A 15-Year-Old Somerville Cafe Has to Move Due to an ‘Unreasonable Landlord’

Welcome back to AM Intel, a Monday morning round-up of mini news bites to kick off the week.

The Biscuit Is on the Move

Somerville cafe the Biscuit, open for 15 years at the intersection that’s also home to Dali and several other restaurants, is slated to close its doors at the end of the month at 406 Washington St. The cafe is running an Indiegogo campaign to help with relocation, hoping to raise $150,000 over the next couple of months.

“After 15 years at 406 Washington St., and six years of fruitless negotiation with an unreasonable landlord, the Biscuit will be forced to close on December 31, 2019,” writes cofounder Andrew Platt on the campaign page. “We did not lose the space due to rent increase, nor because the space will be demolished for condo development. We lost the space because the owner of the property wants it empty and fallow, like the majority of their other properties in the neighborhood. This eviction is devastating, both for the Biscuit, its many, many employees, and the neighboring community.”

There’s good news, though: There’s a new location in the works, a short walk from the old one. “It’s a unique space, and subterranean...it does require a significant amount of renovation, and re-imagination,” per the campaign page. Donors will receive gift cards of greater monetary value than their donations to be used at the so-called “Biscuit in the Basement” when the move is complete.

Go Ice Skating and Eat Waffles

There’s now a “winter village” in Boston’s Seaport District — open through February 2020 at 65 Northern Ave., where Seaport Boulevard and Fan Pier Boulevard intersect — and the Waffle Cabin will soon join the mix, debuting later this month. Other than waffles (and warm beverages), Snowport Winter Village includes an ice skating rink and hosts events such as iceless curling, yoga, and more.

The Waffle Cabin has locations across the country these days, mostly at ski resorts, but it got its start as a pushcart at Boston’s own Quincy Market back in 1998. A few years ago, it popped up for a winter in Kendall Square, Cambridge.

In Other News...

• A business called Kookoonelli (stylized as koo⋅koo⋅nelli) is currently seeking investments via Mainvest. It will pop-up at Somerville’s Bow Market in June and July 2020 selling sustainable clothing, household items, and more, but the plan is to have a larger, permanent location by August 1, 2020, that will include a small cafe and a yoga and Pilates studio. The cafe will serve smoothies, grain bowls, and pre-packaged items.
• Boston-based Broadway Hospitality Group — which is behind the Broadway, the Tavern in the Square chain, Tavern Allston, and Tavitas — is planning a 500-seat restaurant for Worcester’s Mercantile Center, complete with a rooftop bar. It could open in early 2021. Fancy steakhouse chain Ruth’s Chris (which just expanded to Somerville) is also opening at the Mercantile Center.
• This is just a cool historical photo showcasing an operating carousel bar, appropriately called the Merry-Go-Round Bar, which opened shortly after the repeal of Prohibition inside what was then the Copley Plaza Hotel. The bar was open for over 40 years. The space is now home to Oak Long Bar & Kitchen, and the hotel is now the Fairmont Copley.

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