Hey, there! Log in / Register
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
BOOOOOOOOOO!
BOOOOOOOOOO!
This on the heels of Thorntons...
Feels like a redevelopment of that strip of one stories is imminent.
Redevelopment? I doubt it cause the landlord…
(Monty Gold) doesn’t care if the place stays vacant for tax purposes ;)
Turns out...
You can make more money with redevelopment than a tax break.
Also
56 or so deep pocketed chains moving into the area in the past 15 years hasn't helped the cause much for local places in the Fenway.
Long gone are the days that there was just Sorrento's, one other Italian place, and then Boylston St having BK, McDonald's, and D'Angelos and a few other small places.
I miss..
Captain Nemo's
Chains
I don't disagree. Boston used to be light on chains apart from the huge fast food franchises. Now it feels like most new small take-out restaurants are part of a group, even if that group is just a few locations.
I've yet to go to any restaurant which hasn't dropped in quality a bit after they opened they second and subsequent locations.
Local chains
Life Alive seems to be fine; and it helps to have more locations so the lines out the door at Central aren't a thing anymore.
Flour and Tatte seem to have kept quality up pretty well.
Sofra is kind of a chain.
El Pelon was a chain. Will their other location get better now that it isn't?
El Pelon had two locations...
Now it has one. Wouldn't call that a chain. Chains are generally at least three and that would be a very small chain.
Tatte
Didn't Tatte sell out to Panera, like ten years ago?
Queensberry = West Fenway (ugh)
Having been a purveyor of McDonalds and Burger King (and White Hen Pantry) during my Boston Latin Academy days, that area of the Fenway has gentrified so much I call it "Little Manhattan." Even the 55 Queensbury bus has been renamed 55 West Fenway, and I can surmise that the Peterborough/Queensberry street area will get their luxury apartments soon.
On the other hand, going over to the Target over at Fenway is far more convenient than schlepping over to South Bay, Watertown or Everett, and has a lot more than the "fun size" Target in Roslindale.
And the 55
only runs 6 hours a day now.
Used to run to Park Street station
The 55 used smaller 35' buses to navigate narrow Newbury Street to Queensberry and on Park Street near the State House.
The route was cut back to Copley in the 2000s and the frequency during the pandemic.
Yes...
I remember those days.
It was always the west fens
"West Fens" isn't new.
Except that s/he was talking about...
the bus route, not the neighborhood. It was Queensberry not West Fenway.
I'm a he :-)
No offense taken - at least you're not talking to a bot!
I still call it the Queensbury bus - and I still take it back to Copley when I visit Target.
There were a few good places as well
...and unfortunately, since most have closed, I can't tell you all their names. There was a Brazilian place on Jersey Street between Queensberry and Park Drive that had an amazing feijoada on weekends. Stars Ocean on Kilmarnock looked like a standard americanized Chinese restaurant, but they had the best hot and sour soup on the planet, and a few other memorable dishes. And Rod Dee on Peterborough. Those were the days.
That hurts
El Pelon has been a great neighbor and always stepped up to support local community organizations. Property owner and overall bad guy Monty Gold must have expensive plans for the block - that does not include small locally owed businesses. It was very sad to lose Thorntons, and this makes it even worse.
wow
wow - surprised but I guess, not so much. I've noticed those stores getting much less foot traffic over the last year. There are some that are relatively new: an Indian place, a newer gyro spot that replaced the last one, and a new dumpling place. There's also a Korean place slated to open within days, if it hasn't already, as well as existing Thai and crepe place. Wonder what the future hold for them?
Speaking of "wow"...
...is the new Indian place the Wow Tikka? I guess it's a chain (there's one at the Longwood Food Court too, I believe), but I've gotten take out several times and it was great. And the staff was really nice too!
This hurts
It was probably ~23 years ago I had a friend tell me they were the best burritos in the city and for a long time, they where.
They lost their mojo after the fire although were still solid. The plantains were great.
But I've only be going once every few months at this point but they always seemed to have a steady stream of people for weekday lunch so this is unexpected.
Decline in quality
We used to get Anna’s when the kids were young then switched up to El Pelon. Leading up to the pandemic it wasn’t the same - we started going to Los Amigos which I think has the best burritos now.
I remember when Boca Grandes made a push int9 Brookline in the early 2000#, mainly out of spite, Boca and Anna’s are owned by a pair of Japanese American siblings from the Bay Area who ad a terrible falling out many years back.
I agree
that the quality declined. But I'm trying to figure out how they maintained a 4.5 star rating on Google if a lot of people felt that way.
Declined from fantastic to just very good
I still think they are great and I'm going to sorely miss them when they are gone. I just don't think they are ~2001 great at this point.