Dear Annie owner Lauren Friel shocked the local dining community when she posted on Instagram Wednesday that it would be ending nightly service as of July 31. Friel posted that “Dear Annie as we know her—in both name and being—will cease to exist.”
Friel opened the Porter Square wine-bar and restaurant during COVID-19, and earned mentions on 2022 ‘best of’ lists in the New York Times and Bon Appétit. Cambridge Day applauded its homey, casual ambience and savory seafood sausage. Last year it was a set location for the Robert Pattinson-Zendaya dark romance, “The Drama,” though scenes shot in the restaurant did not make the final cut.
Among the reasons Friel cited for closing were financial pressure and culinary trends toward luxury steakhouses like Ruth’s Chris and the Vermillion Club. “Those of us who still care deeply about food and wine and the transportive nature of communing over both are all going the way of the dodo” she wrote.
Her statement also noted that she is a new mom. “This decision isn’t just about cash flow; it’s about my life and what I want out of it,” she said. “Dear Annie could probably exist in its current form, but it would mean not seeing my kid, and that’s not what I’m interested in right now. There’s a whole think piece here about what it means to be a mother in this industry, but who has time to write that?”
Friel is also the proprietor of Rebel Rebel wine bar and wine shop in Somerville’s Bow Market, which will remain open. And Friel isn’t leaving the Dear Annie space, but said she intends to re-open in the fall with a new dining concept. She will close the space for August and then re-open with something akin to a pop-up model, saying “I have a long (long) list of wild events we’ll be hosting in our next life. Call it a salon. Call it a club. Call it a lodge, maybe? Whatever it is, we’ll see you soon.”
Steve Welsh, owner of Oggi’s Gourmet in Harvard Square, is experimenting with a similar format, bringing in different chefs and serving event specific menus. Recently, he hosted Chop Bar at Oggi, serving up Afro‑Diasporic street food from chef Kwasi Kwaa (formerly of the Comfort Kitchen in Dorchester), who drew on his Ghanaian childhood for culinary inspiration.
That model involves prefixed menus with presold tickets though a ticketing/reservation system like Eventbrite, making headcounts and thus supply purchases more predictable.
Other culinary notes from Porter Square saw Tampopo close June 30, as expected, with long lines filling the Lesley Building on each of the last few days. And a bit further up in the Porter Square Shopping Mall — recently rebranded The Mix — Cafe Zing reopened with seating, though still in its old locale. The move to its new digs next door now looks to be August instead of this month.
This story was updated to correct that Friel does not own the Dear Annie space but will stay and plans to open a new concept in the fall.
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