How to Spend a Big Fat Weekend in Cambridge, MA
Our main point of reference for Cambridge, MA before this trip? Legally Blonde. Like, you know, the place where Elle Woods lived with her dog Bruiser. But, as it turns out, there’s more to the town—and its surrounding neighborhoods, like Somerville—than Harvard. There’s lip-numbingly spicy khao soi, pistachio baklava nests, hidden natural wine shops full of rare bottles... you get the point. Here’s how we spent a big fat weekend in Cambridge and Somerville, and how we suggest you do too.
Photo by Rachel Karten1/9Sofra Bakery & Cafe
Ever have neighborhood restaurant envy? Yeah, that was us at Sofra. We’d do crazy things to live around the corner from chef Ana Sortun and executive pastry chef Maura Kilpatrick’s bakery and cafe. We can see it already: Each morning we’d line up and decide which of Kilpatrick’s many pastries we’d try that day. Would it be the syrupy pistachio baklava nest? Or maybe we’d opt for the donut-like sfenj with a buttermilk glaze. A particularly hard day ahead would call for the kouign amann oozing with NSFW chocolate halvah. And on the weekends, we’d grab a seat, order the milky chai, and dig into the Turkish-style breakfast with a kataifi-wrapped soft-boiled egg, cucumbers, olives, feta, and yogurt. Not a bad life.
Photo by Rachel Karten2/9Juliet
You know that Stefon skit on SNL where Bill Hader describes a club as having something for everybody? Well, that’s sort of like what going to Juliet is like. Just grabbing a latte and pastry? Cool. Want to sit down and have kuku sabzi with some tea? That works too. Want to do date night with a super seasonal prix fixe menu? Go for dinner Wednesday through Saturday for that. Plus, all staff are part of a profit sharing arrangement and are paid a living wage. Their site states: “At Juliet, all staff participate in a profit sharing arrangement with the owners of the restaurant. We count on your having a great time, and returning again and again, with friends. There is absolutely no expectation that you tip. In fact, we prefer that you don’t. We work for wages, and for you; but not tips.” We’re into that part too.
Photo by Emily Schultz3/9Curio Coffee
The best way to get a Bon Appétit editor through your doors? Serve Counter Culture coffee by day and natural wine and hot dogs by night. (BTW, they were just approved for a liquor license, so the evening portion is still being worked out.) We’ve seen great things come of the coffee shop–wine bar hybrid, and we’re excited to see where Curio goes with it. While we only went for a morning cortado re-up, Curio has plenty of seating, which is perfect because they also sell Belgian-style waffles with lots and lots of toppings (whipped ricotta and blueberry compote; cream cheese with everything bagel seasoning; mascarpone cheese, fig spread, Serrano ham, and balsamic...yeah the list keeps going).
Photo by Emily Schultz4/9Albert's Market
New Yorker’s have a tendency to think the world revolves around them, and we are no exception to that rule. Case in point: the bodega. In New York City we thought we had it made being able to grab a BEC (that’s a bacon egg and cheese for the uninitiated) and a kombucha at our local corner store. That is, until we walked into Albert’s, a standard bodega in the front (yes, there are lotto tickets), craft beer and natural wine haven in the back. Fabian Vasquez is the genius behind the collection of rare beers and wine, and also happens to be the son of the shop’s namesake owner. Vasquez grew up in Boston and got a degree in engineering, but decided to help run the family business by turning the back of his parents’ convenience store into a destination for craft beer and natural wine lovers. Think: 2014 Vini Rabasco next to the deli meat and cans of Oxbow steps from the Tide Pods. It’s everything we want and need in a single store.
Photo by Emily Schultz5/9DakZen
Is it crazy to book a trip to Boston just for khao soi? Honestly, no. Because once you’ve had the one at fast-ish casual-ish restaurant DakZen you’ll be doing the same. Two friends who both longed for the flavors they grew up with in Thailand opened the restaurant in Somerville’s Davis Square, and now they’ve got us craving the flavors too. Especially the khao soi. It’s got a lip-tingling spicy broth with boiled egg, crispy-gone-soggy wonton noodles, shredded chicken, and red onion. All that is balanced out by pickled Chinese mustard greens, which add a cooling crunch to the soup. We also got the pad thai goong, which was stir-fried noodles with egg, dried shrimp (for necessary funk), dried turnip, and meaty shrimp. Yeah, we’d book a trip to Boston just to eat that again too.
Photo by Rachel Karten6/9Lamplighter Brewing Co.
If a female-owned coffee shop that sits inside of an amazing craft beer bar doesn’t tickle your fancy, then we have very different tastes in what’s cool. So sorry to hear that—for you. Lamplighter is a microbrewery churning out some extremely tasty North Eastern–style IPAs (think cloudy, unfiltered beers with a bitter hop taste but smooth and creamy mouthfeel), as well as Belgian quads, dry-hopped lagers, and other styles of IPA. They’ve got kombucha on tap from IndieFerm, a local kombucha and beer brewery, as well as coffee from Longfellows. The space is broken up into different rooms, so you can get your work done by the couches and then reward yourself with a tasty brew by the bar area.
Photo by Emily Schultz7/9Rebel Rebel
The mark of a really good spot is if, while on vacation, you go back again. During our one-and-a-half days in Boston we went here twice. Rebel Rebel calls itself a “feminist natural wine bar,” and their cool zines, “SEX, MONEY, POWER” artwork, and all-female-identifying staff suggests that they are. Their by-the-glass list is great, and if you’d like to buy a bottle you can consult one of women behind the bar for guidance. Rebel Rebel sits inside of Bow Market, an actually cool version of the strip mall you grew up with in the suburbs. Grab food from any of the different restaurants that make up the complex and bring into the bar to eat while you sip—like bibimbap made from local ingredients paired with a glass of Austrian Riesling.
Photo by Rachel Karten8/9Tanám
Trying to describe Tanám in a few sentences is almost impossible, but here goes: It’s a Filipino restaurant. It’s also a bar. It’s an art space (with some politics thrown in there) too. On Wednesdays they serve a kamayan-style dinner, a traditional Filipino feast served on a spread of banana leaves, typically eaten with your hands. And on other nights they serve a set prix fixe menu that’s coursed to the verses of a traditional Filipinx folk-song song. (Afterward, you get a zine that provides context for everything you just ate.) To call Tanám ambitious is an understatement, and chef Ellie Tiglao pulls it off.
Photo by Emily Schultz9/9Pammy's x Yume Ga Arukara
To say we were excited about a collaboration between Pammy’s, a “new-American trattoria,” and Yume Ga Arukara, a Japanese udon shop serving niku (beef) soup, is a lie. We were beyond thrilled. (The two restaurants met as a result of making it on our 2018 BA Top 50 restaurants list; Yume Ga Arukara won a place on the BA Hot 10.) We couldn’t wait to see how Pammy’s Italian flavors and American techniques would match up with Arukara’s iconic udon. The result was a dinner with a ton of highlights: A spaghetti vongole with shishito pepper and sesame bread crumbs; those iconic udon noodles sprinkled with shungiku greens, raiyu chile oil, and coconut; and a yuzu zeppole with black sesame ice cream. Each dish was paired with either an Italian natural wine or a Japanese sake. Though the dinner itself was a one-off event, these delicious vibes carry through at each of the restaurants. Definitely check out them both when you’re in the area.
