PK Deli in Cambridge. Hole-in-the-wall, gargantuan subs, solid quality (esp. pastrami), approx. $10 and definitely passes the crucial test of: "I can get two meals out of this, but I want to just finish it now and spend the whole afternoon out of commission in a food coma".

Cafe Rustica: Down the street from P&K, not huge, but tasty and decently-sized and in the $10-12 range.

Roust: maybe. Took over the Mt. Auburn Darwin's. Kept a lot of things the same, though TBD if they can hold the candle to the former sandwhich kingpin's quality. The price is also borderline...

I mostly list Roust bc I was a former Darwinian and they are the most logical Successor Sandwich to the fallen great.

Same... as crushing as the loss of Darwin's coffee and sandwiches was, the loss of the "3rd spaces" they provided is awful too. I used both the Cambridge and Putnam Darwin's for just like, browsing emails/doing light reading work before actually beginning work, esp. Sunday mornings when the library is closed (lol I have to work Sundays being a postdoc sux).

Now there's nowhere to go... I have to actually go to work which is blah.

Really hoping SOMETHING goes into the Cambridge St. space... it's a complete deadzone between Harvard and Inman without Darwin's. If not Cambridge than Putnam... would be great to get a coffee coming from Inman/Central towards Harvard w/o having to go into the square.

At this point, I'll even settle for the 59th Tatte in Cambridge if it just opens up Cambridge and/or Putnam.

It looks like the regional branch of an evil fictional corporation from an 80's Sci-Fi movie. Weyland-Yutani, Tyrell Corp, Omni Consumer Products, Cyberdyne, the like.

Which means it fucking slaps.

City Hall would be absolute fire with a light covering of moss or vines.

Blade Runner meets Jedi Temple vibes.

We're pretty fucked in the short- and medium-term...

but by-right construction of up to 6 stories anywhere within 0.5 miles of the T and up to 4 units on SFH lots everywhere else would go a long long way to restoring balance and affordability to the market.

10/10 non-Storrowing.

Unconventional. Unusual location, no height marker or staties, but cops and construction dudes on the scene talking about something probably unrelated to the truck accident. No axial twist or elevation, can opener is partial, but quite extensive, involving twisted metal in all three dimensions. Is this the BACK of the truck that got crunched? Speaking of crunched, uncommon and highly entertaining load (peanut butter... hopefully not Teddie).

Overall highly unconventional, but in every aspect leading to deeper mysteries than the run-of-the-mill moving truck GPS snafu we see so commonly here.

Lyndell's has a pretty solid jelly donut that can work as a Paczki in a pinch!

You’ll need roommates but it’ll be fine if you don’t have other financial commitments. Get some cool roommates and live in Somerville near Porter or Davis, or Central/Cambridgeport. Don’t bother with a car, and if near campus shop at Market Basket and cook a lot and it’ll be ok.

Lamont at Harvard is 24-7 on weekdays…

… but without Harvard ID you’re not getting in.

Be sure to ask for the Vanilla Nut Taps when you got there!

It's usually not too bad if you can swing by on a weekday. Not everyone can of course, but like 10 AM on a Tuesday is usually not too crowded.

It's not $10 cheap, but for a restaurant meal it's pretty damn good... great "uh oh our group of 10 starving grad students need dinner right now!" place.

I checked 'em out today. I didn't see chai on the menu right away, I ask if they have it, he goes "you can try our chai!" and promptly pours a sample. It was top notch, so I got a big one. Yafa seems like a great addition to Camberville I will be back!

To you and all the Yafa recommenders... wow that chai slaps! Very strong spice flavor (cardamom and another I couldn't quite place) with a good amount of tea. It was absolutely delicious on a cold afternoon.

Wait until she finds out about buses...

It's like a car, but it's bigger and you walk to it, and then get off and walk to where you want to go... like say a gluten-free bakery.

Trains are the same... but bigger and don't run in traffic... except in Brookline.

The replacement for the Mt. Auburn Darwin's will soon be Roust Coffee, going into the same location. Cafe Faro advertised a ton at the Cambridge locale in the final days... could be a Putnam replacement... seems really over-the-top hipster though.

We'll be fine on coffee, so many great options (Barismo, Broadsheet, 1369, Cicada, so many others).

Sandwiches is a bit tougher... especially Cambridge and Putnam, as they were "strategically located" far enough from Harvard and Inman that they didn't face much competition, but that means that there are few other options in the area.

Harvard Market is solid, another Somerville-side option is P&K Deli. Giant, high-quality subs for a good price. Darwin's always felt like walking into a 1999 vibe... P&K feels like walking into 1979.

Darwin’s regular here. They closed on Dec 22, all locations. I walk by the empty husk of one of their locations every day.

I now have to make my own pour over coffee and pack a lunch twice as often often.

My wallet is happy, but my heart is sad.

We're a Chicago sub now!

“Boston-based Entrepreneurs from Non-Traditional Backgrounds Seek to Disrupt Surgery. But are Their Claims Just Made of Vapor?”

-STAT News headline, circa 1846.

Hmm... where else have I heard of a simple, effective medical advance able to save millions of lives and reduce the suffering of tens of millions more being developed largely in the Greater Boston Area?

And then getting rejected by some portions of the rest of the country bc they don't like the "elites" in their "hub of the universe"...

Barismo doesn't have internet IIRC.

I went there early 2021 to do a big edit on a paper (all text, no need for the interwebs, in fact the interwebs would just be a distraction). I sat down and opened my laptop and the barista was like, "Sir, there's no WiFi here".

I took a slow sip from my cappuccino,

looked them in the eye,

and said, "I know."

Biden is bringing the IRA* back to Boston tomorrow to lay a righteous smackdown on their asses.

*Inflation Reduction Act

Space Karen charges everyone $8/mo to be able to get OFF commuter rail (regular passes and tickets still work to get on them, you need a special “blue check” ticket to get off them).

Hmm… the business managed to last 30 years and each location has nearly constant traffic at the highest price point in the area. I never got the specifics, but the employees involved in negotiations as well as the owner in a YouTube video all indicated high profit margins for a cafe.

Probably not profitable enough to pay $24/hr like the “Socialist Alternative” faction wanted, but that was deeply unrealistic. But profitable enough to stay afloat as a CO-OP… I’d bet yes. I agree no sane entrepreneur would buy them out due to the union, but it the union itself just buys the equipment and rents the space and largely keeps the supply chain (with some trimming of unprofitable items) I bet it could work very very well.

Whatever replacement goes in also faces the same economics and I’d bet you a Tempeh Tantrum that the locations get snatched up very quickly.