Ruth's Kitchen gone

[magid]

I went to the kosher strip in Brookline, and was surprised to see that Ruth's Kitchen is long enough gone that the insterior is mostly remodeled into its next incarnation as a taqueria. I'd noticed that after the sale last year, they'd reduced their days, no longer opening at the beginning of the week, but hadn't thought much about that (other than the inconvenience for me). I suppose it was an indicator, though I don't know why it should do so poorly under new management...

I guess I'm also surprised I hadn't heard about it via anyone else, either.

---

Wholly off-topic: during yesterday's bike ride, a guy I'd smiled at in passing decided to be sociable, and, looking at the ominous clouds to the south and east, said "The weather's getting squirrely." And to be sociable back, I said "Yeah," and kept on rolling. No clue what he meant, though. Anyone able to enlighten me?

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

::goes to make sure her kitchen is still there:: phew, the house would look funny without it :)

As for squirrely, I've heard it used to mean "dicey" or similar, perhaps because all squirrels are kind of psycho?

[magid.livejournal.com]

*grin*
And the resale value of a house without a kitchen kinda sucks, not to mention the inability to apply heat to food on a regular basis.
(Hey, that initial cap on the K makes a difference :-)

I've heard dicey before, but never squirrely. I like your explanation.
(Luckily, though I heard thunder, I didn't get rained on.)

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Squirrely, like a squirrel who will run off a tree down into the middle of the road when you are biking by, and instead of continuing once it reaches the middle of the road, turns around and runs under your bike tire.

Unpredictable, I'd say.

[magid.livejournal.com]

That makes sense, though I'd've expected the weather to be squirrely, given the proximity of the clouds, rather than becoming so.

:-(

[gothtique.livejournal.com]

Sad to see Ruth go...
She was a staple!

Re: :-(

[magid.livejournal.com]

Ruth had sold the business last year (I think it was last year) to another woman who's a kosher caterer. The menu was almost the same, though the new person put a few new things on, and the dumplings (which I had adored) were no longer available.

I remember when Ruth's first started, in Worcester. It's strange to think that it's gone.

The only article I could find in the Brookline Tab just mentioned it was gone in passing, with the focus on the new taco place going in (which is definitely not kosher, given the news article posted in the window of the place, having both meat and milk; otherwise I would've hoped that a kosher place would have continued to use the space.).

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Ora Catering still exists. It's up on (I believe) Chestnut Hill Ave. in Brighton. After Ruth and her husband sold the business to Edna (who runs Ora Catering), Edna found that the storefront was not sufficiently profitable to keep open all week, so she was only open as a storefront a couple of days. Recently, I believe, the landlord wanted to raise her rent, and that made it even less profitable, so she moved to a storefront in a lower-rent area.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The Googling I did has Ora Catering at 310 Summit Ave., in Brighton. Have you been to the storefront? Is it the Ruth's menu, or Ora Catering menu? Or is it just for catering?

I guess what I don't understand is why Edna would have bought Ruth's in the first place if it wasn't profitable enough to keep open 6 days a week (or why the profits changed so greatly after the sale, if that's what happened). It still leaves a net loss to for kosher dining options, which is unfortunate.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I haven't been to the new storefront, but from what I understand, it's an Ora menu but is mostly for catering. I believe the Summit Ave. address is Edna's home, out of which she used to do much of the catering work, and that the storefront is at 183 Chestnut Hill Ave.

As for the goings on with the purchase from Ruth, that I know nothing about.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I should check out the storefront, then. I wonder if there previously was a sign at the old location with a pointer to the new location.

[lucretia-borgia.livejournal.com]

At the time I was at the Chestnut Hill Ave location --see gnomi's comment-- (picking up a Specialty Provisions shipment for Pesach) she seemed to be setting up for retail -- not just catering and take-out, but also was putting assorted things like chips on the shelves. The S.P. guy talked about the possibility of doing glatt retail there, but both he and Edna seemed totally up in the air about it. The menus she had lying around, showing the Chestnut Hill Ave address, were the Ora menu. It seems the Ruth menu is gone.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the update. I should check out the retail establishment, then.

I'm sad that the Ruth's menu is gone, though; I had a fondness for a number of things on their menu that I didn't let myself indulge much, assuming rather like Osewalrus that past performance was some indication of future results. Alas.

(And it leaves me to wonder what would have happened had someone without a catering business on the side would have made of Ruth's, whether it would have meant having both still. Futile wonderings, I know.)

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

Bummer. The Boston Kosher scene waxes and wanes, but Ruth's had been around so long I had hoped it would still be there every time I came back.

[magid.livejournal.com]

*nod*

I wish there were more kosher options these days, though I admit I still haven't made it to the new-ish Jerusalem Pita yet.