JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015
cambridge NO. 12
THE BRICK-ANDFOOD AND TRUCKS PATH TO MORTAR BRIDJ GETS MOVING
SEXTACULAR, SEXTACULAR!
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Current Listings 19-A Grand View Avenue, Somerville ~ $439,000 This beautiful, first-floor Union Sq. condo has stunning architectural details, including high ceilings, oversized doors and windows, wood floors, white marble mantle, curved wall, ceiling medallion, elaborate moldings, and a window seat beneath lead-pane windows. The LR could be used as a second bedroom if a closet were added. Spacious master bedroom, eat-in kitchen, DR, tiled bath. Private storage area and washer/ dryer in basement Shared yard with patio and picnic table. One exclusive, unobstructed parking space in driveway.
One Arlington Street, Somerville ~ $899,000 On the National, MA, and Somerville Historic Registers, this stunning, center gable Italianate (c. 1858) was overlaid in Eastlake style trim (c. 1888) and retains extraordinary original interior and exterior detail. Just steps from Charlestown, the Charles Williams, Jr. House was the home of the first permanent residential phone line in the world. Still used as a single family home, it has 8-10 bedrooms and 4 baths in about 5,000 sq.ft. This is a rare opportunity to restore an outstanding historic home in hot East Somerville, currently near 2 Orange Line stops as well as 2 future Green Line stations.
82 Roberts Road, West Medford ~ $485,000 Just a short walk to the West Medford commuter rail station, Playstead Park, and the shops and restaurants of West Medford, this lovely, bright single family has 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, driveway, and a large backyard. Walk to Mystic Lake beach and the Middlesex Fells trails, or cycle to the Minuteman bike bath. Commuter rail goes directly to Boston’s North Station. Buses to Davis Sq., Harvard Sq., Tufts, Haymarket (#96, #94, #326). Easy access by car to Routes 2, 93, 16, 38, 28, 95, and 90; minutes to Logan Airport. Reach Tufts, Harvard, and MIT by bike or public transportation.
Coming Soon
East Somerville ~ $349,000 Lovely 2-bedroom/1 bath with exposed brick, renovated kitchen and bath. Walking distance to 2 Orange Line stops.
Free Classes
How to Buy and Sell at the Same Time
Thalia Tringo
President, Realtor ®
617.513.1967 cell/text Thalia@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Todd Zinn
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ®
617.852.1839 cell/text Todd@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Niké Damaskos
Residential Sales, Commercial Sales & Leasing
617.875.5276 Nike@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Jennifer Rose
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ®
617.943.9581 cell/text Jennifer@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
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
for homeowners contemplating a move
Hannah Walters
Wednesday, January 14th 6:30-7:45 pm OR Monday, February 9th 6:30-7:45 pm OR Tuesday, February 24th 6:30-7:45 pm
Hannah@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
If trying to figure out the logistics of selling your home and buying a new one make your head spin, this workshop will help make the process understandable. This workshop, lead by our agents and a loan officer from a local bank, will include a 45 minute presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
Prepping Your Home for Sale
for homeowners preparing to list their house Monday, January 12th Tuesday, February 10th
6:30-7:30 pm OR 6:30-7:30 pm
What do you need to do to get your home ready to put on the market? Is it worth updating a kitchen or bath? Finishing basement space? Landscaping? Decluttering? Repainting? Which repairs do you get your money back on? Which ones make your house sell faster? Get your questions answered in this short, informative session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
To reserve space in a class, please email Lynn@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com. Admission is free, but we appreciate donations of canned goods or winter coats/gloves/hats for the Somerville Homeless Coalition.
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ®
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.
JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2014 ::: VOLUME 12 ::: SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM
cambridge
contents departments + columns 6 // EDITOR’S NOTE Here’s to another new year 8 // WINNERS & LOSERS 10 // NEWS Bridj gets moving 12 // WHAT’S NEW? Burgers, beers and Olympic bids 20 // SCOUT OUT! There’s a pole dancing unicorn on page 20 22 // SCOUT OUT! Harvard Art Museums reopen, are shiny 24 // CALENDAR & SCOUT PICKS
16
26 // SCOUT THIS! Win $50! 27 // LOCAL BUSINESS DIRECTORY 28 // RESTAURANT DIRECTORY How many have you tried? 30 // SCOUT YOU
feature
16 // PAVING THE WAY FOR BRICK-ANDMORTAR STORES Food trucks find their footing
22
Photo, top: People order at the counter at Mother Juice, photo by Jess Benjamin. Photo, bottom: A view from the inside, photo courtesy of Harvard Art Museums. On the cover: Mother Juice co-owners Ellen Fitzgerald, left, and Laura Baldini, photo by Jess Benjamin.
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Editor’s Note
editor’s note
50 Shades of Grey B
By Emily Hopkins
ack in December, I was on the way from Scout HQ in Somerville to East Cambridge during that week of considerable rainfall. What should have been a few feet of lovely snow turned out to be a torrential downpour due presumably to climate change’s grasp on our very souls. Normally I’m pretty immune to inclement weather. I’ll spare you the, “When I was a kid, I walked uphill to school barefoot in the snow,” story, but slap a pair of waterproof boots on me and I am good to go. But this time, I broke. From the time I left my house to the time I got home, the clouds kept weeping. And at the peak of my misery, an MBTA bus so graciously hit me with a six-foothigh wall of water. Thanks, MBTA. This got me thinking: It was raining during just about every interview I did for this issue. When I visited Ryan Kelly to talk about Bridj (p. 10), I looked from their offices onto a slate grey Charles River. When I interviewed Ayr Muir, CEO of Clover, about how owning a food truck helped him build a vegetable empire (p. 16), I waded through the waters. I mean, most of the days that I came into the office were marked with considerably ashy hues. Which is kind of amazing, isn’t it? Because what you’re looking at is full of color. Our photographers and designer chipped away at the grey until all that was left was gloss. And now the days are getting longer and the sun is getting closer and shining through the glass of the newly renovated Harvard Art Museums (p. 22) ever so beautifully. Of course, it’s not all gloss. Cambridge, like the nation, has seen protests and unrest. But even there, in the streets, there is someone chipping away at the grey, looking for a brighter future. We all know it can’t be grey forever. We all know the light has to peek through. So cheers. Here’s to chipping the grey away.
Cheers!
Emily Cassel Emily Hopkins
PUBLISHER Holli Banks hbanks@scoutmagazines.com MANAGING EDITORS Emily Cassel ecassel@scoutmagazines.com Emily Hopkins ehopkins@scoutmagazines.com OFFICE MANAGER Melinda LaCourse mlacourse@scoutmagazines.com DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Laura Stiffler lstiffler@scoutmagazines.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Nicolle Renick design@scoutmagazines.com renickdesign.com EDITORIAL INTERNS Andrea Simons CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Leslie Fowle, Sarah Cadorette CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jess Benjamin Derek Kouyoumjian derekimage.com WEB HOST Truly Good Design trulygooddesign.com IT SUPPORT FirstCall Computers firstcallcomputers.net BANKS PUBLICATIONS c/o Scout Cambridge 235e Highland Ave. Somerville, MA 02143 Office Phone: 617-996-2283
It is EASYto advertise with Scout Magazines. Scout offers COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATION and COMPLIMENTARY AD DESIGN. Our consistency agreements allow you to change your ad copy and even ad size at any time while still extending discounts. Contact publisher Holli Banks at hbanks@scoutmagazines.com and she’ll be more than happy to meet with you, learn more about your business and talk about how Scout might be a good fit for you.
6
January | February 2015 scoutcambridge.com
FIND US ONLINE scoutcambridge.com twitter.com/scoutcambridge facebook.com/scoutcambridge For advertising inquiries please contact scout@scoutmagazines.com. CIRCULATION Scout Cambridge is direct-mailed bimonthly to every home and business in Cambridge, reaching more than 48,500 postal addresses. An additional 1,500 copies are available at key locations.
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Bring in your vacation or holiday pictures and turn them into works of art. We print canvas wraps, wall decals (on a material that doesn’t damage the paint) and posters. WE ALSO OFFER: • Calendars • Presentation Folders • EDDM – Every Door Direct Mail • Programs • Business Cards 519 Somerville Ave., Somerville 617-591-0199
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scoutcambridge.com January | February 2015
7
Winners & Losers
W&L WINNERS
LOSERS
BIKERS You may have tucked your bike away for the season, but the city isn’t slowing down at all when it comes to cyclist safety. In November, city councilors voted unanimously to start making moves on an initiative proposed by Councilor Dennis Carlone that would outfit all city vehicles with side guards, preventing bikers and pedestrians from being pulled under in the event of a crash. In addition, Cambridge was one of 55 cities nationwide to be selected for the the League of American Bicyclists “Bicycle Friendly Community” program. And – not to brag – our community took home a gold rating while Somerville and Boston received silver. Pedal to the medal, y’all.
BEES Citing a summer full of stings, residents swarmed to a November hearing on the legality of the beehives located on the roof of an area synagogue. Congregation Eitz Chayim (136 Magazine St.) got their neighbors buzzing when the bees they rescued from a local farm reportedly began swarming through the community. But a November 20 Zoning Board of Appeals hearing determined that while Somerville and Boston have rules governing beekeeping, Cambridge doesn’t have any bee laws on the books. The critters are hibernating for the winter, but come spring they may find that new ordinances have moved their hives to a different home.
MIT FOOTBALL Forget that “dumb jock” stereotype; MIT’s football team of future engineers and computer scientists didn’t lose a game in their 2014 regular season. Starting quarterback Peter Williams, a literal rocket scientist who studies aerospace engineering, led the team to their first 9-0 season since 1881 with 1,761 yards and 16 touchdowns. While the undefeated undergrads probably won’t make it to the NFL any time soon – their team is Division III, after all – it’s probably only a matter of time before Disney buys the rights to this too-good-to-be-true underdog story. THE CITY’S BUDGET For the first time ever, Cambridge is kicking off a pilot participatory budgeting program that lets residents decide how the city should spend $500,000 in capital funds. The deadline to submit project ideas has already passed (sorry!), but community members will get a chance to vote on which proposal they’d like to see implemented come March. Democracy in action.
CAMBRIDGE HEALTH ALLIANCE CHA is in trouble with the government for its high readmission rates. Because too many patients return to the hospital within a month after being discharged, Medicare is going to deduct .86 percent from its reimbursements to the hospital. This is the third year that the government has fined hospitals over returning patients and the third year in a row that CHA has faced federal penalties. Not that this makes anything better, but CHA isn’t alone: 80 percent of Mass. hospitals currently face federal penalties for toohigh readmission rates. YOUNG ADULTS People age 20-34 now comprise 44.5 percent of Cambridge’s population, making our city one of the most youthful in the U.S. But a recent multi-part investigative report from the Globe found that the millennial population in the Greater Boston area – despite being one of the most well-educated groups of youths in the country – is struggling. Young adults can’t find jobs, face soaring rent prices and are wracked with near-insurmountable student debt. Fun!
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
January | February 2015 scoutcambridge.com
SHOUT OUT! What is your New Year’s resolution?
“I think I’d like to drink more and meditate less.” - Amanda M.
“To figure it out.” - Kelvin G.
“To spend more time with my kids.” - Donez C.
True Home Partners: We Partner With You
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NANCY M. DIXON
Mobile: 617-930-1288 Lisa.Drapkin@NEMoves.com
Mobile: 617-721-9755 Nancy.Dixon@NEMoves.com
PREMIER ASSOCIATE
“Lisa engenders immediate trust, with a strong knowledge of the real estate market, great ideas for how to prepare for a sale, and an infinite network of connections to help you get the job done.”
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Mobile: 617-461-6797 Debbie.Lewis@NEMoves.com
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THE INDEPENDENT
FOOD & DRINK WEEKENDS UNTIL 2 A.M.
THEINDO.COM 617.440.6022 scoutcambridge.com January | February 2015
9
News
news
TRANSPORTATION STARTUP IS GIVEN YELLOW LIGHT TO OPERATE IN CAMBRIDGE
W
by Emily Hopkins | @genderpizza Photos courtesy of Bridj
hen Bridj launched this past June, they put the Mercedes to make educated decisions about how many vehicles to deploy. Sprinter (their vehicle of choice) before the wheel, so to Eventually, the company hopes to create a responsive service that speak. One of the company’s first routes traversed three will throw traditional routes out the window by using data to take the cities—Cambridge, Boston and Brookline—before it had been awarded vehicles where they are needed. licenses to technically operate in any of them. Bridj applied for a jitney license in Cambridge back in August, and “It was very important for us to get rubber on the ground while they weren’t flat-out denied, they did receive a list of conditions and start operating,” says Ryan Kelly, with their approval, which is only for a sixmarketing manager at the new tech-based month pilot period. Kelly says he found “Everyone wants to be able to transportation startup based in Kendall Cambridge officials to be more hesitant Square. Although Bridj has been adamant provide better transportation options than others about the service, but according about starting operations immediately, it’s to Andrea Jackson, Chair of the License for their constituents, for their also been committed to working closely with Commission, Cambridge is just being citizens, for their residents.” municipal governments, making each aware intentional. that they were operating and seeking the “It was simply a matter of, where were – Ryan Kelly, Bridj proper paperwork simultaneously. Boston the best places for the Bridj vehicles?” says and Brookline quickly awarded Bridj jitney Jackson, citing one example of how the licenses, but it was in Cambridge that the company hit its first bump conditions of Bridj’s pilot period are meant to steer the service for the in the road. better. Jackson says, for example, that one of Bridj’s proposed stops in “Everyone wants to be able to provide better transportation Central Square is already extremely congested by several MBTA bus options for their constituents, for their citizens, for their residents,” lines. So they had Bridj move the stop down the street to City Hall. says Kelly. “[Cambridge officials] just have different ideas about it and After the pilot period concludes, Bridj will meet with city officials to how the process should go throughout those ideas.” review how well the company adhered to the conditions. The city will Bridj works by using 19 different data streams, from publicly be watching for times that Bridj interfered with MBTA or bicycle traffic available location markers on social media to direct user responses, and any accidents that occurred with Bridj vehicles. They’ll also review 10
January | February 2015 scoutcambridge.com
complaints from residents. Jackson says that should a problem arise, they hope to find a solution rather than shutting down the service. “I’m going in with the spirit of, this is going to work. After six months, they’ll come in for the review, and we’ll see where we need to tweak,” says Jackson. Kelly says that Bridj’s mission is to make it easier for the citizens of the Greater Boston Area to connect with their city. He hopes they will fill the gaps in service that are left by underfunded – and indebted – city transit. A 20-minute trip from Coolidge to Kendall, something easily achievable by Bridj’s route, might be a reality in some very far off future for the MBTA. But there’s no way, says Kelly, that the MBTA, with so few resources, can quickly adapt to the to serve the demand that exists today. “A lot of public transit systems are so overburdened, they’re underfunded, and there are no investments going into them,” Kelly
says. “On the other hand, if the MBTA would consider a fare hike of even a dollar, I’m sure there would be public outcry. So it’s a catch-22. What can they do?” Kelly says that he doesn’t see Bridj as any kind of singular solution – and they’re not trying to be. They hope to work within the existing and growing tapestry of private solutions to public transit. “It’s all about being multimodal.” Kelly says. “You could maybe take an Uber when you want to get somewhere really fast and you might not have time to wait for Bridj or the bus, or if it’s nice out during the summer, you could take a Hubway to work. And maybe you take the T to an area that we don’t serve because it’s too far out. It’s just about being part of the solution, and I think cities see that.” “We think it’s a great partnership,” echos Jackson. “We’re looking forward to it.”
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scoutcambridge.com January | February 2015
11
What’s New?
what’s new? CENTRAL SQUARE
DANGER!AWESOME
A
fter raising more than $42,000 through a Kickstarter campaign, danger!awesome founders Nadeem Mazen and Ali Mohammad were able to open a new space (645 Mass Ave.) that quadruples the size of their 3D printing and laser etching studio. If you have a wannabe graphic designer or metalsmith inside of you just COMING waiting to get SOON out, take a trip to this openaccess studio, where you can etch your own pint glass, cut leather with lasers, design your own stationery and more. Photo Courtesy of danger!awesome
TUNEIN
SUSHIANDSUCH the best shows in the Greater Boston area since 1987. CENTRAL SQUARE
MIDDLESEX LOUNGE
Photo Courtesy of Middlesex Lounge
CENTRAL SQUARE
MIDDLE EAST
In early 2014, there were reports that Joseph and Nabil Sater, owners of the beloved rock club The Middle East (472 to 480 Mass Ave.) were in trouble; they reportedly needed to come up with nearly $7 million to purchase their building or risk eviction. The situation seemed dire, but area music lovers can breathe a sigh of relief. As of late November, the brothers now own the 13,000-square-foot lot, which has been hosting some of 12
January | February 2015 scoutcambridge.com
The Middle East seems safe for now, but there could be dark times ahead for Middlesex Lounge. The decadeold restaurant and nightclub (315 Mass Ave.) is reducing its hours to just three nights a week – Thursday through Saturday – in the new year, meaning we could be saying goodbye to Tuesday night’s Heartthrob dance party. “In the coming months MSEX will be going through some physical and metaphysical changes to appropriately embrace the nightclub scene so we can be as streamlined and fun as possible,” manager Nate Brown said in an email to area promoters and press.
Photo Courtesy of Akai Ryu
PORTER SQUARE
AKAI RYU
Shabu and sushi restaurant Akai Ryu now has a full liquor license, bolstering its already extensive menu of locally sourced and organic food with sake, beer and signature cocktails. Come claim a seat along the gorgeous bar and sample from the delectable options on the conveyor belt. Yes, you read that right: They have a conveyor belt. For food.
SOMETHINGOLD, SOMETHINGNEW AGE some lobster tails and pistachio cannoli to Scout HQ becomes our new best friend. KENDALL SQUARE
CAFE ARTSCIENCE
HARVARD SQUARE
MIKE’S PASTRY
Love Mike’s selection of cannoli and gelato but can’t bring yourself to trek out to the North End? You’re in luck: After months of teasing, the worldfamous pastry shop opened its second location (11 Dunster St.) in November. Whoever delivers
With its inhalable chocolates and ultra-modern interior design, it’s no wonder that the new Cafe ArtScience (650 Kendall St.) is being hailed as the future of dining. The food lab from Harvard professor David Edwards and former Eastern Standard chef Patrick Campbell is now open and serving all the space-age vapor cocktails and breathable “scent messages” you could everCOMING want. If you’d SOON really rather enjoy your coffee in its standard liquid form, the cafe does offer pourovers, lattes and more – but it’s not our fault if the barista looks at you when you order one like you’re some kind of outdated square.
PORTER SQUARE
COMING
SOON MIX-IT SUSHI NOODLE GRILL
We can never quite have enough sushi in our lives, which is why we’re tickled as tuna to announce the arrival of Mix-It Sushi Noodle Grill (1678 Mass Ave.). Maki rolls, noodle bowls, lunch specials – it’s all on the menu. HARVARD SQUARE
NIGHT MARKET
Night Market sure knows how to play hard to get. After pushing back their opening twice in 2014, which only made us want them more, the Asian street food restaurant (75 Winthrop St.) finally opened in mid-December. What’s on the menu, you ask? How about duck larb, lumpia with caramel sauce, curry popcorn shrimp and brussel sprouts with Chinese sausage. With walls covered in colorful COMING graffiti and street art, this is one dining experience that’s SOONcolorful and vibrant from the moment you step in the door until you take your last bite of dandan noodles. Check out the new spot’s Instagram account (@nightmkt) for gorgeous photos of all the treats they offer. HARVARD SQUARE
CILANTRO CHINESE CUISINE
COMING
With American-Chinese (chicken and chili sauce)SOON and Chinese-Chinese (pan-grilled frog, anyone?) on the menu, Cilantro (1105 Mass Ave.) is a welcome addition to Harvard Square. According to Eater, it’s one of the only places in the city to get mini soup dumplings besides Dumpling House, meaning that in our eyes, it’s already earned a spot on our go-to Chinese food list.
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13
What’s New?
BURGERBEAT
CITYWIDE
NO-LYMPICS
INMAN SQUARE
BUKOWSKI TAVERN
B
oston’s bid for the 2024 Olympics has ruffled a lot of feathers – so many, in fact, that Cambridge City Council addressed the bid during a December 8 meeting at City Hall. The verdict? Not great for Boston 2024, the organization pulling to host the Olympics in Beantown. Councillors voted in favor of an order that officially opposes the bid, saying that the city lacks the proper facilities and that there hasn’t been enough transparency or community involvement surrounding the proposal. Keep your eyes and ears open – there’s bound to be a lot more discussion on this issue over the next several months.
After more than six months of renovations and a complete overhaul of the tavern’s layout and menu, Bukowski’s (1281 Cambridge St.) has reopened its doors. The revamped space wasn’t ready at press time, but it looks like chef/ owner Brian Poe is aiming for a more upscale atmosphere and a burger-centric menu. It all sounds awesome – as long as no one takes the white trash poutine off the menu. If the white trash poutine goes, we go.
GETMONEY CITYWIDE
CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY SERVICES GRANT
Congrats to CCS, who were the recipients of a $15,000 grant from the UPS foundation in December. The nonprofit will use the funds to revamp its offices and improve youth service programs around the city. CITYWIDE
MINIMUM WAGE HIKE
The minimum wage debate that’s raged around the country for years has finally come to Cambridge City Council, where during a November 24 meeting, Councilor Nadeem Mazen proposed bumping the city’s minimum wage from $10 to
$15 an hour. Nothing’s set in stone yet, but stay tuned; Mayor David Maher has recommended multiple public hearings on the issue before any wage-changing ordinances are put in place. CITYWIDE
CAMBRIDGE ARTS COUNCIL 2015 GRANT WINNERS
The Cambridge Arts Council has announced the dancers, filmmakers, theater groups, visual artists and arts organizations who have received 2015 grants. Congrats to the following: Jeannie Simms; Gallery 263; Wildflower Montessori School; Community Art Center, Inc.;
Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery; Women, Action and the Media (WAM!); Pradhuman Nayak; Erica Sigal; Cambridge Performance Project, Inc.; Prometheus Dance, Inc.; The Amigos School; Dance Complex, Inc.; Jean Appolon Expressions; Penumbra:RME; Central Square Theater; Liars & Believers; Women’s Center / Survivor Theatre Project; Ross Miller; Beverly Mire; Art City Cambridge; Juventas New Music Ensemble; Friends of Tobin, Inc.; Nicholas Dinnerstein; Boston New Music Initiative; Driff Records; Powers Music School; Back Bay Ringers; Boston City Singers/Cambridge Children’s Chorus, Longy School of Music; North Cambridge Family Opera Company.
Photo Courtesy of Boston Burger Co.
HARVARD SQUARE
BOSTON BURGER COMPANY
Boston Burger Company just continues to build its beef empire. The restaurant, which has been featured on shows like “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and “The Phantom Gourmet,” is bringing its 24-burger menu to Cambridge (1105 Mass Ave.). This will be the burger joint’s third location – its first in our city – so if you haven’t yet had a chance to mow down on an Alpine Burger or try the Killer Bee, this will be your shot.
KIDSTHESEDAYS CITYWIDE
ABANDONED BUILDING CLEANUP APP
At a December Hackathon in Philadelphia, three teens from Prospect Hill Academy Charter School took first prize for their contribution, an app that lets users share photos of abandoned buildings in the city along with thoughts about how to restore the property. The app, known as CYC or “Change Your 14
January | February 2015 scoutcambridge.com
Community,” isn’t available for download yet, but the teenagers – Daoud Sogoba, 18, Jarad Parris, 17, and Pharaoh Saunders, 17 – hope to sell it and get it on the market soon. PORTER SQUARE
MAGPIE KIDS
Magpie Kids has outgrown its current storefront on Highland Ave. in Somerville and is coming to the space previously
occupied by Eddie’s Furniture (95 Elm St.). Technically located on the Somerville side of the square, the new shop will be just a short walk from the Porter Square T station. The new location should be open in early 2015, but there’s no set date on the calendar just yet. They grow up so fast!
Photo Courtesy of Magpie Kids
BOOZENEWS INMAN SQUARE
truffle fries. Farewell, animalstyle burger.
Bar and restaurant Hops N Scotch is poised to start serving up beer and whiskey at its first Cambridge location, and should be open shortly after the new year. The spot formerly occupied by Haveli Restaurant (1248 Cambridge St.) will be the second location for the adorably named enterprise, which only just opened in Coolidge Corner back in 2012.
KENDALL SQUARE
HOPS N SCOTCH
CENTRAL SQUARE
GARDEN AT THE CELLAR
Sad to see you go, Garden. After eight years of business, the Central Square restaurant (991 Mass Ave.) announced in a heartfelt post on its website that it was shuttering its doors for good. Bye-bye, rosemary
AMES STREET DELI
The latest spot from Backbar and Journeyman co-owners Tse Wei Lim and Diana Kudayarova, Ames Street Deli (73 Ames St.) started making waves back in October when a filler drink menu poking fun at the handcrafted cocktail craze appeared on its website. The restaurant is now open and serving up mouthwatering morsels like an openfaced poutine sandwich that comes served COMING on potato bread SOON and a mushroom sandwich with squash and jalapeño. And of course, the cocktail menu is off the hook. (obviously, as this is from the team behind Journeyman and Backbar.)
Drinks Drink #1 Artisan booze, obscure liqueur, homemade bitters, bizarre garnish
Drink #2 Artisan booze, obscure liqueur, homemade bitters, bizarre garnish
Drink #3 Artisan booze, obscure liqueur, homemade bitters, bizarre garnish
Drink #4 Artisan booze, obscure liqueur, homemade bitters, bizarre garnish
Drink #5 Artisan booze, obscure liqueur, homemade bitters, bizarre garnish
Photo by Jess Benjamin
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he city at large – but especially frequent attendees of shows at the Middle East and TT the Bear’s – mourned the loss of Hi-Fi Pizza and Subs earlier this year. The good news is that another brick and mortar Clover location is on its way to Hi-Fi’s old home at 496 Mass Ave., and it will be the food-truck-turned-restaurant’s first 24-hour storefront. Dubbed Clover HFI – a nod to the building’s former tenants – this newest location should be dishing out chickpea fritters and Japanese sweet potatoes in early 2015.
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15
Food Food Trucks Pave the Way for Brick-and-Mortar Stores
Food Trucks Pave the Way for Brickand-Mortar Stores by Emily Hopkins Photos by Jess Benjamin
I
n December 2008, after three months of testing, the folks behind Clover – now a staple in the food truck community – were packing up their truck for good. They’d collected the data that they’d set out to get, tweaked the recipes based on customer feedback and explored their brand. They were ready to make moves on a brick-and-mortar location. The first phase was over.
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January | February 2015 scoutcambridge.com
“We were done with it. We mothballed it,” said Ayr Muir, founder and CEO of Clover Food Lab. He remembers packing everything away late into the night, blasting Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak at 2 a.m. “It was really sad.” Owning and operating a food truck had never been part of the original plan for Clover. This was before the food truck fad had taken the nation, before the “Great Food Truck Race” aired on Food Network, before the City of Boston website had its own landing page devoted to these mobile kitchens. What we have come to know as food trucks, outside of a few that had survived attrition, didn’t exist. In the 1990s, Cambridge placed a moratorium on food trucks. Boston didn’t even have a permit for which aspiring operators could apply. But none of that was a concern for Muir, at first. “We just wanted to test the menu out for our restaurant,” Muir said one evening at the East Cambridge Clover location (1075 Cambridge St.), one of five stationary restaurants he’s opened in the past six years. “I was trying to hire a guy who runs a food truck on Mass Ave., and he wouldn’t do it. He told me I should open my own thing, which I didn’t want to do.” The original plan was to sell a couple dozen sandwiches out of an existing food truck, interview the customers and perfect the recipes – this is the “lab” part of the equation. From there they would go on to open a brick-and-mortar store. Armed with the data provided by the food truck
experiments, they would be able to move forward confidently on what would be a very large investment. Unable to find an existing vendor who would sell his food, Muir conceded, and they got their own truck. Muir didn’t know it at the time, but Clover would go on to pave the way for Boston’s food truck program. As of 2008, fewer than 20 food trucks were allowed to operate in Cambridge, and most of those had been grandfathered in. In fact, the only reason that Clover got their first truck operating on the MIT campus was because another truck left. Clover was later invited to sell food on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, where most of the other vendors would be carts, not food trucks. Muir wasn’t too thrilled, but agreed to it even though he thought they’d lose money. “It’s hard for people to remember, but it was like no man’s land,” Muir said. “Sort of not a place anyone wanted to be. And I had agreed, I thought that maybe it would be good for our relationship with them in the future.” Soon, the Greenway’s vendors grew to include a farmer’s market, for which late Boston Mayor Menino came to cut the ribbon. Muir convinced Menino to try a sandwich, and Menino became a frequent customer. It wasn’t too long before he led the city on a food truck initiative.
PROOF OF CONCEPT Fast forward six years. Food trucks have taken the Boston area by storm. In that short time, Clover has built six brick-and-mortar stores, three of them in Cambridge, and deployed seven food trucks. They are a success story of the clearest kind, not only leading by example but also providing resources for
other food trucks. They helped Bon Me get their truck from the same dealership where Clover had bought theirs, and have instituted an annual conference where future vendors can learn the tricks of the trade. Last year, more than 300 ticketed attendees were there. The number of trucks operating in the Boston area has swelled from just over a dozen to upwards of 70, and the path from food truck to brick and mortar has become something of a textbook business formula. For Jason Scott, co-founder of The Taco Truck (83 Mount Auburn St.), the mobile ethos carries over to the stationary store. The brickand-mortar locations still bear the name “The Taco Truck,” and though these buildings aren’t about to drive away anytime soon, the interior is designed to evoke the street food aura. The city bench-like seating and a counter that mimics the side of a food truck accompany a menu inspired by street food Scott encountered on his travels working for a fly fishing supply company. For Scott, like for Muir, the food truck served as a toe in the water on the way to a more permanent location. “[The food truck] got us to a place where we have the confidence to put the dollars into the brick-and-mortar store,” said Scott, who is based in New Jersey. Around 2009, he began to see food truck traction picking up in the New York Metro area, and saw it as the ideal way to start serving his street food-inspired menu for a much lower investment. Though less of a financial investment, operating a food truck came with its own set of challenges for Scott. From permitting to frozen water pipes, Scott said that a food truck can be an operational nightmare. On his second day out in Hoboken, he even had another operator threaten to burn down his scoutcambridge.com January | February 2015
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Food Food Trucks Pave the Way for Brick-and-Mortar Stores
From left: Laura Baldini and Ellen Fitzgerald, co-owners of Mother Juice.
truck. Despite the challenges, though, Scott says that owning the food truck allowed them to move more easily to a permanent store, and to expand more quickly. In the last five years, they’ve added four locations in five states and will soon add another. Compared to Clover and The Taco Truck, Mother Juice is relatively new to the scene. In 2012, co-founders Ellen Fitzgerald and Laura Baldini launched a successful crowdsourcing initiative for a food truck specializing in fresh, cold-pressed juices. Now, less than two years after starting the truck, they’re operating a brick-and-mortar store in Kendall Square (65 West Kendall St.). “[The food truck] was just a starting point. I mean, it’s just much, much more costly to open a store first,” said Baldini. “Food trucks were trending a couple years ago, and it just felt like the right move for us.” When Mother Juice started out, there wasn’t really a juicing scene to speak of in Boston. This was before Cocobeet, which opened in Boston in May. The closest you could get cold-pressed juice was Medford, said Baldini. Opening a brick-and-mortar store would have been a huge risk, since there wasn’t too much evidence at the start that the city even wanted a juice bar. But 18
January | February 2015 scoutcambridge.com
having the truck allowed them to gauge that interest while building brand recognition, which Baldini believes helped Mother Juice take control of the discoverability factor. “It works. I mean, we’re in Cambridge, but people come from Boston. They cross the river,” said Baldini. Of course, having access to this kind of testing is obviously not necessary to have a successful brick-and-mortar store. Restaurant groups do this all time time. But Muir, Scott, Baldini and Fitzgerald don’t come from the restaurant industry. Food trucks didn’t just help them turn their concepts into successful restaurants – they proved that the ideas were viable at all. “What we do right now, we make vegetables irresistible to all people,” said Muir, who has degrees in materials science and engineering from Harvard. “Eighty to 90 percent of our customers are not vegetarian, but there’s no meat on my menu. That’s crazy, and back then it was even more crazy.” Baldini and Fitzgerald, who came from real estate and economic consulting, respectively, didn’t even know each other before Mother Juice. Baldini saw what Fitzgerald was trying to do and contacted her through the Internet. Now they’ve become great business partners,
sharing a bond over a love for juice and a desire to spread that love. “Vegetables are kind of magic, as ridiculous as that sounds,” Baldini said.
MOVING FORWARD The Mother Juice truck has been packed away for the winter. Juice is more of a seasonal product – a tough sell during Boston’s winters – and the pair want to focus on the success of the store. Yet now, only a few months after they opened in September, they’re already looking for a space to house their second store. “We want to dominate the juice scene,” said Baldini. Clover will keep expanding as well, and is slated to open three more brick-and-mortar stores and add another truck in 2015. But even with the success of the brick-and-mortar stores, there are no plans to pack away the food trucks that started the whole thing. Muir said that he doesn’t see a Clover that exists without food trucks, and Baldini can’t wait to get Mother Juice’s wheels back on the road this spring. “It’s like a travelling store,” said Baldini. “We just want to have juice all over the place for everybody.”
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Scout Out
Arts
Scout Out!
Lust and Learning Meet at The Sextacular Show by Leslie Fowle Photos by Derek Kouyoumjian
S
ex and comedy make for strange bedfellows (pun intended). After all, laughter is not the reaction most of us are gunning for when we things get hot and heavy and we start taking our clothes off. That’s why the cast of The Sextacular Show at ImprovBoston is here to laugh with you, never at you, when it comes to sexuality. Instead, the purpose of the show is to celebrate all things joyous, sensual and spectacular about sex, while simultaneously raising sexual consciousness and positive awareness in the community. So what exactly does this celebration look like? It’s hard to say. Since Sextacular’s inception in March 2014, no two shows have been the same. The Sextacular Show has only put on a handful of shows thus far – all to sold out crowds – with a rotating cast of characters that includes a pole dancing unicorn, a clown exploring masturbation, a kink photographer (slideshow included) and the Hitchin’ Bitches, a rope bondage group for women. And if you thought you would be able to lay low as an audience member, forget it: Each show ends with a group conversation facilitated by a local academic or sex education professional. Oh yeah, and there’s improv. And stand-up. “We ask each of our performers, ‘How do you celebrate your sexuality? How does sex feel when it feels right?’” said Chris Connolly of Somerville, the show’s host, artistic director and founder. “What happens on stage is a natural expression, and it’s different for everyone.” Connolly has been a sex educator for the past decade, including a stint in Chicago working with homeless and transgender youth before moving 20 January | February 2015
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to Somerville. She currently works a day job at Northwestern Mutual, but describes her work with The Sextacular Show as “what [she] was meant to do.” Connolly believes there is a real hunger in the Boston area for safe spaces where people can talk about positive sexual experiences, and hopes that her show is filling that void with a certain panache that is missing in typical sex ed discourse. Combining her career in sex education with her storytelling and improv hobbies was a natural next step for Connolly, who launched The Sextacular Show last year at the urging of a friend in another sexthemed storytelling show. Connolly soon realized, however, that in order to stay true to her sex-positive roots she would need to do some things that were unorthodox in the improv world. “Improv in particular doesn’t do sex. Sure, there are plenty of dick jokes,” said Connolly. “There’s a lot of alluding, but what we’re trying to do is talk about sex in a way that’s both funny and authentic.” The Sextacular Show’s answer to that sort of simplistic sex humor can be seen on their YouTube channel in a bit of improv put on by the show’s producer, Josh Michel. “One Night Stand,” a video recording from their last show, details the five minutes before you sleep with someone for the first time, and the five minutes after. The result is funny in an awkward, but charmingly sweet way – just like a real one night stand might be with a person whom you genuinely liked. It’s not all sweet, though. Rumor has it, the January Sextacular Show might include dancers covered in little else but paint, as well as a panel on “how to talk dirty.” Get your tickets before they’re gone; the venue only has 90 seats, and their last two shows sold out weeks in advance. “We’re so new, and we’ve got such an overwhelmingly positive response so far,” said Connolly. “Then again, we have ‘sex’ in our name, and that always sells.
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Scout Out Art
What You Need to Know About the New Harvard Art Museums by Sarah Cadorette Photos courtesy of Harvard Art Museums
S
tanding in the newly restored Calderwood Courtyard is like standing in a prism, light filters in from all angles, illuminating the square. This marvel is at the center of the new Harvard Art Museums, which reopened to the public in November after more than $250 million in renovations and six years of construction. The museums are now accessible to more people than ever, and the changes in design have improved their interactive aspects. With new features meant to connect and open up the space for optimal art viewing, the renovated buildings really are a sight to behold.
WHAT’S DIFFERENT The renovations brought together three previously disconnected museums. The oldest, The Fogg Museum, opened in 1895 and is known for its extensive collection of European and American art, including early Italian Renaissance paintings, 19th century French and British art, and American works on paper from the 19th and 20th centuries. The museum houses pieces by artists ranging from Vincent Van Gogh to Pablo Picasso to Diane Arbus. The Busch-Reisinger Museum opened in 1903 as the Germanic Museum, and is the sole museum in North America that focuses its collection on art from the German-speaking countries of central and northern Europe. The third and most recently established museum is the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, opened in 1985, which exhibits art from Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Before renovations, the collections of the three museums stood on their own. By bringing these varied bodies
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of work together under one roof, the Harvard Art Museums hope to put the pieces in conversation with one another, thereby enhancing the viewing experience. The Calderwood Courtyard, newly outfitted and extended upward with a glass roof, will be a place for sculptures, paintings and other media from different periods in history and from many cultures. Juxtaposed, Harvard hopes they will give museum-goers the opportunity to see these pieces in the context of a global and ongoing history of art.
WHAT’S INSIDE In November, the Harvard Art Museums celebrated their grand reopening with an exhibit that was both new and familiar to the museum. In the early 1960s, Harvard University commissioned American postwar artist Mark Rothko to create several murals to be hung in the penthouse dining room of the Holyoke Center. Because the pieces were
brighten the faded colors. Also on display is a new exhibit by German artist Rebecca Horn, a clear indicator of the Museum’s intention to incorporate more works by modern and contemporary artists. A multimedia artist, Horn’s works range from films and photographs to motorized sculptures that use sensors to react to the presence of observers in what she describes as an attempt to break down “barriers between passive spectators and active performers.” In addition to these enhancements and exhibits, the Museums now include improved conservation labs, university galleries for the display and study of pieces specific to courses within the university and an art study center that provides a space for scholars to spend prolonged amounts of time with one piece. The renovations have also increased gallery space by 40 percent, which allows more of the pieces normally kept in
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With new features meant to connect and open up the space for optimal art viewing, the renovated buildings really are a sight to behold. overexposed to sunlight while on display throughout the following decade, the murals were put into storage in 1979. The Harvard Art Museums have brought the collection back, along with a sixth piece that was painted for the commission but never exhibited. The murals that were damaged years ago have now been restored by an innovative digital solution: projectors placed in front of the murals use non-invasive light to
storage to be on display. All of these improvements are aimed at increasing accessibility of art to the public and to art historians and scholars, and to open the pieces up to examination in new and intensive ways. Harvard Art Museums 32 Quincy St. Open daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed major holidays scoutcambridge.com January | February 2015
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Calendar
calendar Music Tuesdays
Zuesday 10 p.m., $3 Zuzu 474 Mass Ave. Join DJ Leah and BLK.Adonis for this weekly queer dance party. All are welcome, as long as they’re 21+.
Tuesdays
Open Mic 7 p.m., $5 Club Passim 47 Palmer St. Sign up at 6, sing at 7. Or read a story. Or recite a poem. It’s up to you, really.
Thursdays
The Chicken Slacks 9:30 p.m., $6 Cantab Lounge 738 Mass Ave. Every Thursday since 2005, The Chicken Slacks have played Cantab Lounge. So like, don’t feel bad if you can’t make it this week. You’ll have other opportunities.
January 10
Tallahassee and Hallelujah the Hills 8 p.m. doors, $12 The Sinclair 52 Church St. With support from Parks and Cask Mouse. Which means you see 4 bands for $12. Which shakes out to $3 a band. Which is a steal.
January 14
Karma to Burn 8 p.m. doors, $8 TT The Bear’s Place
Scout picks
10 Brookline St. A super-heavy night of stoner and doom metal starring Karma to Burn. Also featuring Sierra, Sand Reckoner and Rhino King.
Italy, when these areas were competing cultural meccas.
being the funniest… guess that’s implied?
Arts
January 16
January 30
Every Day
January 31
Every Day
February 6
Tuesday - Saturday
Bruce Katz Band CD Release 8 p.m., $20 Regattabar 1 Bennett St. Three-time Blues Music Award nominee and former Gregg Allman Band member Bruce Katz celebrates the release of his new record, Homecoming. Cruel Hand 1 p.m., $12 Middle East Downstairs 480 Mass Ave. Gotta love those all-ages, hardcore, matinee shows. With support from Angel Dust and the Beautiful Ones. All Them Witches 8 p.m. doors, $10 Middle East Upstairs 472 Mass Ave. Delta blues + wonderfully hypnotic, riffy nonsense. Go listen to an All Them Witches song, then try not to buy tickets for this show.
February 28
Boston Camerata in Portes du Ciel 8 - 10 p.m., Free MIT Chapel 48 Mass Ave. The Boston Camerata, which is celebrating its 60th season, will highlight music from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance France and
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Arts of War 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., $8-12 The Peabody Museum 11 Divinity Ave. This ongoing exhibit looks beyond the functional and delves into the craftsmanship behind tools of war, from maces to daggers to shields to suits of armor. The Glass Flowers 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., $12 Harvard Museum of Natural History 26 Oxford St. Come check out more than 847 species of beautiful, incredibly lifelike glass flower sculptures. Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy Hours vary, Free The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery 102 Mt. Auburn St. Through photographs, models, videos, sculptures, paintings and more, the 21 African artists featured in this exhibit present their take on city life.
January 13
Mystery Lounge! 8 p.m., $12 The Comedy Studio 1238 Mass Ave. The Comedy Studio’s website boasts that this is “the old-est and only-est magic show in New England.” Nothing about it
MUSIC | January 22-24
Bruce in the USA 8:30 p.m. nightly, $20 a night The Sinclair, 52 Church St. For one weekend only, everyone will be dancing in the dark to this beloved Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band tribute. These guys spent years perfecting their set in Vegas and call themselves the world’s number one tribute to Bruce, so grab your Rosalita and let them prove it all night. Catch one performance for $20, or splurge for the $45 pass that gets you into the promised land for all three shows. Photo by Darrell Craig Harris
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Women in Clothes 7 p.m., Free Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass Ave. Contributors Jill Gallagher, Ramou Starr, Ren Jender, and Andrea Michelle Steele meet to talk about the new collection “Women in Clothes,” which features conversations from all cultures and nationalities on the subject of garments. Clothing swap to follow!
January 22
Apples of New England 7 p.m., Free Porter Square Books, 25 White St. Author and New England native Russell Steven Powell offers this practical guide to the fruit of our region.
February 26
Lunch Time Lecture: the Story of the Sphinx 12 - 1 p.m., Free Mount Auburn Cemetery Story Chapel 580 Mount Auburn St. Learn the history behind the cemetery’s granite Sphinx, which has been a fixture since 1872. Coffee and tea provided, BYO lunch.
Events Monday and Wednesday
Trivia Night 9 p.m., No cover Tavern in the Square 730 Mass Ave. Even if you get stumped, you can
ARTS | Every Day Except Monday
Vocal Vibrations 11 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., Suggested $10 donation Le Laboratoire, 650 Kendall St. The opening exhibition at art and design hub Le Laboratoire is a voice and body installation that explores the interrelationship between human physiology and vibrations. The program is the result of collaboration between composer and inventor Tod Machover and architect/ designer Neri Oxman, as well as Buddhist monk Tenzin Priyadarshi and a team of scientists. It also involves something called a “sensorial cocoon.” Runs through March 22.
Calendar
console yourself with one of Tavern in the Square’s 50 draft beers.
we’re salivating too much to keep thinking about them.
Wednesdays
Every Night
Yoga 7 p.m., Free The Democracy Center 45 Mt. Auburn St. Stretch it out with weekly yoga courtesy of the Art of Living Foundation. All are welcome, no registration required.
January 9
AcousticaElectronica 9:30 p.m., $25 - $65 Oberon 2 Arrow St. The energy of a nightclub meets the wow factor of the circus meets the auditory excellence of both electronic and classical music. Also, there’s dancing.
January 30 - 31
#Hack4Congress Free Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center 79 JFK St. Join political scientists, lawyers, designers, psychologists and more for this two-day event that aims to find solutions to the problems ailing our Congress, in areas that range from policy making to art to education.
Food & Drink Every Night
Go Overboard @ Moksa 5 - 7 p.m., $15 Moksa 450 Mass Ave. All of the days, all-you-can-eat sushi from Moksa’s Pan Asian kitchen. Choose from spicy tuna, salmon avocado, shrimp tempura… sorry, there are more options, but
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$1 Oysters After 11 p.m., No Cover Russell House Tavern, 14 JFK St. Oysters. For a dollar.
Sunday - Thursday
Half-Price Menu, $3 Drink Purchase 5 - 7:30 p.m. and 9:00 - 11:30 p.m. Grendel’s Den 89 Winthrop St. As long as you drop 3 bucks on drinks, the menu is half price. So Grendel’s Wild Mussels in White Wine Garlic can be all yours for less than 5 bucks. It pays to be cheap.
Sundays
Sunday Tailgate 1 - 10 p.m., No Cover Artbar 40 Edwin H Land Blvd. Now through the end of the NFL season, stop by Artbar on Sundays for their special gameday menu, which features treats like sliders and chimichurri wings.
Thursdays
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Cask Beer Thursdays 5 p.m., No Cover Park, 59 JFK St. The locally-brewed cask beer changes every week, but great food and fun times are always in the rotation.
Thursdays
Tea Time 3:30 - 5 p.m., Free Collins Branch Library 64 Aberdeen Ave. Enjoy hot tea, cool drinks and other snacks while you peruse the stacks.
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ARTS | February 24
Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War 6 - 7:30 p.m., Free with admission MIT Museum, 265 Mass Ave. It’s entirely possible that you’ve driven or biked down Edwin H Land Boulevard without ever realizing that the road is named for the famed founder of Polaroid. A New England native, Land not only invented the Polaroid camera, but also created inexpensive filters for developing light and pioneered the retinex theory of color vision. Want to learn more? Attend this discussion with Ron Fierstein, Land biographer and author of A Triumph of Genius. The talk will be followed by a book signing.
Private Lessons | Concerts Group Classes | Ensembles scoutcambridge.com January | February 2015
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Calendar
Scout picks
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Photo courtesy of the American Repertory Theater
January 21
Winter Wonderland (of Cheese!) 6:30 p.m., $55 Formaggio Kitchen 67 Smith Pl. Hearty and soul-nourishing, wines and cheeses are ideal treats for winter. At this tasting, you’ll get to try cheeses like Italian mountain pecorinos, Swiss raclette and French Gruyere.
EVENTS | Saturdays
The Donkey Show 10:30 p.m., $25 - $45 Oberon, 2 Arrow St. Every Saturday night, this discoteque take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream comes to Oberon in all of its glittery, glitzy glory. The Off-Broadway production from Tony Awardwinning playwright Diane Paulus takes the 1500s comedy, adds disco and roller skates and subtracts a lot of shirts to create a wild dance party that continues late into the night.
Kids & Teens Every Day
Community Ice Skating Hours vary, $5 adults, $3 kids 12+, $1 kids 12 and under Community Ice Kendall Square 300 Athenaeum St. Bundle up, hit the ice, have some fun.
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FOOD & DRINK | January 27
Lagunitas Brewing Company Beer Dinner 6:30 p.m., $49 Cambridge Common, 1667 Mass Ave. Cambridge Common’s 2015 beer dinner season kicks off with three full courses of Lagunitas brews and food (plus a “welcome beer” to get you started), all for 49 bucks. The menu for January’s dinner was unavailable at press time, but previous Lagunitas Beer Dinners have included pairings like gorgonzola and bacon deviled eggs with Hop Stoopid and blackened shrimp fettucine with Lagunitas IPA. As Homer Simpson would say, “Mmmm, beer.” Get your tickets at brownpapertickets.com.
Second Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Parent Child Book Groups 6 – 7 p.m., Free Cambridge Public Library 449 Broadway No grades and no wrong answers – just a fun, safe space where parents and their kids can discuss books together. Registration required.
February 14 - 22
Boston Children’s Theatre Presents: Pinkalicious Times Vary, $27 Cambridge Family YMCA Between 275 and 820 Mass Ave. One of BCT’s biggest hits ever returns for a limited 2015 run. Come laugh along with this “pinktastic” musical about Pinkalicious and her brother Peter.
SEE FULL LISTINGS AT SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM/CALENDAR
Scout this!
Scout This! Winner Bridget O’Brien
C
ongratulations go out to Bridget O’Brien, who correctly identified the photo in our November/December edition as part of the Dickson Bros. sign in Harvard Square. O’Brien realized that the Scout This! image probably wasn’t an advertisement for pain, and then it hit her: “I thought, I wonder if that says paint!” she says. She stopped by Dickson Bros. during her next trip to Harvard Square, and sure enough, there was the sign. O’Brien has been a Cambridge resident for about two years, and she plans to use her winnings to grab dinner at Oleana. (She’s never been, and looks forward to checking the Inman Square favorite off of her Cambridge bucket list.) Mostly, O’Brien says she’s just happy to win. “I never win anything, so that’s exciting,” she says with a laugh. 26
January | February 2015 scoutcambridge.com
Where in Cambridge was this photo taken? Two ways to enter:
» E-mail scout@scoutmagazines.com with “Scout This!” in the subject line. » Call 617-996-2283.
Please include your name, contact info and a photo of you with the object. Winners must available for interview.
Win $50 !
iz 2 bedroom/2 bath condo with private porch on a pleasant side street between Porter Squares. Near great shops, restaurants, and Harvard campus.
Lynn C. Graham
Road #1 , Somerville ~ $349,000
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.216.5244 cell/text Lynn@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Hills 2 bedroom/1 bath condo with charming details, reonvated kitchen, parking,
RESIDENTIAL SALES
t. #33, Medford ~ $229,000
Mom never liked her, anyhow...
About our company...
d Sq., this 1 bedroom/ 1 1/2 bath condo
We are dedicated to representing our buyer and seller clients Dedicated to representing ourandbuyer seller with integrity professionalism.and We are also commi ed to giving back to our community. Our agents donate $250 to a clients with integrity and professionalism. non-profit in honor of each transaction and Thalia Tringo & Associates Real Estate Inc. also gives $250 to a pre-selected Commi ed to giving back to our community. group of local charities for each transaction.
or building with parking.
g Soon
r St. #8 , Somerville
f Davis Sq., this 2 bedroom/1 bath condo in a brick building has a parking space.
Visit our office,
128 Willow Avenue, Our agents donate $250 to a non-profi t on the bike path in rom Davis and Porter Squares, this on two levels has Davis Square, in3 bedroom/1.5 honorbath ofcondo each transaction and ry, 2 porches, private yard, and exclusive driveway for 3 cars. Somerville. Thalia Tringo & Associates Real Estate Inc. TBA , Somerville $250 to alaundry, pre-selected group of bedroom/1 bath near Prospectgives Hill with central air, in-unit private porch, ard. local charities for each transaction.
TBA , Somerville
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34 EVERETT AVE. SOMERVILLE • 617.666.2080
BUYING OR SELLING A HOME? Contact Top Broker Charles Cherney
It is EASYto advertise with
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SCOUT MAGAZINES.
Please visit www.Prospect97.com to view our new listing! Louise Olson, Senior Associate, 30 years of expert real estate counseling & Scott Kistenberger, Assistant/Partner Your team for excellent service. Celebrating 30 years, representing Buyers & Sellers in Cambridge/ Somerville and surrounds. Accessibility, accountability and steady communication are hallmarks of their approach.
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SERVICES DIRECTORY
REAL ESTATE DIRECTORY
Cambridgerealestate.Com somervillerealestate.Com
Contact publisher Holli Banks at hbanks@scoutmagazines.com and she’ll be more than happy to meet with you, learn more about your business and talk about how Scout might be a good fit for you.
HARVARD SQUARE | 19 Arrow Street, Cambridge
www.robertpaul.com lolson@robertpaul.com | (617) 470-5077
True Home Partners 1730 Mass. Ave. 617-930-1288 TrueHomePartners.com
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LEGAL SERVICES NEW LEAF LEGAL, LLC 649 Mass Ave info@newleaflegal.com Newleaflegal.com Pursue your entrepreneurial dreams. Century 21 Avon 1675 Mass Avenue 617-547-2100 www.century21avon.com scoutcambridge.com January | February 2015
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HARVARD SQUARE
59 JFK Street 617-491-9851 parkcambridge.com
Handcrafted toys, organic clothing, curated books and unique gifts for your little ones.
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and thank you for 25 years of generous support! JAPANESE GIFTS FOR ANY OCCASION (617) 864-5922
1815 Massachusettts Ave, Cambridge Inside the shops at Porter Exchange TOKAIGIFTS.COM
2015: YEAR OF THE SHEEP
VISIT OUR TASTING ROOM — 50 FRESH OILS AND VINEGARS ON TAP — OR SHOP ONLINE.
RESTAURANT DIRECTORY
RETAIL DIRECTORY
HAPPY NEW YEAR
40 JFK Street | (617) 425-4444 tastyburger.com
1 Bennett Street 617-661-5050 rialto-restaurant.com
Salt& O live Fresh oils and vinegars, artisan salts and spices
Saltandolive.com | 1160 Massachusetts Avenue | (857) 242-4118
AUTO SALES John’s Auto Sales 181 Somerville Ave 617-628-5511 johnsautosales.com see ad page 21 28
January | February 2015 scoutcambridge.com
44 Brattle Street | (617) 868-2255 | harvestcambridge.com
CENTRAL SQUARE
UNION SQUARE, SOMERVILLE 907 Main Street 617-491-6616 dumplingroom.com
BEST PIZZA WINNER!
DON’T FORGET TO ASK ABOUT OUR DUMPLING SCHOOL.
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DAVIS SQUARE, SOMERVILLE 65 Holland St. 617-591-2100
120 Washington St. 617-764-0455 oliveirasrestaurante.com
Menu and nightly entertainment schedule at orleansrestaurant.com
RESTAURANT RAVE
MARIE’S PICK: OLIVEIRA’S STEAKHOUSE
“
First and foremost the atmosphere [at Oliveira’s Steakhouse] is relaxing and comfortable... reminds me of being at my family’s house on a Sunday for dinner. The service is great and the I can’t get enough of the Brazilian bbq steak :) – MARIE SCALI
”
SCOUT IS SENDING MARIE A $50 GIFT CARD TO OLIVEIRA’S STEAKHOUSE!
LOVE THESE RESTAURANTS? TELL US WHY AND YOUR NEXT MEAL COULD BE ON US!
Email Scout@scoutmagazines.com with “Restaurant Rave” in the subject line and you could be selected to receive a gift certificate to that restaurant.
scoutcambridge.com January | February 2015
29
RESTAURANT DIRECTORY
1933 Massachusetts Ave. (617) 868-4200 sugarandspicecambridge.com
SCHOOL ST.
SERVING HALF PRICE LATE NIGHT PIZZA AFTER 11PM [EAT IN ONLY]
Scout You
Scout You
Electric Citizen performs at The Middle East in Central Square
Jori from Quincy behind the counter at Mike’s Pastry in Harvard Square
Photos by Jess Benjamin
Erin on a break from Shake Shake, where he works
Adam takes orders at Pinnochio’s Pizza in Harvard Square
Beth sells Spare Change News in Porter Square A rare dusting of snow brightens Harvard Yard
Elizabeth, a Harvard sophomore, outside of Peet’s Coffee in Harvard Square
30 January | February 2015
scoutcambridge.com
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