December 2017, Boston MA and surrounding places. Openings. Closings.

sorry, a li’l late this month on this one due to the slight chaos of my move back to the state. But I’m back now, so tell me–who’s rolling out the red carpet? Who’s drawing down the blinds?

I noticed that the Somerville Bread Company was no longer in the storefront on Medford Street, Somerville a few days ago. And then yesterday, noticed that they are in the old Roma Bread space on Somerville Avenue, Somerville, just catty-corner from Target [almost at the intersection with the McGrath Highway.]

Their website gives new “Walk Up” Hours to buy their bread at:
201 Somerville Ave, Somerville
Thursday and Friday - 2pm to 6pm
Saturday - Sunday - 8am to 12pm

Has anyone actually tried their bread? Is it any good?

Also found on their website:
"The current bakery/retail space at 415 Medford St. is soon to become home to Neighborhood Produce, a local start-up by Matt Grey. In addition to fresh local produce, Matt will stock SBC bread for our loaf-loving neighbors. "

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Moody’s Back Bay has an opening date: Monday, December 11. Nice write-up here: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2017/12/04/moodys-deli-back-bay-boston/

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I’ve tried their bread (I think it’s a country white) at Boston Public Market and it’s solid. Really interested in trying their 3 day cold-fermented baguette or the bagels; the FB pictures look great. Would love to hear about other people’s experience as well!

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Snappy Kitchen has opened in Davis in the former iYo space. Their menu is mostly ramen with a few other items thrown in. Looked mostly full on a walk by just now. I’m not sure what the plan is regarding the Snappy Ramen location around the corner, which still appeared open.

Taipei Taiwan right across from the Somerville Theatre is “closed for renovations.” Here’s hoping that means something more noteworthy appears in that space.

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Our Fathers Deli in Allston from the Franklin/Citizen group will be opening on Tuesday the 12th (as announced by the chef’s Instagram).

BTW, I’m part of the opening bar team there!

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This has an interesting back story- a focus on B grade produce & reducing food waste that I read about in a local magazine then promptly forgot about til now. Anyone been in?

They do not appear to be open yet.

The events sections of their facebook page listed Nov. 21 as the grand opening. Interesting concept.

I’d mentioned their bagels in my bagel roundup in the “excellent bagels” thread. I found them overly dense and bready.

The bread used to be very good, except that their baguettes (if I recall correctly) were also on the heavy side. They did much better with seeded breads, etc., that benefit from being dense. When they were a smaller operation, they had daily specials that were unusual and excellent – a cardamom bread on one day, a cashew-turmeric on another, etc. I snagged these either at the source or from Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge. But, FK stopped carrying them after (according to FK) SBC began to demand they buy in greater volume than a few loaves/day. Their website no longer lists the daily specials, or indeed any of their breads, so I don’t know what their current offerings are.

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Thanks for the report! I somehow missed the mention in the bagel thread.

I got off work early on Friday and went to visit their bread window; got there 5 minutes late but a very nice man still answered. I actually wanted to try their country bread but it was out, so got a bacon sage biscuit, two everything bagels, and a baguette. I didn’t see the daily special, but I also felt bad for being late and didn’t want to take too long. He mentioned that they may stop selling at BPM in the future, since Public Market requires them to be there everyday and they just don’t have the resources to do so.

The biscuit (3 for $7) is HUGE and very flavorful; it also has cheese bits in there. I split it with DH and wished there was more to warm up in the toaster; will definitely be getting more of those. The everything bagel also has good flavor, I didn’t find it too dense, but wish it has a thicker/chewier skin. The inside is a little bready but is much better than a lot of the mass-produced bagels. It’ll do in a pinch for me.

The baguette has almost a sourdough taste, probably due to the 3-day cold fermentation they do, but it’s quite pleasant for me. The color is on the light side, and the inside sadly doesn’t have the good open crumb I like; had some slices with cheese and will probably turn the rest into bruschetta or croutons. Will keep an eye out next time for those seeded specials!

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you mean taipei tokyo?

Hmm…to me, in the bagel lexicon, “dense” and “bready” connote 2 different/almost polar opposing qualities. I seek density in my bagels and shy away from bready bagels. But that might just be in my foggy, gluten-overloaded brain.

Thanks to @fooddabbler and @sunnyday for these reviews of the Somerville Bread specimens.

I do agree with you. The SBC bagels are breadily dense (or, at least were, a few months ago – I think their baked goods are evolving), rather than bagelly-dense, if you get what I mean.

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There is a “coming soon” sign at Taipei Taiwan, for Mongolian food. Sounds promising!

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Where is Taipei Taiwan?

Yes, Taipei Tokyo, not Taipei Taiwan. That’s how little I frequented it…

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Oops, thanks for the correction. I never did go there, just passed it regularly.

My mistake. It’s Taipei Tokyo, which is across from the Davis Square T station on Holland.

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from the No Great Loss Department, the New Yummy Hut on Highland in Somerville is gone. (Note: I remember a very brief 6 month or period at the old Yummy Hut–not the Old Yummy Hut, but the Yummy Hut–from when I lived in this neighborhood where they somehow hired a good chef and the food there was actually good for a short while. That was 15 years ago, though).

No indication of what’s coming. Handmade signs in marker that just say “Closed 11/30/2017” and “Coming Soon”.