Cambridge, MA – Verveine Cafe & Bakery, the new cafe and bakery from award-winning pastry chef Monica Glass and James Beard Award winning chef and restaurateur Ken Oringer, opens in the heart of Cambridge [298 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139]. Monica Glass and Ken Oringer are reunited again nearly a decade after working together, now as partners, to bring this newest cafe to Boston. Drawing inspiration from cafe cultures from around the world such as brasseries in France, kissaten throughout Japan, and bars in Italy, the new 24-seat cafe and bakery serves a menu inspired by Monica and Ken’s extensive travels and influences drawn from time abroad, serving housemade pastries, breads, pizzas, and more. Verveine Cafe & Bakery is designed in collaboration with Tyler Youngblood of Niemitz Design Group and Joe Stromer of Joe the Architect, and boasts open window displays of their house baked bread and pastries, evoking the intimate, vintage-bohemian-chic feel of a Parisian cafe. With the opening of Verveine Cafe & Bakery, Monica introduces WLDFLR™– her new brand of carefully crafted proprietary flour blends that serves as the secret ingredient behind many of the creations on the menu.
Team:
Monica Glass is an award-winning pastry chef, nationally celebrated recipe creator, culinary advisor, and health and wellness advocate. Monica spent years working in the country’s top restaurants, including Gotham Bar & Grill, Le Bernardin, and Ken’s highly acclaimed fine dining destination Clio where she served as pastry chef, and has been recognized with numerous “Best Pastry Chef” awards from Food & Wine Magazine, Boston Magazine, and Zagat, as well as being named a Food Network’s Chopped Sweets Champion in 2021. Ken Oringer is the James Beard Award-winning chef and founder behind the highly acclaimed Boston restaurants Coppa, Toro, Little Donkey, Uni, Faccia a Faccia and Bar Pallino. Now, Monica and Ken reunite on their new venture after almost a decade since working together at Clio, where they are crafting a space that accommodates all dietary restrictions, including individuals with a gluten-free diet.
Breakfast and Lunch Menu:
Verveine Cafe & Bakery menu starts with BREAKFAST including Congee with Thai chicken sausage, puffed rice, caramelized onions, roasted maitake mushrooms, parmigiano with a soft boiled egg; Spicy Chili Biscuit Breakfast Sandwich with fluffy scrambled eggs, arugula, avocado, and spicy chili jam on biscuits freshly baked in house; and Crepe au Sarrasin, a traditional buckwheat french style crepe with jamon, gruyere cheese and an egg. There is a section of SANDWICHES such as Japanese Shrimp Katsu Sandwich with a crispy panko coated shrimp patty with cilantro, ginger, chili, and garlic, topped with kewpie mayo and Bull-Dog sauce on Japanese milk bread;; Honey Chili Tuna Melt on signature sourdough country loaf with tahini, pickle, red onion, hot honey with melted Vermont cheddar; Veggie Sandwich on sourdough ciabatta with honey and spice roasted delicata squash, melted halloumi, hazelnut dukkah and raw baby kale dressed in chili oil vinaigrette; and Chicken Shawarma with house made pita, garlic aioli, guindilla peppers, pickled onions and homemade apricot habanero chutney. SALADS AND SOUPS include their French Lentil Salad with roasted fennel, radish, grated egg, fried capers, and a red wine yuzu vinaigrette with choice of roasted chicken or salmon; and a hearty yet light Lemon Rosemary White Bean Soup. PIZZAS, include a rotating pizza of the day served Neapolitan style. All the pizzas at Verveine Cafe and Bakery are made with a speciality flour sourced from Naples, exclusive to the cafe and the only restaurant to use it in the United States.
Pastry and Bread Menu:
Verveine Cafe and Bakery provides a wide selection of pastries, such as DANISHES like flaky Kimchi Egg Cheddar Danish with kimchi, egg, cheddar cheese and Blood Orange Danish with cardamom cream and blood orange jam; MUFFINS such as Meyer Lemon Blueberry Crumb Muffin and Carrot Hazelnut Date Muffin; and SCONES like Green Onion & Gouda Scone with melted gouda and fresh scallions and Rhubarb Pink Peppercorn. Other highlights include fudgy Purple Ube Brownies; Strawberry Guava Hand Pies; Black Sesame Financier, the traditional French cake with sesame sourced from a 5th generation sesame roaster in Osaka Japan; Bibingka, a popular pastry from the Philippines served in a banana leaf, made with rice flour and coconut milk, topped with salted coconut milk jam and okinawa black sugar; and some classic offerings such as Cinnamon Rolls and Gateau Basque, a French buttery, flakey cake layered with pastry cream. BREADS are baked daily in house including Pain au Levain, Sourdough Ciabatta, Focaccia, Gougeres, Japanese Milk Bread, Artisanal Rolls and more. Monica also uses her exclusive new flour blend, WLDFLR™ to make the sourdough and biscuits, which she plans to bring to market in 2024.
Coffee and Tea Program:
Verveine Cafe and Bakery sources its coffee and tea from Fieldstone Coffee Roasters. The beverage menu at the cafe includes a variety of offerings from coffees and lattes like Black Sesame Latte and juices and seasonal spritz such as Butterfly Pea Lemonade, Citrus Ginger Green Juice, Hibiscus Yuzu Spritz, and more.
Design:
Designed in collaboration with Tyler Youngblood of Niemitz Design Group and Joe Stromer of Joe the Architect, the 24-seat cafe is inspired by the hallmark traditions of vintage bakeries in Paris. The centerpiece of the space is the main counter adorned in teal hand glazed tile with a custom jet mist granite countertop. The bakery showcases built-in glass display space for the freshly baked breads and pastries, which are surrounded by white oak shelving, reminiscent of French Oak, balancing the tile and stainless steel of the kitchen. This is further underscored by a vintage glass window, set in crisp white subway tile, that peers right into the back-of-house so customers can catch a glimpse of every aspect of the working bakery. Vintage and new furniture pieces are mixed together in an eclectic group, blending together charming schoolhouse chairs, reclaimed wood table tops, and a pew rescued from an old church for bench seating. The custom wall paint is not just designed for its colors but is mixed with plaster by hand to bring texture and character that evokes the feel of a Parisian bakery that has stood for many years.
Additional Information:
Verveine Cafe & Bakery is open weekdays from 8AM to 4PM and weekends from 9AM to 4PM For more information visit their website www.verveinecafe.com and their Instagram @verveinecafe.
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