"We are a wee neighborhood pub with good honest grub and a very friendly atmosphere." That line greets visitors on the website of Saint Brigid's Well, which opened this fall at 525 Medford Street in Magoun Square. In late August, the team behind Spoke Wine Bar opened Liars at 1153 Broadway in Teele Square.
Those are Somerville's two newest dinner tables since late summer, and both sit in the smaller squares at the north and west edges of the city. Most of the year's opening announcements were for Union Square and Davis, but in late October those plans were still listed as coming soon. If you want somewhere new on a Friday night, head up Broadway or Medford Street.
Teele Square got the bigger kitchen
Liars opened August 20 in the former home of True Bistro, the vegan restaurant that closed in 2023. Boston Magazine reported that Liars is roughly double the size of Spoke, its James Beard semifinalist sibling in Davis Square. Owner Mary Kurth, chef Paul Butler and bar manager Katie Weismann all came over from Spoke.
The extra space shows on the menu. Spoke's kitchen is under 100 square feet, too small for large cuts of game, according to Boston Magazine. At Liars, Butler buys elk from Broken Arrow Ranch in Ingram, Texas, and serves it as elk steak wraps with lettuce, cabbage, gamtae seaweed and a peppercorn-soy dipping sauce. There is also a chef's counter overlooking the kitchen, something Spoke never had room for.
The dish most likely to get talked about is a Massachusetts sub-shop classic turned into a platter. Butler grew up on the South Shore, and in Boston Magazine's account his steak bomb uses braised beef tongue and arrives on a sizzling plate with bell peppers, onions and melted mozzarella. He also makes his own version of vichyssoise, with cauliflower, marcona almonds and leeks blended into a cream and topped with butter-basted shrimp.
At the bar, Weismann pours one-ounce servings of unusual spirits, such as vodka distilled from discarded coffee beans and shochu made from sake lees. She also runs a cocktail list of highballs and martinis using foraged ingredients like hickory bark and wild chamomile. A pour of Matchbook Distilling Co.'s Metamodernity Rye comes with a squirt gun of water, so you dilute it as much as you like.
Butler told the magazine he hopes the menu will get neighbors to "come in and linger," and he described the room as an "homage to great taverns, izakayas, and bistros."
Magoun's corner pub kept the same kind of room
Where Liars brought Teele a new kind of restaurant, Saint Brigid's Well gives Magoun a fresh take on something it already had. The pub moved into the space Daddy Jones held for 13 years until it closed late last year, and Lil Vinny's was there before that. Boston Restaurant Talk reported the pub open in an October 2 update.
The person behind it is Michael John Queally, a bartender and manager at The Druid in Cambridge, according to NBC Boston. The pub calls itself a traditional Irish public house with a kitchen that is "careful, generous, and built for a proper meal." The menu it names first includes fish and chips, shepherd's pie and Irish coffee.
The hours matter in a square this size. Saint Brigid's Well is open from noon to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. That gives Magoun a room that opens at midday and stays open well past most dinner seatings.
Its first big night lands on Saturday, October 31. "Halloween at the Well" promises what the pub calls scary tunes, plus a costume contest. First place wins $350 cash, second wins $100 cash and third wins a $50 gift card.
Union Square's list is longer, and still on paper
Union Square has collected more food announcements than any other part of Somerville this year. As this post goes up, none of the three below has a confirmed opening, and the status of each is spelled out by its own site or the last report about it.
| Place | Address | What it is | Status, late October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kima Cafe | 75 Bow St., former Fortissimo Coffeehouse | Korean-inspired café from Alex Kim, founder of Glasser Coffee Co. and co-owner of Coreanos in Allston | Mid-September opening target has passed |
| First Crush | 259 Washington St., former Juliet Social Club | Natural wine bar and events space from pop-up founder Gabrielle Malina | Its website still says "coming this fall" |
| Ja Learn | 302 Somerville Ave. | Northeast Thai and Thai street food from a team that ran pop-ups around Boston | Announced July 23 with no opening date |
Somerville Patch first reported Kima's mid-September target in August. Boston.com listed First Crush for mid-September around the same time, but First Crush's own homepage now says only "this fall."
Union Square also lost a longtime lunch spot this summer. NU Kitchen opened on Washington Street at the edge of the square in 2016, serving soups, salads, grain bowls and smoothies, and Boston Restaurant Talk reported in late August that 195 Washington Street had closed after nearly ten years. Until the newcomers open, Union is a little thinner than it was in the spring.
Davis is booking further ahead
Davis Square's announcements have even longer timelines. Yafa Bakery & Café plans a second shop at 187 Elm Street in the former Posto space, and founder Abdullah Awad's original Somerville Avenue location is staying open. The Cambridge | Somerville Independent reported in September that the expansion was moving forward, without an opening date.
Curiosity Brewing is further out still. Boston.com reported that founder Nick DeFae and brewer Bryan Daly plan a daytime café plus a brewery and taproom at 49 Day Street, a former auto body shop that had been vacant for years. Wicked Local put the opening in spring 2027.
So the timelines run like this. Teele and Magoun opened between August and early October. In Union, First Crush says "this fall," Kima's September target has passed and Ja Learn hasn't named a date. Davis is planning into next spring.
Assembly Row reopened a familiar room
The one other summer change was a return. Salt + Stone at 463 Assembly Row reopened July 10 after a renovation that followed a fire. Boston Magazine reported that the redesign added a larger open kitchen, a raw bar, outdoor dining and a private dining room. Like Teele and Magoun, the action here happened at an address people already knew.
Halloween week through Thanksgiving
The outdoor markets are winding down as the new rooms get going:
- Saturday, October 31, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Union Square Farmers Market holds the last session of its season at 66–70 Union Square.
- Saturday night, October 31. Halloween at the Well in Magoun Square, with the costume contest.
- Wednesdays, November 4, 11, 18 and 25. The Davis Square Farmers Market keeps going in the municipal lot by Davis Square Plaza, with its last listed date the day before Thanksgiving.
Once the Union Square market closes, the reasons to cross town this month are Liars on Broadway and the new pub on Medford Street. Kima, First Crush and Ja Learn may join them before the year ends, but for now, the newest dinner in Somerville is in Teele and Magoun.
At Covelle & Company, we follow these handoffs closely because they shape how each corner of Somerville looks and feels. If you'd like to talk about how your own space could be reimagined, Schedule a Consultation with our team.
