Patrick Lee has been carving out a small restaurant empire in and around Harvard Square for more than 15 years. Now, with the newly opened Park restaurant, Lee’s Grafton Group has nearly 16,000 square feet of restaurant space in the neighborhood spread among four restaurants.
When Hurricane Sandy battered Harvard Square, Cambridge businesses were forced to reassess their usual consumer priorities. While some Harvard Square staples experienced regular levels of patronage, others found their decisions to close early or not open at all worthwhile.
If you’re looking for some insight into how the elections are going to play out, just look at the burger menu at Mr. Bartley’s Gourmet Burgers in Harvard Square. Famous for frying up 7-ounce celebrity-inspired burgers, the 50-year-old restaurant’s constantly evolving menu currently features 11 burgers named after politicians.
In honor of Food Day—a national event that promotes healthy, affordable, and sustainable food—Harvard Square has partnered up with local restaurants to offer delicious events for foodies, health-conscious eaters, and sustainable diners alike.Starting at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, a total of nine restaurants—from b.good and Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe to Rialto and UpStairs on the Square—will set up tables on Brattle Plaza to serve sustainable bites to patrons for free.
In a couple of years, maybe, folks will greet each other on October 24 with cries of “Happy Food Day!” The event, created by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, hasn’t yet achieved the high profile of, say, Earth Day, but it’s well on its way, with talks, dinners, demos and more in Massachusetts and the nation.
Nobody in Harvard Square will ever forget the April afternoon that Dennis Coveney and his fiancée, Kelly, tied the knot in the pouring rain on a Brattle Street sidewalk, an event like none other.
This September, the Harvard Square Business Association is sponsoring a month-long celebration of Harvard Square’s artistic and cultural heritage called “Revival Month”.”Harvard Square used to be a place where people used to come together [and] play music, and it was such a wonderful celebration of folk music and tradition,” said Denise Jillson, Executive Director of the HSBA.
The World’s Only Curious George Store in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass., may also hold the distinction of hosting the world’s first children’s specialty store cash mob last Saturday, or at least the first one in New England. The event was the brainchild of Kellie Celia, marketing communications manager, publishing of Walden Pond Press at Walden Pond Media, in tandem with store manager Broche Fabian.
It’s a lament heard year after year: “What happened to the eclectic Harvard Square of old and how did come to resemble a suburban shopping mall?”