A new coffee shop called the Luxor Cafe is expected to take over the onetime flagship location of the Cambridge chain Darwin’s Ltd., transitioning from the current Roust Coffee with an expanded menu and hours.
“The concept will remain the same, I’m just trying to expand – adding more foods and different types of bakery items,” Abdelrahman Hassan told licensing commissioners Wednesday. “I’m trying to kind of return back to what Darwin was.”
That chain had four locations that grew over time since starting in 1993 at 148 Mount Auburn St. in Harvard Square, but all closed in late 2022 as Steve and Isabel Darwin opted to retire amid union pressures. Three of the four locations became new coffee shops, with Roust the first in early 2023 under Valentin Terteliu Hefco.
“The way it is right now, it’s a smaller operation. Valentin has done amazing at Roust. I’m just trying to extend it out a little bit,” Hassan said. “I don’t drink alcohol, and a lot of my friends and people that I know don’t drink alcohol, but they still want somewhere to come and play card games in a peaceful environment.”
At Luxor they can “just sit down, order a couple of snacks for the table and keep a nice peaceful environment,” he said, maybe with a bubble tea station – but without alcohol, hookahs or entertainment. There will be no construction – just perhaps some new paint inside, he said.
Still, the proposed hours as late as 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday worried some neighbors in the residential area who are used to Roust closing at 3 p.m. and didn’t want either the noise of revelry or mechanical equipment reaching their ears, either venting from the kitchen or from heat or air conditioning.
Hassan said he planned to keep the Luxor open only until 4 or 5 p.m. at the start, adding hours later if there was customer demand. He would tweak the menu and try to muffle mechanical noise as needed if the hours expanded, he told neighbors.
The commissioners approved his licensing a total occupancy of 32 people in the site’s 2,170 square feet. More information wasn’t immediately available.
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These people need to get hobbies. The street noise is louder than the noise from the cafe would be, and having it open later is a benefit to the neighborhood.
Those of you who don’t own homes because you drink $10 coffee everyday don’t understand about property value and environmental noise as long as you are being served.
It is ridiculous to expect a place that serves food to not operate past 3pm, the neighbors complaints are ridiculous.
And maddmann1 you assume that those responding or using a coffee shop aren’t home owners which is crazy.
We’re not talking a place with alcohol or even an entertainment license for performance etc . or which is seeking radical hours when compared to other coffee shops and places to eat in the city. If you can’t stand city noise levels don’t live in the city, I’m sure you can find a house up in Maine someplace where your nearest neighbor is out of sight.