small business Archives - Cambridge | Somerville Independent

Cars drive debate at a meeting about 350 Rindge Ave. affordable housing and its future Ferro’s grocery store

by Marc Levy August 5, 2026

Ferro’s Foodtown and its fast food will shut for two years while housing is built, but the store's new liquor license request, parking and traffic were the topics instead.

LET’S GET COFFEE

Kitsch and coffee in Union Square: Nostalgia

by Corky White August 5, 2026

What’s in your closet? If it’s brightly colored, even garish and of little practical use, it’s a candidate for Nostalgia, the vintage gear and coffee house in Union Square.

BUSINESS

As stories of Cambridge permitting nightmares accumulate, officials and staff seek systems that work like a dream

by Marc Levy August 4, 2026

Movement toward streamlining business and construction permitting and licensing was something city councillors could feel excited about.

MENU

Fermentation Festival and Season to Vegan come back for year two

by Marc Levy July 29, 2026

Also on the Menu this week: There's a rotation of Peruvian, Guatemalan and Ethiopian foods at Nibble Kitchen; and Bar Enza’s has a “predusk” prix-fixe.

LET’S GET COFFEE

Good-enough coffee with better-than-good food: Café Beatrice and Basma Café

by Corky White July 29, 2026

Café Beatrice and Basma Café prove that if there’s a tasty morsel to be had, you can sip a “normal” coffee with relative happiness.

FOOD

Rosebud diner in Davis square closes officially as operator says it’s negotiating to buy the property

by Marc Levy July 24, 2026

The operators of Somerville’s iconic Rosebud diner say they are negotiating to buy its building, and might have to move on to let someone else take over the space.

FOOD

Why three Cambridge restaurants in three years have switched to private events

by Marc Levy July 21, 2026

There are limits as well as benefits to moving to events from walk-in dining – a threat of oversupply if more restaurants go this route, and a risk for newcomers.

LET’S GET COFFEE

I’ll take the Highland: Wicked Cafe and Zaruma Gold

by Corky White July 15, 2026

In a nod to the wonderful Tartan Army who’ve turned a lot of us into Scots, this weeks’ visits to the coffee shops Wicked and Zaruma Gold are a “Highland fling.”

LET’S GET COFFEE

Roasting (coffee, but also the weather): Barismo and Broadsheet

by Corky White July 8, 2026

This past week I visited two roaster-cafés. One pioneered local cold brew. The other provides the coffee for many of the cafés we frequent.

OPINION

A missive from the Church of the Cambridge Licensing Commission, ca. 1851

by Nicholas Marchuk July 5, 2026

“The sin of this son of Cambridge was in willful disobedience of the command of God to not imbibe more than one alcoholic drink every 30 minutes.”