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Closed kosher deli in Brookline to become Indian place
By adamg on Thu, 09/07/2017 - 1:43pm
Boston Restaurant Talk reports that the old Rubin's on Harvard Street, which closed last summer will become the new home of Shan-A-Punjab, an Indian restaurant that's now a few blocks further south on Harvard.
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Comments
Will it be a kosher Indian
Will it be a kosher Indian restaurant, like Shalom Punjab?
Hmm
So like. . .Halal?
NYC has a cluster of
NYC has a cluster of vegetarian Indian restaurants on Lexington Avenue in the 20s. At one point, most of them decided to get kosher certification, because hey why not pick up some more business from NYC's observant Jews if the ingredients are already kosher-compatible?
Changing demographics
.
I don't think it's changing demographics. Rubin's finally
went by the boards because it had been terrible for decades.
With our large Jewish population (notably in Brookline and Newton), it has long baffled me that we had no great traditional Jewish delis. (Don't talk to me about Zaftig's. Call me when Michael's moves past great corned beef and serves decent bread.)
The debut of Mamaleh's was a huge upgrade to our scene. I'm curious to see how good a job with trad Jewish deli the Franklin Cafe people do. Their new place, Our Father's Deli, is scheduled to open in Lower Allston on October 1.
If Rubin's was "terrible for
If Rubin's was "terrible for decades," wouldn't it be long GONE decades ago?!?
Truth is the Gellerman family (Rubin's owners) decided to retire after finding out the restaurant upgrades they wanted were more than they can handle this time around. They sold the building and the restaurant to the Danesh family who tried to find someone to run Rubin's, but after one year all they heard was crickets. They didn't invest $2 million in a building to have it sit vacant forever.
Can't imagine what your story is about why Irving's Toy and Card shop (which was a short walk down the street from Rubin's) closed last year...
Many places hang on long after they've gone downhill.
Remember Marliave before chef Scott Herritt bought it? Like the old Marliave, I found Rubin's to be sad, seedy and awful 20 years before it closed, and a more recent visit was worse. Perhaps the lack of any other kosher deli options in the area helped prolong its senescence.
It's a restaurant; nobody's an authority on taste. You may have found it wonderful.
I managed to get by Irving's while toy shopping for nieces and nephews a few years back, just a few weeks before it closed. (I bought a set of fake stick-on mustaches.) That story is a simpler one: it went away when Ethel died, RIP.
Re: Irving's
Based on your attitude towards Rubin's, I was expecting you'd say "Ethel is turning in her grave for what her daughters had done. They should have kept Irving's going. The grandkids should be running the store! Big shame on all of them!" That is what much of the community had been saying to this day (if you weren't aware) without knowing the deeper details beyond that simpler story.
Construction
I wonder what this means for Shan-a-Punjab's unfinished construction project.
someone bought the land
I don't recall what is going in, apartments I think (which is great, more density for Harvard St!). I don't recall if it included ground floor retail (it should!). I was sad at the prospect of loosing shan-a-punjab so I'm happy it's just moving down the block.
of course, my preference...
would be for apartments to go into the rubin's space with shan-a-punjab at the ground floor there.
There's no reason for single-story retail (no matter how delicious) along Harvard St.