The Newtowne Grille, a staple of Porter Square back to 1966 famed for its broad menu, takeout window, cheap slices and pitchers, trivia nights and keno, closes permanently Saturday at 1945 Massachusetts Ave.
Its space will be filled by a new Asian concept from its neighbors virtually next door, the Sugar & Spice Thai restaurant at 1933 Massachusetts Ave., said building owner Eric Boyer on Thursday.
The changeover won’t be immediate, because the proprietors of Sugar & Spice are already expanding to an Allston location and a reconstruction of the Newtowne Grille space will have to follow, Boyer said. (He plans to do some roof work first.) Sugar & Spice plans to make use of the Newtowne Grille kitchen even before reconstruction.
“Sugar & Spice is wonderful. They’re just a great family, and the food is great. All of the herbs and spices are brought back from Thailand [by owner and chef Jenny Janburiwong] herself. It’s authentic stuff,” Boyer said.
Though it’s unclear what kind of food will replace Newtowne Grille’s American fare, Boyer said he looks forward to finding out. Sugar & Spice is considered to be among the 15 best Thai restaurants in the area by Boston Magazine, which noted it’s one of only two in the state with a “Thai Select” certification from Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce. The label signals Thai cuisine that is especially authentic.
But Boyer said it brings him no pleasure to see Newtowne Grille go, taking with it the promise of a large cheese pizza and pitcher of beer for $12.
“I wish everything stayed the same. It’s hard to find a dive bar anymore, and my tenants are like my family,” Boyer said. After the pandemic closed the Grille initially, the eatery struggled to get federal Covid-relief loans and was reported as closed forever by television news – and despite a reopening with a “Newtowne Grille Express” concept back in November 2020, the business was never the same. A “ghost kitchen” franchise called Wing SZN operated briefly out of the Grille’s kitchen but also was no solution. (A DoorDash website for the wings seller still directs diners to Newtown Grille for pickup, but the orders can’t be fulfilled there.)
“They put on TV that they were going out of business when they weren’t,” Boyer said. “That’s basically what killed them more than the Covid.”
The potential loss of parking from bike lane changes may also have meant the future wasn’t looking terribly bright, said Ruth Ryals, president of the Porter Square Neighbors Association. “It has a lot of people rattled,” she said.
The understanding from a worker at Newtowne Grille was that the one-story Porter Square property would be redeveloped and was being cleared to make way, but Boyer said that wasn’t the case. Members of the Toulopoulos family who own the restaurant were unreachable for comment Thursday – St. Patrick’s Day, when their Billerica location was too busy for a manager to take a message. On Friday, though, the family posted on Facebook to acknowledge the closing and thank its staff and community for its time in town.
“We are proud to have been a part of the community for 56 years and have always strived to be an affordable, fun restaurant and bar option for the neighborhood families, students and everyone who visits this city. The pandemic has brought about challenges for every business, not just restaurants, and we applaud those who found the ability to pivot and prosper through these most arduous times,” the post said. “We wish the best to Jenny and her team from Sugar & Spice. We know they will do great things here with a fresh look and new concept. Thank you to Eric and the Boyer family for working with us over the years but more so for going above and beyond to accommodate us over the past two most difficult.”
A message was left Thursday with Sugar & Spice’s owners asking about their plans for the nearby space.
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From the rest of the story, the parking changes had nothing to do with it, contra Mrs. Ryals. There’s a giant never-full parking lot right door at the plaza.
Shame to lose affordable places like this though. I wish the owners well in their future endeavors.
Also thank you for the whole story here.
“The potential loss of parking from bike lane changes may also have meant the future wasn’t looking terribly bright, said Ruth Ryals, president of the Porter Square Neighbors Association. “It has a lot of people rattled,” she said.”
Oh good lord…. the bike lanes have absolutely nothing to do with this.
Correct – as I outlined trying to support Violette bakery.
“The potential loss of parking from bike lane changes may also have meant the future wasn’t looking terribly bright, said Ruth Ryals, president of the Porter Square Neighbors Association. “It has a lot of people rattled,” she said.”
Good luck to the new place but I’ve asked a few of the businesses on mass ave as I’m sure many of us have. Overriding feeling is doa.
Jan, Marc etc are well intentioned but please with this pause try and make it a win win!
A number of people here and elsewhere continue to believe that the Porter Square parking mall lot is open to all. It is not. You can only park there if shopping at the stores in the mall. They also have paid security monitoring the parking. If you park there and leave, you risk being towed. The same is true for the parking lots owned by Lesley. Just wanted to clear up that apparent misunderstanding.
@Paul Toner
Dude, no one cares. This has nothing to do with bike lanes or parking. It’s just awful and disingenuous speculation.
Ain’t it great how Marc can slip a bike line comment into a story that otherwise would have ZERO comments and everyone loses their minds?
Oh Cambridge and it is more-than-1st-world problems.
Some day @concernedcitizen when you come out of hiding happy to
Talk. 617-216-7305 or paulftoner@gmail.com
Duh of course removing parking for a business has negative implications. Most these aren’t online distribution types they are walk ins.
Correct parking has not be removed yet*. The threat overhang when signing of 3/5yr triple n lease. My goodness that’s an enormous risk to the non chain small local business to take. Like everything.
Great so we are ending up with every bank in America locating a branch in Harvard square and empty store fronts along the mass Ave commercial corridor. wth.
Please city council, everyone wants safe bike lanes. However, everyone also wants small local businesses to thrive not close down.
Ps the loading zones are a complete joke. Why? The trucks etc parked there for 15 min or more take up the entire “bus” lane. Now buses are constantly merging into the auto lane then back to the bus lane, rookie quick fix afterwards because it obviously wasn’t thought through.
Gee what are the delivery trucks supposed to do? Duh let’s fix it (make it worse) after we rekt it.
I’m afraid to ask; Does anyone know if n cam mass Ave is staying the way it is?
I’d guess I’m not the only one but I used to pick up from QingDao Garden (parked out front) but now with the traffic maybe what doubled, tripled I haven’t bothered. Hopefully there are more solutions for n cam mass Ave before it’s a commercial ghost town.
“There’s a giant never-full parking lot right door at the plaza.”
If you park in the shopping center lot and walk over to Newtowne Grill, your car will be towed by the time you get back.
They have parking lot monitors who watch you like a hawk. One step outside the shopping center, and your car is gone.
The parking/bike lane changes haven’t happened in Porter Square yet. So there’s no way of knowing for sure how they will affect businesses.
But it’s perfectly understandable for business owners to be scared about the plan to remove virtually all of the metered parking.
concernedcitizen why are you so rude???? You can make the same point in a civil way that advances discussion.
Unfortunately katiti far to many citizens have had less than positive experiences with the “bicycle advocates” (thanks Tagus for correcting my terminology😉). You should try to speak to one that runs through a red light with people in the crosswalk like happened to our family.
They are some of the most entitled people you’ll ever come across. It’s bike lanes over anything else.
Even if it means destroying the small businesses without compromise.
Is there enforcement for bicyclists? run a red light, swerve out of the bike lane, no reflectors, no helmets no worries.
It seems most took an exhale that the Porter sq business destruction is on pause. Fingers crossed it’s a win win. And double crossed something more is done in the interim for n cam mass Ave before yet another for lease sign pops up.
And of course when the for lease sign does pop up the bike lanes will have had no impact on the decision 😳
14 comments and counting…and only one saying anything about the actual businesses…..where’s a kilometer wide asteroid when you need it? :-D