOO
110 Bristol Rd., Somerville, 617-623-0265 stinkyskittens-doggiestoo.com Organic, all-natural & eco-friendly products. Delivery available. Grooming and in-home cat & exotic pet sitting.
SPECIALTY FOOD DIRECTORY SALT & OLIVE
1160 Mass Ave, Cambridge 857-242-4118, saltandolive.com Unique specialty food and wine shop located in Harvard Square, featuring unusual ingredients, flavors, and gifts from around the culinary world.
CARAMEL FRENCH PATISSERIE
235 Elm St., Somerville 617-996-6802, caramelpatisserie.com Authentic French pastry shop by master chef Dimitri Vallier and sister Sophie.
RESTAURANT DIRECTORY AMELIA’S CUCINA
1137 Broadway, Somerville 617-776-2800, ameliascucina.com Pizza, pasta, sandwiches, burgers, and appetizers prepared with care using only the freshest ingredients.
THE DARK HORSE PUBLIC HOUSE
499 Broadway, Somerville 617-629-5302, thedarkhorsepub.com Your friendly, neighborhood pub... with great food.
FRANK’S STEAK HOUSE PETSI PIES
Multiple locations, petsipies.com Inventive baked fare on Cambridge St. and Putnam Ave in Cambridge and Beacon St. in Somerville.
2310 Mass. Ave., Cambridge 617-661-0666, frankssteakhouse.com Prepare to be wowed... by our quality... by our price.
JOSE’S MEXICAN RESTAURANT PORTER SQUARE BOOKS
25 White St., Cambridge 617-491-2220, portersquarebooks.com Porter Square Books is your fiercely independent source for great books, magazines, fun gifts and more.
4GOODVIBES
483 Somerville Ave., Somerville 617-764-0234, 4goodvibes.bigcartel.com Not your typical gift shop! More than 10,000 items from 125+ artists. Plus multiple unique hands-on workshops.
THE JUICE UNION
23 Bow St., Union Sq., Somerville thejuiceunion.com Fresh juices, healthy smoothies, nitro lattes and hearty salads.
131 Sherman St., Cambridge 617-354-0335, josesmex.com Authentic, homemade, Central Mexican Cuisine. Patio, private party room and full bar. Catering also available.
LA POSADA RESTAURANT
505 Medford St., Somerville 617-776-2049, laposadasomerville.com Somerville’s spot for delicious, hand-crafted Latin American cuisine.
LEONE’S SUB AND PIZZA
292 Broadway, Somerville 617-776-2511, leonessubandpizza.com Pizza and subs fit for a king since 1954. Now being delivered by Dash!
44 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
MASS AVE DINER
906 Mass. Ave., Cambridge 617-864-5301, massavediner.com Since 2010 Serving Killer Brunch and Diner Fare. Now Open Late and Serving Craft Beer and Wine!
MIKE’S FOOD & SPIRITS
PIKLIZ
288 Broadway, Somerville 617-625-6255, piklizint.com Fresh and affordable. Stop by for our all-day $5 chicken and rice special.
FOUNDRY ON ELM
255 Elm St., Somerville 617-628-9999, foundryonelm.com Trendy brasserie-style gastropub for refined pub eats, craft beer and whiskey-centric spirit list.
THE INDEPENDENT
9 Davis Square, Somerville 617-628-2379, mikesondavis.com Pizza, Pasta, Seafood, Burgers and more! Dine in our casual dining room open to Davis Square or watch a game at the bar!
TACO PARTY
711 Broadway, Somerville 617-764-0683, tacopartytruck.com Building tacos from the ground up.
75 Union Sq., Somerville 617-440-6022, theindo.com Warm neighborhood spot offering draft beer, craft cocktails and elevated bar bites, including oysters.
MIX-IT RESTAURANT
ZUZU RESTAURANT
BRASS UNION
MODELO’S MARKET CAFE
SALOON
TUPELO
1678 Mass. Ave., Cambridge 617-547-0212, mixitrestaurant.com Unique selection of traditional Asian specialties from sushi to noodles and grilled dishes.
501 Medford St., Somerville 617-625-2868, modelosmarket.com Full breakfast cooked to order, lunch and dinner buffet, sandwiches, pastries, coffee bar and custom cakes.
OLDE MAGOUN’S SALOON 518 Medford St., Somerville magounssaloon.com, 617-776-2600 Local bar featuring 28 lines of craft beer, cask ale and delicious food.
OPA GREEK YEEROS
378 Highland Ave., Somerville 617-718-2900, opayeeros.com Authentic Greek cuisine and a lively atmosphere. Expanding soon!
474 Mass. Ave., Cambridge 617-864-3278 mideastoffers.com/zuzu Serving Mama Sater’s recipes for more than 40 years.
255 Elm St., Somerville 617-628-4444, saloondavis.com Refined, speakeasy-style pub known for its beer and whiskey options also serving elevated bistro eats.
RIVER BAR
661 Assembly Row, Somerville 617-616-5561, river-bar.com Hip spot for eclectic street food with a covered patio featuring fire pits and Mystic River views.
70 Union Sq., Somerville 617-623-9211, brassunion.com American tavern in a former police HQ with cocktails, DJs and a patio with giant Jenga and lawn games.
1193 Cambridge St., Cambridge 617-868-0004, tupelo02139.com Tupelo serves up a new take on old favorites creating its own brand of comfort food with a southern drawl.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR OUR FOOD EVENT!
JUNE 24
3 TO 7 P.M.
(DOORS OPEN AT 2:30 P.M.)
AT CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL OF CULINARY ARTS 2020 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, CAMBRIDGE
scoutcambridge.com | Food, Glorious Food! 45
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PHOTO CONTESTS
FOOD PHOTO CONTEST Give your favorite Somerville or Cambridge restaurant a shout-out and you could win a gift card to that restaurant! HOW IT WORKS:
1. Take a picture of your go-to dish with Scout’s “Food, Glorious Food!” Issue at your favorite Somerville or Cambridge restaurant. 2. Email the photo to scout@scoutmagazines.com and post the picture on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and be sure to tag us. 3. W e’ll pick our favorite photo to be printed in our next magazine and the lucky winner will receive a gift card to the restaurant in their photo!
SUMMER PHOTO CONTEST Sponsored by Irving House and Harding House
Wherever your travels take you this summer, be sure to take your Scout along! Take a photo with Scout on your vacation and at the end of the summer we’ll highlight the farthest trip, the most creative photo, and the funniest submission. HOW IT WORKS:
1. Take a picture with a copy of Scout on your summer vacation or enjoying your favorite summer activities. 2. Email the photo to scout@scoutmagazines.com and post the picture on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and be sure to tag us. 3. Each of our three winners will win $50 and a night stay at Irving House or Harding House. More prizes to be announced in next edition, out in July.
CHARMING COMFORT, CAMBRIDGE CONVENIENCE
FRIENDLY ACCOMMODATIONS IN THE HEART OF CAMBRIDGE SINCE 1945
We are available 8 am to 10 pm daily at 617-876-2888 to answer questions and help with reservations.
We are available 24 hours a day at 617-547-4600 to answer questions and help with reservations.
www.harding-house.com • Breakfast buffet with a daily home-cooked special • All day coffee, tea, snacks
www.irvinghouse.com • Internet – Guest computer/printer • TV – Free Local Phone Calls
• Limited Off-street Parking FREE with DIRECT BOOKING • Convenient Cambridge location
• Guest fridge & microwave in dining room • Non-smoking
AUTHENTIC, HOMEMADE, CENTRAL MEXICAN CUISINE
Owner, Carlos Mendez and his team welcome you to Jose’s
JOSE PARK’S FREE ING!
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617-354-0335 • JOSESMEX.COM 131 SHERMAN ST., CAMBRIDGE
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Jose’s is a daily celebration of Mexico’s vibrant history and culture. Centuries of conquest, independence and revolution have left us with a diverse culinary heritage and a generous appetite for festivity. At Jose’s you will find authentic, homemade, Central Mexican cuisine in the warm, gracious atmosphere of a Mexican country estate. Our bar features a wide selection of tequilas and margaritas, as well as a unique menu. We were raised on home cooked food prepared from fresh local ingredients, according to generations of family tradition. We look forward to sharing that heritage with you.
Our patio is open and we have a private party room upstairs. Yes! We can cater your event.
Now Accepting Applications for Fall
Ignite Your Culinary Passion! PROFESSIONAL CHEF’S AND PASTRY PROGRAMS
For the serious enthusiasts and future or current culinary professionals, our next 16 and 37-week programs in culinary and pastry arts start Thursday, September 6. Enjoy full use of our commercial-grade, fully-stocked kitchens Benefit from small, intimate classes for better learning Make the most of lifetime placement services and career support
RECREATIONAL PROGRAMS
From technique-driven series to more easy-going date night classes, we have something for everyone. Learn more and sign up on our online calendar. Regional Series Vegetarian Date Nights Teen Classes And More! Find a class on our online calendar and sign up for a culinary adventure!
PRIVATE AND CORPORATE EVENTS
Planning a birthday party, bachelor or bachelorette outing, family reunion, or staff outing? Make it one for the books with a private cooking event! All events are customizable, starting with a minimum of 8 people.
Feed your Body. Feed your Mind. Feed your Soul. Give us a call to start planning your next culinary adventure!
www.CambridgeCulinary.com 2020 MASSACHUSETTS AVE | CAMBRIDGE, MA 02140 | 617.354.2020
JUNE 24•3 TO 7 P.M. (DOORS OPEN AT 2:30 P.M.)
AT CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL OF CULINARY ARTS BENEFITTING:
COMMUNITY SERVINGS & FOOD FOR FREE
@CambridgeCulinary
@theCSCA
@CambridgeCulinary
6 COOKING DEMOS 1 FOOD TRUCK LOTS OF BEER AND WINE TASTINGS & 1 FINAL COOK OFF COMPETITION BETWEEN SELECTED EVENT ATTENDEES
TICKETS $75. GET YOURS AT: TINYURL.COM/LOCALFLAVOR18