That’s sad - it is/was a quite unique restaurant
I am also wondering if we will soon see many, many more restaurants closing soon with possible tariffs and deportations looming (I know it is political but it would have huge implications for the food industry (restaurants, produce, meat etc)
I’d wanted to go there for years, but your post made me at least order delivery from them yesterday. As someone said elsewhere (@honkman perhaps?) it’s a decent version of that type of cuisine (my experience with which is limited). Their pork pelmeni were excellent, both flavorful and juicy. We wished we’d ordered more. Both the borscht (nicely sour) and the chicken soup were good, the chicken soup perhaps better. The filling in the chicken & mushroom crepes was bland, but the crepes themselves very good. The cabbage pie could have done with more cabbage, but the dessert sour-cherry pie didn’t let us down in that regard. It was terrific reheated on a griddle, then eaten with vanilla ice cream. It’s a narrower cuisine than say Sichuan or Spanish or South Indian (sour cream was the condiment offered with every dish) but it was still an enjoyable meal. It’s a pity they’re having to close shop.
Now that I’ve been there, I’d correct that by saying neither is physically in the other. They’re side-by-side. If you walk in the P&L entrance you see their pastries in front of you, but if you turn even a few inches right you’re smack in the bookstore. There’s no dividing line. The pastries themselves are the usual excellent Forge offerings. I got a chocolate croissant and a cardamom bun (more twisty croissant than bun), both of which I’m partial to. The one nod to Iggy’s that I saw was a plateful of their cranberry-pecan rolls (which I also like).
I stopped in a short while later, after my 'flu shot at the CVS, to see how Cafe Zing was doing. They’ve expanded their seating to occupy the whole storefront, and they still have bookshelves with reading material on them, keeping the bookstore vibe going.
Their instagram indicates the market will sell “frozen eats”; I wonder what the Bengali food will be. I loved their kathi rolls but am not sure whether those would be sold frozen.
A joint possibly related to the extraordinary Momma’s Grocery down the street:
Antojitos Latinos #2 (Powderhouse Square) is changing its name to La Cocina. It has new management (I think) and the menu still has Salvadorian dishes with some new menu items.
I tried Antojitos’ pupusas once but didn’t like them as much as Cristian’s (the original place). Looking forward to trying the 3rd version. Thanks for the report!
I see some folks reporting on the Cambridge subreddit that the Village Kitchen in Huron Village has closed. I loved their food.
New-to-me fancy schmancy French food shop in Winchester: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/26/lifestyle/nouvelle-maison-winchester-french-foods-cafe-cheese-bread/
Website for those without Globe subscriptions: https://www.nouvellemaison.shop/
Looks tempting. Let us know what you find there.
Noticed while at Halfway Cafe (Watertown) the other day that The Spot across the street has been replaced by Plazita Mexico Tacos. I’m not sure how recently this happened. Menu here.
New Leaf Espresso has opened inside Razor’s Barbershop on Highland Ave in Somerville about equidistant from Davis and Porter Squares. There was a previous attempt at a coffee counter inside the barbershop, and I stopped in a couple of times but they always seemed to have some odd situation such as being out of milk. I have a relative who is friends with the person who newly took over the coffee shop, and he claims he’s the real deal and coffee should be good. Their website says they are brewing Broadsheet. It’s a bold move, being just a couple of blocks from 3 Little Figs, and not terribly far from Diesel, Starbucks, Nine Bar and whatever remains inside/adjacent to Porter Square Books (Zing and Page and Leaf) new/old locations. I will stop in soon and report back.
Wow!!! that brings me back to the one we used to stop at with kids in Portland ME on our way downeast. In an old bank just like Bloc 11 and very kid and foodie friendly.
Well, my receipt the other day was from “LOVE.”
My goodness you ARE old (as am I). I was brought there in the…was that the end of the 70s or the early 80s by a family member who lived in the area. Such a novel thing at the time!
Yes, and the new place has already opened. Actual breakfast options, and they say they are waiting to open for dinner until they see if there is demand.
I went to Nouvelle Maison in Winchester on Tuesday, just before they closed at 1 (close early on Tuesday). Bright, open space with lots of seemingly reasonably priced French jarred imports and some lovely local items as well. I didn’t have time to thoroughly explore the charcuterie and cheese (including New England and Spanish cheese and charcuterie), but they looked wonderful and at first glance reasonably priced.
Nice selection of cookbooks, dish towels, Curio spices, etc.
Got a small bottle of Calvados, really good cinnamon roll and spinach “danish”, the croissants looked incredible. Nice presentation and friendly people. Small collection of produce, mostly potatoes, pears, apples, hothouse lettuce. Several tables where people were enjoying their bakery items, including sandwiches. About half of the tables were available.
I’ll definitely be back. Easy to park.
Spring Onion and I popped into Nouvelle Maison this evening at 5:45 pm-ish after his farm class at Wright-Locke Farm which is 5 minutes down the road. He’s always willing to accompany me when there are croissants involved.
As @Madrid stated, it’s a pleasant and bright space but we found the service awkward. There were a lot of staff members seemingly doing nothing while I and the other few patrons were looking to be waited on at the cheese counter and at the pastry counter. I initially picked up a bottle of wine at the front of the shop and someone scurried over and told me that that particular bottle was meant for a wine package/bag. I had no idea what the hell she was talking about so I set it back down and said I’d go check out the selection in the back. I picked up 3 bottles (without any assistance or inquiry if I had any questions) then set them down at one of the cafe tables. I checked out the cheese counter and saw some prepped gigandes beans and mushroom mix that I wanted (the cheeses looked tempted but we are having holiday cheese hangover). Again, I stood there and it took some time to get help (the cheese counter person was no where to be found and was summoned but didn’t appear). SO chose 2 pain de chocolat. I may stop in again
after his class and hopefully the service issues (which I’m usually not picky about but it was just weird this evening) will get worked out.
B and I had some of the beans with dinner and they were excellent—vinegary and nice texture. The wine in the middle (Sans Detour) was delightful—varietal that I’m not familiar with.
I was a bit confused by service/check out, too. The older and younger adult males selected and checked out at the pastry counter, while I was enjoying looking at the rest of the selections elsewhere in the store, after already informing them I wanted the “spinach danish”. I picked up the small bottle of Calvados from the wine/beer/liquor section at the back, and put it in my basket with a few items from the front of the store. As I was walking around, I saw others checking out at the cheese/charcuterie counter. I was wondering how many check out stations there were.
It is helpful for customers to know what to do, and how to pay for what where! Maybe a few signs at eye level would help?
The gigandes beans were tasty (vinegar-y and a nice texture) and Spring Onion loved the pain au chocolat (for $5 a pop and I bought him 2, he better like it). I just tasted the wild mushroom mix—it is oddly flavorless. Olive oil-laden (which I don’t mind) but it is absent of of any discernible flavor. I’ll have to doctor it up big-time. Garlic? Crushed red pepper? Umami police, I need you—MSG to the rescue?
I am doctoring as we speak—it’s much better. Liberal crushed red pepper, crushed garlic cloves, a sprinkle of MSG. And salt more than anything.
