Kupel’s Bagels is expanding to Somerville from Brookline. In anticipation, the family-owned bakery has introduced a sandwich to its menu: the Porter Square.
The shop won Licensing Commission approval Tuesday to open at 54 Elm St., not far from Porter Square in Spring Hill, with 24 indoor and 10 outdoor seats served from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week.
“The only thing I can say is it’s too far away from me in Ward 5, so I’m going to have to send people down to get my bagels,” commission chair Joe Lynch told the applicants.
Kupel’s (pronounced “couples”) opened in Brookline in 1978; this expansion will be just its second location. Kupel’s staff in Brookline said this week that there is no set opening date for the new location.
It will occupy a first-floor retail space that has long sat empty. The former Lucky Market convenience store has been waiting for a tenant since renovations began in 2017; a coffee shop proposed in 2018 never materialized, nor did a 2022 proposal for a Thai restaurant.
The only public comment at the commission hearing was, like Lynch’s remarks, enthusiastic – from a resident who proclaimed herself “born and raised in Brooklyn and used to excellent bagels.”
“I can’t say more than how wonderful it would be to have this as a new neighbor and have it bring more people into our city,” she said.
Kupel’s will be a 10-minute walk from Bagelsaurus, a shop in Cambridge that recently doubled in size yet still has long lines despite the October opening of a PopUp Bagels in Harvard Square. Kupel’s could make a dent in that demand; the buzz online includes people proclaiming that “Kupel’s is god-tier bagels” and that its coming means “Our prayers have been answered.”
A planned project called the Elm-Beacon Connector will turn the location’s cross street, Mossland – the longest red light in Somerville, according to traffic officials – into a car-discouraging neighborway with speed humps, narrow entrances, more trees and two-way bike traffic. That could make those outdoor cafe seats even more appealing.
Demand for later hours
Two established restaurants were at the same commission meeting asking for later hours.
The Kokoro Don Café in the Prospect Hill neighborhood was granted permission to open until 10:30 p.m. every day, a change from 8 p.m., after the owner told commissioners that many customers have asked for later service.
Similarly, the Ruth’s Chris Steak House at Assembly Square “has noticed a demand from customers to continue their dining experience later,” attorney Dawson Cooper said of the high-end chain, which won an okay to serve until midnight. That adds an hour of service to Saturdays, two hours to weekdays, and three to Sundays.
The later hours will see an increase in approximately 20 guests on Friday evenings, with a smaller anticipated number on other evenings, Cooper said. “Many of its guests live in Somerville or are staying in nearby hotels and frequenting the other retail locations in the same area before and after dining,” Cooper said of Ruth’s Chris. The increased hours won’t add workers, because existing staff are already at the restaurant finishing shifts and closing tasks. “However, the extended hours and the increased guests will allow the staff to earn additional tips and increase their income significantly,” he said.
Lynch called the requests for more hours “a good sign” for the local economy. “Most restaurants over the past years have cut back,” he said.
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