Clover, aka Clover Food Lab, began as a food truck at MIT in 2008, and so the location at Harvard’s Science Center calls back to its original mission of selling vegetarian lunches to MIT students and Kendall Square tech workers. Despite a recent stretch of rocky years and the closing of many locations, Clover will remain at the Science Center, and you can rest assured that so will the chickpea fritter sandwich of falafel, tahini sauce and pickles in a pita. This was Clover’s first success, and it has taken an 18-year journey from the truck to brick-and-mortar locations more or less unchanged.
This Clover sits within a high-ceilinged lobby in Harvard’s large science classroom building, designed by the Harvard-based team of Sert, Jackson & Gourley. A large array of tables gives space to working students, convening colleagues and neighbors stopping by before heading home up Oxford Street. On a very rainy day recently it felt bright with light and activity. (Bright seems right when you learn that Polaroid’s camera-inventing founder, Edwin Land, contributed a sizable donation toward its building). Through the huge windows we watched the umbrellas turning inside out in the wind. Though during breaks between classes the lobby fills with movement and noise, somehow the noise never seems to invade the wide-open eating area.
Ayr Muir, Clover’s founder (and a descendent of the naturalist John Muir) hoped that creative vegetarian fast food could some day replace the environmental disaster that is the hamburger. His original truck had a memorably elegant polished wood counter over which sandwiches and salads sailed. As Clover expanded into storefronts, so did the menu expand, growing to include a well-loved summer tomato sandwich, soups and many variations on salad.
At this time emerging into fall comes the Japanese Sweet Potato Sandwich (JSP), which customers won’t ever permit to leave the rotation. It’s been a fall treat for the past dozen years. This is a remarkable mouthful (actually a lot of mouthfuls) of roasted, then fried Japanese sweet potatoes doused in shoyu mayonnaise and stuffed into a pita with a lot of red cabbage and green onion slaw. Sprinkled on that are tempura-fried sesame seeds for a different crunch. Like other sandwiches at Clover, it’s hard to eat gracefully, but delicious.
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The Science Center Clover has a separate coffee counter with dedicated baristas. (Photo: Marc Levy) -
A dish awaits pickup Monday at Clover. (Photo: Marc Levy) -
Clover’s pastries are made onsite. (Photo: Marc Levy)
Of course I’m here for the coffee. Often it is Speedwell from Plymouth, and sometimes it is Little Wolf from Ipswich, both local roasters and both making a very good pour-over. The coffee bar is across the large room from the food and seems to separate coffee drinkers from lunch mavens. That at least two people are dedicated to making the coffee means it gets the attention it deserves. And it really is something to say that a place that offers such good food (don’t forget the rosemary French fries!) is also a destination for good coffee. Don’t overlook Clover.
Clover HSC, 1 Oxford St., near Harvard Square, (8 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays)
Clover HFI , 496 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge (10 a.m to 10:59 p.m.)
Clover KEE, 290 Main St. inside the Eastern Edge food hall, Kendall Square, Cambridge (10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday)
and …
Clover FIN, 160 Federal St., Financial District, Boston (6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday)
Clover PRU, 800 Boylston St., inside the Prudential Center, Boston (11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday)
