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Arrow Street Arts to Begin Programming in Renovated Performance Spaces This April

The Harvard Square venue will reopen its larger performance space, hosting Boston Opera Collaborative’s production of Carmen beginning April 4.

Arrow Street Arts is set to begin regular programming in its newly renovated performance spaces beginning April 1, 2024. The Harvard Square venue will reopen its larger performance space, the flexible Black Box Theater, hosting Boston Opera Collaborative’s production of Carmen with performances beginning April 4. That production will be followed by other opera, music, theater, and dance performances throughout the spring and early summer.

Arrow Street Arts’ 1,100 square foot street-front Studio space opened in January 2024, and is already hosting dance classes, workshops, meetings, rehearsals, and performances, including many supported by grants through the Arrow Street Arts Fund at the Cambridge Community Foundation.

Due to an installation delay with the venue’s bespoke telescopic seating system, ASA’s launch festival, originally planned for March 2024, has been moved to September 2024.

The fall launch festival, produced for Arrow Street Arts by Cambridge-based Liars and Believers (Georgia Lyman, executive producer and Jason Slavick, artistic director), will offer a wide variety of performances, events, and gatherings celebrating the vibrant diversity of the local performing arts community. The festival will take place September 7-14, 2024, marking the grand opening of ASA’s Harvard Square venue. All artists who responded to the open call for the original March dates are being considered by the selection panel for the rescheduled festival. Details on the performer lineup will be announced later this spring.

Throughout the first six months of this year, five performing arts companies will activate the Arrow Street Arts spaces with support awarded through the Arrow Street Arts Fund at the Cambridge Community Foundation (CCF), established by the two organizations to increase equitable access to the performance spaces for artists and arts organizations who wish to present their work at ASA’s venues. These inaugural CCF/Arrow Street Arts Fund grant recipients (listed below) will use ASA’s space for projects of their own design, including theatrical performances, teaching residencies for choreographers, multidisciplinary dance showcases, and open dance studios. For more information on future CCF grants, visit: https://cambridgecf.org/grantmaking/arrow-street-arts-fund/

Inaugural Arrow Street Arts Fund awards were made by CCF to these organizations:

Boston Opera Collaborative (BOC) is committed to reducing barriers for opera artists and audiences. Their programming centers around providing professional performing opportunities for emerging artists in the Boston area and bringing intimate and unique operatic experiences to the Boston area. At Arrow Street Arts, BOC will present Georges Bizet‘s and Peter Brook‘s La Tragédie de Carmen (Carmen), April 4-7, 2024.

Janelle Gilchrist Dance Troupe is a women-led and Black-owned Ballet company that works within the Cambridge community. Funding from their Arrow Street Arts grant will be used to showcase two works in ASA’s Black Box Theater: Journeys 2018 and Danzas y Canciones. Rehearsals and performances take place in the Black Box Theater July 19-21, 2024.

Through the Nourish project, Jessica Roseman Dance works with Black mothers from Cambridge in partnership with Cambridge Center For Families to provide a healing, creative community together. This work has inspired Jessica’s new choreographed work, also called Nourish. Funding will be used to hold periodic open rehearsals and showcase Jessica’s solo dance as it develops. Rehearsals will continue for six months, culminating in two performances in the Studio scheduled for June 21-22, 2024, and a series of lunchtime community showings on February 28, April 24, and May 29.

CCF funding will support Jo-Mé Dance’s upcoming show, Guilty Until Proven Innocent (The Sean Ellis Story) in ASA’s Black Box Theater in June 2024 (exact dates TBA). This contemporary dance work, choreographed by Joe González and featuring majority BIPOC Boston- and Cambridge-based contemporary dancers, will be based on the story of Sean Ellis, a 19-year-old Black man wrongfully imprisoned in Boston for 22 years.

Midday Movement Series will use funding to offer a process-focused platform supporting early-career and mid-career contemporary dance-makers to deepen their works-in-progress through a three-pronged approach. Six artists/companies will participate in month-long teaching residencies with a final informal showing of work-in-progress. All six works-in-progress will be presented for two performances in ASA’s Black Box Theater on Saturday, July 13, 2024. All program components are free to the artists (except classes, where artists earn 60% fees) and free or low-cost for audiences.


Arrow Street Arts to Begin Programming in Renovated Performance Spaces This AprilArrow Street Arts is set to begin regular programming in its newly renovated performance spaces beginning April 1, 2024. The Harvard Square venue will reopen its larger performance space, the flexible Black Box Theater, hosting Boston Opera Collaborative’s production of Carmen with performances beginning April 4. That production will be followed by other opera, music, theater, and dance performances throughout the spring and early summer.

Arrow Street Arts’ 1,100 square foot street-front Studio space opened in January 2024, and is already hosting dance classes, workshops, meetings, rehearsals, and performances, including many supported by grants through the Arrow Street Arts Fund at the Cambridge Community Foundation.

Due to an installation delay with the venue’s bespoke telescopic seating system, ASA’s launch festival, originally planned for March 2024, has been moved to September 2024.

The fall launch festival, produced for Arrow Street Arts by Cambridge-based Liars and Believers (Georgia Lyman, executive producer and Jason Slavick, artistic director), will offer a wide variety of performances, events, and gatherings celebrating the vibrant diversity of the local performing arts community. The festival will take place September 7-14, 2024, marking the grand opening of ASA’s Harvard Square venue. All artists who responded to the open call for the original March dates are being considered by the selection panel for the rescheduled festival. Details on the performer lineup will be announced later this spring.

Five Organizations to Offer Performances as Inaugural CCF/ASA Fund Grant Recipients

Throughout the first six months of this year, five performing arts companies will activate the Arrow Street Arts spaces with support awarded through the Arrow Street Arts Fund at the Cambridge Community Foundation (CCF), established by the two organizations to increase equitable access to the performance spaces for artists and arts organizations who wish to present their work at ASA’s venues. These inaugural CCF/Arrow Street Arts Fund grant recipients (listed below) will use ASA’s space for projects of their own design, including theatrical performances, teaching residencies for choreographers, multidisciplinary dance showcases, and open dance studios. For more information on future CCF grants, visit: https://cambridgecf.org/grantmaking/arrow-street-arts-fund/

Inaugural Arrow Street Arts Fund awards were made by CCF to these organizations:

Boston Opera Collaborative (BOC) is committed to reducing barriers for opera artists and audiences. Their programming centers around providing professional performing opportunities for emerging artists in the Boston area and bringing intimate and unique operatic experiences to the Boston area. At Arrow Street Arts, BOC will present Georges Bizet‘s and Peter Brook‘s La Tragédie de Carmen (Carmen), April 4-7, 2024.

Janelle Gilchrist Dance Troupe is a women-led and Black-owned Ballet company that works within the Cambridge community. Funding from their Arrow Street Arts grant will be used to showcase two works in ASA’s Black Box Theater: Journeys 2018 and Danzas y Canciones. Rehearsals and performances take place in the Black Box Theater July 19-21, 2024.

Through the Nourish project, Jessica Roseman Dance works with Black mothers from Cambridge in partnership with Cambridge Center For Families to provide a healing, creative community together. This work has inspired Jessica’s new choreographed work, also called Nourish. Funding will be used to hold periodic open rehearsals and showcase Jessica’s solo dance as it develops. Rehearsals will continue for six months, culminating in two performances in the Studio scheduled for June 21-22, 2024, and a series of lunchtime community showings on February 28, April 24, and May 29.

CCF funding will support Jo-Mé Dance’s upcoming show, Guilty Until Proven Innocent (The Sean Ellis Story) in ASA’s Black Box Theater in June 2024 (exact dates TBA). This contemporary dance work, choreographed by Joe González and featuring majority BIPOC Boston- and Cambridge-based contemporary dancers, will be based on the story of Sean Ellis, a 19-year-old Black man wrongfully imprisoned in Boston for 22 years.

Midday Movement Series will use funding to offer a process-focused platform supporting early-career and mid-career contemporary dance-makers to deepen their works-in-progress through a three-pronged approach. Six artists/companies will participate in month-long teaching residencies with a final informal showing of work-in-progress. All six works-in-progress will be presented for two performances in ASA’s Black Box Theater on Saturday, July 13, 2024. All program components are free to the artists (except classes, where artists earn 60% fees) and free or low-cost for audiences.

The Arrow Street Arts Fund at the Cambridge Community Foundation is accepting additional applications through February 15, 2024, and a second round of grants will be awarded in March. For more information, visit: https://cambridgecf.org/grantmaking/arrow-street-arts-fund/

Performances This Spring/Summer by Cambridge-Based Arts Organizations

With the first production in ASA’s Studio opening February 16, 2024, Cambridge-based Moonbox Productions, the resident theater company at Arrow Street Arts, will present The Manic Monologues. The Manic Monologues brings to life incredible true stories that will challenge and inform your ideas about what it means to be touched by a mental health condition. The Manic Monologues runs through February 25.

Longy School of Music of Bard College, also located in Harvard Square, will present its spring opera production, Rachel Portman‘s and Nicholas Wright‘s The Little Prince, in the Black Box Theater April 12-13, 2024. The production features students in Longy’s Vocal Studies and Orchestra FLEX programs.

Following its February production of The Manic Monologues, Moonbox Productions will return to the Black Box Theater with The Mermaid Hour, a play by David Valdes April 26-May 19, 2024. For Pilar and Bird, parenting a trans tween is all about guessing how to get it right when they’re not even sure what that means—and it doesn’t help that they’re not on the same page. Vi just wishes they would keep up: she’s busy navigating her first crush on super-cool Jacob, obsessing over her favorite YouTube vlogger, and just about ready to make herself an internet sensation. Fast-paced, funny, and heartfelt, The Mermaid Hour finds all three confronting the gaps between who they are and who they wish to be.

For more information and to book tickets for any event at Arrow Street Arts, visit arrowstarts.org.

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The Harvard Crimson

Fans, Critics Spill the Beans on New Mexican Restaurant Achilito’s

Achilito’s, a small chain of Mexican restaurants based around Massachusetts, opened its newest location in Harvard Square earlier this year.

Though the restaurant already has locations in Jamaica Plain, Brighton, and Foxborough, its 84 Winthrop Street location marks its first foray into the Cambridge area. The menu features a variety of Mexican and Latin American dishes, ranging from burritos, quesadillas, and bowls to empanadas, elotes, and pupusas.

Daniel Wood, a West Cambridge resident, said he was driven by a sense of curiosity to try Achilito’s, but it was the quality of the food and service that led him to return.

“When it opened, I wanted to give them a shot because they looked like they were working really hard to get the place off the ground,” Wood said.

But Wood said he quickly appreciated “wonderful” staff and high quality of food.

“I really have noticed the freshness of the food,” he said. “And it’s affordable, the small and large portions.”

But Taj S. Gulati ’25 said his experience with the food at Achilito’s was “not that good.”

“It’s really wet,” he said. “It’s quite moist. And that might be some people’s yum — I personally don’t enjoy it.”

Achilito’s staff did not respond to requests for comment.

Achilito’s will face tough competition in Harvard Square, which is known for the dominance of El Jefe’s Taqueria and Felipe’s Taqueria, two Mexican restaurants appreciated by students for their long hours.

Both have withstood the longstanding, fierce competition for the Square’s demand for Mexican food.

Some customers expressed disappointment about the new addition. Gulati said that instead of another Mexican restaurant, Harvard Square would be better served by more culinary variety.

“You do not need another Mexican restaurant. We have Jefe’s, we have Felipe’s,” Gulati said. “They’re cute. They have a little rivalry.”

“Maybe get some late night Chinese food, a late night Indian place,” he added. “I didn’t need a third [Mexican] option.”

Francisco Lagos, a kitchen manager at Felipe’s, said the natural response to Achilito’s is to stay consistent and “keep everything fresh.”

“We are focusing on what we’re doing,” Lagos said. “We have to keep the same quality.”

Still, Lagos suggested that Felipe’s may consider extending its weeklong hours to stay competitive.

Wood said that Achilito’s arrival onto the Mexican food scene in Harvard Square may improve the quality of existing restaurants.

“That keeps everybody on their toes,” he said. “Anytime you have competing businesses, you’re going to want to make sure your place is up to par.”

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The Boston Globe

Photos: See Annette Bening parade through Cambridge as Hasty Pudding’s Woman of the Year


Annette Bening was honored as the 2024 Woman of the Year in Cambridge on Tuesday.

The Oscar-nominated actress sat between Hasty Pudding Theatrical members Nikita Nair and Joshua Hillers in a gray convertible during the afternoon parade through Harvard Yard. Other Hasty Pudding cast members, dressed in colorful costumes, danced around the convertible, forming a semi-protective bubble around Bening.

The car parked just outside of Harvard Yard, where she gathered with cast members and others to take photos. As she was escorted away to prepare for the evening’s festivities, the Blue Man Group and Chelsea Vuong, the 2023 Miss Massachusetts and a 2021 Harvard University graduate, stayed behind to take photos with supporters and dance.

Annette Bening received kisses from Crystal Manyloun, left, and Maureen Clare during the photo session after the Hasty Pudding Roast.

A celebratory roast of Bening took place following the parade on Tuesday night, where she was presented with the golden pudding pot at Farkas Hall, the home of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals since 1888. Bening also attended a press conference after the roast, as well as a performance of Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 175th production, “Heist Heist Baby.”

The Woman of the Year award is the latest honor bestowed upon Bening, a two-time Golden Globe winner and five-time Oscar nominee known for her roles in “Nyad,” “The Grifters,” and “American Beauty.”

Barry Keoghan, of “Saltburn,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” and “Dunkirk,” was honored last Friday as the group’s Man of the Year, an honor given annually since its inception in 1967.
Hasty Pudding is the oldest theatrical group in the United States and one of the oldest in the world. Since 1951, it has annually presented a Woman of the Year award to “performers who have made lasting and impressive contributions to the world of entertainment,” according to a press release. Past recipients have included Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Scarlett Johansson, and most recently Boston’s own Jennifer Coolidge.

Members of Hasty Pudding Theatricals leading out Annette Bening during the parade for Harvard's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year on Tuesday.
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The Boston Globe

Harvard Book Store shelves plan for second location in the Pru

The owners blamed ‘considerable’ economic challenges, ‘including supply chain disruptions and escalating costs’

Cambridge-based Harvard Book Store will not be opening a second store in the Prudential Center, after its owners announced Friday that the project faced “considerable” economic challenges, including “ongoing supply chain disruptions and escalating costs” from the fallout of the pandemic.

It’s sour news for the Boston literary scene, which once cheered the opportunity to see the beloved bookstore expand inside one of the city’s busiest shopping centers. Now it is unclear what will fill the nearly 30,000-square-foot empty storefront inside the Pru, previously occupied by Barnes & Noble. (Prudential Center landlord Boston Properties did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Co-owner Jeff Mayersohn said the announcement, while frustrating, offers a chance for the bookstore to refocus on upgrading the original Harvard Square outpost.

“While [the Pru] project has now been canceled, we are investing in improvements at our flagship Cambridge location, which has always been the heart of Harvard Book Store,” a statement from the bookstore team read. “The cancellation of the Pru project is humbling and disappointing.”

Harvard Book Store has only recently recovered from a pandemic-era dip in revenue, thanks to a surge in customers and hundreds of events and author readings last year, Mayersohn said.

“I’m pleased to say we are finally back to where we were prior to the pandemic,” he added. “That does not mean that we don’t understand how disheartening the news about the Prudential location is for the Back Bay neighborhood, and really, all of Boston.”

Mayersohn and his co-owners — wife Linda Seamonson, and John Henry, who also owns Boston Globe Media — once imagined the Pru location as a community hub, home to an expansive book inventory, children’s section, and event space.

The project marked the first major off-site expansion of the Harvard Book Store since the Harvard Book Store Cafe on Newbury Street closed in 1994,and a significant move under the leadership of the Henrys, who bought into the business as part-owner in December 2021.

In an emailed statement, Linda Henrysaid that the couple “are continuing to invest in Harvard Book Store to ensure that it remains a thriving, sustainable hub for readers, writers, and community voices.”

“Like the Globe, Harvard Book Store serves an important civic role,” said Linda Henry, who is also CEO of the Globe. “Just as local, independent journalism is vital to our region and our democracy, local independent bookstores are important cultural pillars in our community.

When the Pru location was first announced in July 2022, Harvard Book Store staff said the second storefront was the culmination of Mayersohn’s long-held vision to expand the business. And its growth was in keeping with the success independent booksellers across Greater Boston have found these past four years.

After long struggling amid the rise of Amazon, big-box stores, and e-readers, small bookshops benefited from a reading revival during the first waves of COVID-19. At least a dozen bookshops have opened or expanded in the Boston area since 2020.

Sadly, the second location for Harvard Book Store won’t be following the same trend.

“At the end of the day,” Mayersohn said of cancelling the Prudential project, “it was the right thing to do.”

Correction: A prior version of this story incorrectly stated that Harvard Book Store had not expanded into another location before.

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Boston.com

Harvard Book Store halts Prudential Center expansion

The Cambridge bookstore cited “ongoing disruptions to the supply chain and escalating costs.”

Harvard Book Store announced Friday that it has canceled plans to open a second location in Boston’s Prudential Center.

The Cambridge bookstore had previously announced an expansion that would take over the space previously held by Barnes and Noble, with a planned opening of spring 2023. After delays, the store’s ownership said that the project would not move forward due to “ongoing disruptions to the supply chain and escalating costs” caused, in part, by the continued impact of the pandemic on the construction industry.

“The cancellation of the Pru project is humbling and disappointing. Despite exploring all available options, the lingering effects of the pandemic have continued to create considerable challenges for construction projects of this size and scope,” the bookstore said in a statement, adding, “our ambitious 29,000-square-foot expansion would ultimately prove unsustainable.”

The planned location was anticipated to have a “state-of-the-art event space” and “vibrant community spaces,” according to a release from the initial 2022 announcement. 

Instead, the nearly century-old independent bookstore will invest in improvements to its flagship location in Harvard Square, to “enhance the in-store experience, while continuing to enrich our commitment to customer service, our flourishing author event series, and our excellent inventory.”

In its statement, the store’s ownership thanked partners, John and Linda Henry, for their continued support. John Henry also owns Boston Globe Media, including Boston.com.

Independent bookstores in Greater Boston have seen a boom in recent years. Both Porter Square Books and Provincetown’s East End Books have both expanded with second locations in Seaport. Also new to Boston since 2020 are Beacon Hill Books & Cafe and Rozzie Bound Co-op.

The news of Harvard Book Store’s expansion was met with enthusiasm from the literary community of Boston. In Friday’s message to customers, the store thanked its community for the “overwhelming support.”

“Bookstores matter. They are an integral part of a deeply engaged community; places you turn to for inspiration, adventure, and learning,” the statement read. “Our top priority has always been to remain a healthy, thriving, independent bookstore — one that can continue to grow and serve our community for many years to come.”

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The Huntington News

16th annual Taste of Chocolate Festival sweetens Harvard Square visitors’ weekends

Hundreds of visitors lined up on Brattle Street Saturday afternoon for the first day of the 13th annual Taste of Chocolate Festival.

Hosted by the Harvard Square Business Association, the festival made a successful comeback after a three-year hiatus. Featuring local cafes and shops, visitors were able to indulge in free chocolate samples, enjoy live entertainment and partake in special promotions at nearby businesses.

The highlight of the festival was the free chocolate tasting event at 1 p.m. that had visitors eagerly lined up an hour beforehand. One by one, chocolate-lovers picked up samples from participating businesses that ranged from toffee bites to hot chocolate and mini smores. Despite a seemingly endless line, businesses tabling were able to continuously hand out free samples for over two hours.

Along with mouth-watering chocolate delicacies, visitors also enjoyed live entertainment from Grooversity, a Brazilian drumming group. With its high energy drumming, wide smiles and synchronized dancing, the group easily got the crowd moving and jumping to the beat.

Around 2:30 p.m., the entertainment switched over to DJ Joey Finnz, who played a mix of pop songs, throwbacks and nu-disco music. As the sun came out, more people began to gather around and dance to Finnz’s set, contributing to the increasingly energetic atmosphere.

While adults sipped on hot chocolate-infused cocktails and wines provided by the Commonwealth Wine School, those underage were able to play ping-pong and cornhole.

Harvard Square businesses also embraced the festival with various chocolate specials and discounts for those looking for extra treats after the free tasting.

Through a shared love of chocolate, businesses and attendees alike were able to forge new connections.

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The Berkeley Beacon

A sweet weekend: Harvard Square’s Taste of Chocolate Festival returns with free chocolate extravaganza tastings

Chocolate lovers convened at Brattle Street in Cambridge on Saturday, dressed in warm winter garments and eagerly waiting in line for hours to get their fingers messy with free, chocolate-covered treats from local businesses.

The annual Harvard Square “Taste of Chocolate” Festival was in full swing during the sweet weekend for its 16th year, featuring a three-day chocolate extravaganza to promote and support several Harvard Square restaurants, cafes, shops, and chocolatiers. 

Vendors from businesses including Bridgewater Chocolate, Blackbird Doughnuts, and Painted Burro were lined up in the square, dishing out free, fun-sized chocolatey items from their menus to the overfull crowds of people waiting to fill their entire plates with the desserts. At the end of the line, festival-goers were hunched over stone steps scattered throughout the square, listening to the drumming group Grooversity putting on a show and biting into spoonfuls of their treats.

“I’m a chocolate lover. We all are,” said Samantha Penino, an employee at MIT and one of many festival attendees who decided to spend their free weekend trying free chocolate. 

“When you have free events, you’re gonna get people from all different types of classes that are able to enjoy those things,” Penino said. “Really, the only cost of this is waiting.”

The line was long, up to two and a half hours for some attendees, but any type of waiting game was worth it for the chocolate, Brookline resident Hannah Topczewski said.

Topczewski tried a handful of chocolate sweets, her favorites being a triple chocolate donut with chocolate icing and chocolate sprinkles, chocolate mousse, macarons, and nitrogen ice cream from the business Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream. But, above all, Topczewski appreciated getting to be present at a free event that brought many from the greater Boston area to Harvard Square.

“Any free event is a wonderful way to bring together community,” she said, gesturing to a crowd of people dancing with ice cream in hand. “It’s just fun to see that there are things going on and if you don’t want to be in the house on a Saturday.”

The chocolate festival began 16 years ago as part of the Harvard Square Business Association’s initiative to support local retailers and restaurants during the winter months through its yearly Winter Carnival, said Denise Jillson, executive director of the association. The Winter Carnival kicks off immediately after the new year with the Boston Celtic Music Festival in the square, continuing until the middle of March with signature outdoor events like the chocolate festival and the upcoming chili-tasting contest.

“It’s just a way of bringing people into the square, regardless of the weather,” Jillson said. “It’s vitally important to the economic vitality of our district.”

For other attendees, the festival and its display are reminders of home, both old and new. 

Anu G. said they grew up in London, where free public events filled with music and dancing are frequent. As a current Boston resident, Anu G. said they appreciated the festival’s atmosphere and chocolate selections, even if it meant seeing trademark businesses. 

“I didn’t expect Dunkin Donuts to be here. It seems very generic,” Anu G. said, laughing. “But obviously, we live in Boston, so it’s going to be here.”

Many attendees pointed out that hosting free events for the public is an effective way to bring a feeling of community. For that, Salem resident Carina Debarcelos had one suggestion: more free events.

“I appreciate public events like this. I find it to be a really nice opportunity for people to come all over both local and the greater Boston area,” said Debarcelos, a self-proclaimed chocolate lover. “More communities should definitely do more of [these events] because it brings [people] together, even if it’s something as simple as chocolate.”

The Harvard Crimson

An Ode to the Renovation of Capital One Café

After a six-week winter break, Harvard students returned to something unexpected: the renovation of Capital One Café.

Capital One Café (better known as Cap One Café) is our favorite corporate money making scheme. It’s just a coffee shop within the bank Capital One, and anyone who has a Capital One Card receives heavy discounts on their drinks. I know people who have opened an account with Capital One just to receive this discount, which illustrates just how much Harvard students run on caffeine. They also frequently offer $1 handcrafted drinks which always draws a line out the door… waiting in it is a canon event.

Did anyone know this makeover was coming? Did anyone know that we would return to a basically new café? This is almost as exciting as the opening of Faro or the new Starbucks in the Square.

It was honestly a great surprise. Cap One Café wasn’t frequently on my coffee shop study spot rotation. But now? It might just be awarded a spot.

Before break, Cap One Café was a… mediocre coffee shop to say the least. It was a bit dark and dank. The brick walls and black accents didn’t make for a very aesthetically pleasing environment to answer emails or to procrastinate starting an essay by planning your workout classes or social calendar. Because does one ever get real work done in a coffee shop? No.

It’s no Blue Bottle, but Cap One Café’s relatively characterless interior got a makeover, replaced with neural gray and black tones with woody accents. The amount of small conference rooms have been depleted and replaced with more of an open concept plan, allowing more seating options. There are even couches!

Another perk is that Cap One Café no longer brews Peet’s coffee and switched to Verve, so no longer do you need to clarify which Peet’s you’re referring to. Are you and your friend meeting at Cap One Peet’s or the ~real~ Peet’s next to Grendel’s? Confusion, be gone.

Honestly, I haven’t tried Verve yet so I can’t vouch for the quality, but there’s always people in there, so I guess it can’t be that bad? Either that or everyone’s just desperate for some form of caffeine. You can let me know.

I must lament, I wish the music was also renovated with the interior. Tate McRae and Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits do not promote my peak productivity. Maybe Cap One could take a page out of the Smith Center’s book and opt for some chill lofi? Before you laugh at me, I’m not advocating for a lofi rendition of the Little Mermaid, just something to curate better vibes.

While Cap One Café has yet to attain the status of a Faro or Blue Bottle (and never will — it’s a bank, after all), I do applaud this makeover. It was a fun surprise upon returning to campus, and hey, we gotta enjoy the little things!

Cambridge Day

Come get sweets – some for free! – this weekend at Harvard Square’s Taste of Chocolate Festival

Union Square Donuts’ Belgian Dark Chocolate doughnut is at the Taste of Chocolate Festival this weekend in Harvard Square. (Photo: Union Square Donuts)

The annual Taste of Chocolate Festival is back this weekend in Harvard Square for its 16th year.

The hallmark of the weekend is the free chocolate tasting event, held this year from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday on Brattle Street between Eliot and Church streets. Chocolate samples will be distributed by Amorino Gelato, Bar Enza, Blackbird Doughnuts, Dunkin’, The Harvard Coop, Le Macaron Cambridge, Noir, Painted Burro, The Sea Hag and Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream, as well as the Off The Beaten Path Food Tours and DoubleTree Suites by Hilton. BerrySweets will sell its chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Grooversity, a Brazilian drumming network, will perform during the hour, before DJ Joey Finnz takes over until a street party ends at 4 p.m. Commonwealth Wine School will host a Winter Chocolate and Wine Garden featuring spiked mocha lattes supplied by Howie’s Spiked.

The fun doesn’t end Saturday. The festival, dubbed a “three-day chocolate extravaganza,” includes special menu items at restaurants across Harvard Square all weekend:

At Bar Enza, a gianduja terrine with salted caramel (gianduja is a chocolate hazelnut spread – known to many by its ubiquitous brand name Nutella).

The Sea Hag Restaurant & Bar has two special truffles on offer: Mayan dark chocolate with cinnamon and cayenne pepper and white chocolate Key lime, plus a mocha semifreddo.

Union Square Donuts has its usual classics – Belgian Dark Chocolate and Boston Cream – plus seasonal specials White Chocolate Mousse, Cheesecake Brownie and Black Forest.

There are also specialty chocolate-inspired cocktails:

Grendel’s Den Restaurant & Bar will servea Berry Berry Extra-ordinary cocktail with Meletti dark chocolate liqueur, raspberry vodka and Bailey’s for $9, a steal for Cambridge cocktail prices.

The Hourly Oyster House has dubbed its cocktail Universal Heartbeat, perhaps a nod to chocolate lovers everywhere, with Heaven’s Door bourbon, crème de cacao, Banyuls and angostura.

Grafton Street Pub & Grill is offering two speciality cocktails: Mexican Hot Chocolate with tequila, chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, arbol chili and oat milk; and Fraises de Chocolat with vodka, crème de cacao, Fraise de Bois and simple syrup.

Grafton’s sister restaurant Russell House Tavern has its own speciality cocktail called Golden Ticket, with vodka, crème de cacao, Frangelico, Irish cream and a bonus: One lucky orderer will get a Grafton Group gift card with their drink.

A recently opened Painted Burro offers two cocktails plus four sweet items, including a take on the ice cream truck favorite Choco Taco.

Le Macaron Cambridge is running a10 percent discount on any purchase of a chocolate item all weekend.

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The Harvard Crimson

Event Space ‘Dx’ Dances into Harvard Square
Event space Dx @Dunster will open next month in Harvard Square at the former location of John Harvard’s Brewery & Ale House.
The entertainment venue, located in the Harvard Square shopping center known as The Garage, will boast video screens, an audio system, and a bar. The space is prepared to host private events, corporate functions, and live entertainment.
Dx is owned by Cambridge attorney and entrepreneur Sean D. Hope — who also runs Cambridge dispensary Yamba Market — and former Cambridge City Councilor Larry Ward.
The opportunity to start Dx arose during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the mass closing of restaurants opened up several spaces in Harvard Square to new commercial tenants.
Hope said his venture is part of a new wave of businesses to revive the area’s entertainment scene post-pandemic.
“We really wanted to be part of that renaissance of Harvard Square,” Hope said in an interview.
Ward added that with the recent influx of national brands to Cambridge’s downtown, the city is at risk of losing its “charm.”
“We want to be a part of making sure that the local scene stays alive,” Ward said.
Hope and Ward have known each other for a long time, but they said this is their first time working together on a venture of this scale.
“We sort of see things from a very similar lens, but we come from very different backgrounds,” Ward said.
The duo’s differing experiences have allowed them to overcome logistical hurdles including lengthy licensing processes and getting up to code, they said.
“The biggest challenge is just getting in there and really bringing something to the people that they want,” Ward said.
However, Hope added that he sees the challenges facing businesses in Harvard Square, such as Covid-19 and high recent prices, as a source of potential.
“They created a lot of hardship, but they also created opportunity,” Hope said.
Going forward, Hope and Ward hope to expand the business into a broader enterprise focused on entertainment. In addition to the event space, this could include adult gaming as well as virtual reality experiences in the Garage.
Tying together this vision for an entertainment complex is the
Hope said the name “Dx,” which stands for “Destination x,” ties together his vision for an entertainment complex: The “Destination” is the space that the business provides and “x” is the variable that “allows you to insert your own experience.”
He added that behind his plans lies a “passion for placemaking,” or the practice of building a forgotten spot into something new.
“The design, the spacing, the ethos, you know — the little touches is what makes it a place, as opposed to just an empty box,” Hope said.