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Burlington ready to trench

By on 15 May, 2013 in Burlington (BUR), Construction

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Over the past couple of years I’ve had this problem: when the most exciting stuff is happening at Clover I have the least amount of time to write. Sorry I’ve been a bit quiet here these past few weeks. These are exciting times for us at Clover. Thankfully I have Lucia and Rolando keeping the posts current.

This is a picture of the floor of our Burlington restaurant ready to trench. When you have a construction where concrete is laid on top of earth it’s called “slab on grade.” And if you want to run plumbing you have to cut up the concrete, lay the pipe, then cover it all up again. It’s a pretty expensive job and seems sort of crazy to me, but that’s how it’s done. We had to do this over at the HUB as well (HSQ has a parking garage underneath).

They’re cutting this floor our tonight. I’m going to check it out in the morning. We have building permits now for both Burlington and Brookline. I’ll keep you updated as well as I can manage.

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Hello Brookline Village!

By on 13 May, 2013 in Brookline Village

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I’m writing this from the public library in Brookline Village. I kind of feel like I’m home in the suburbs of Austin. There’s grass outside, and cars, and the sound of kids playing. Everyone is really, really nice.

And I’m really happy because next door is Town Hall, where we were just approved for our building permit for our 6 Harvard St spot!

 

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Great parsnip disaster of 2013

By on 2 May, 2013 in Customers, Location, MIT

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We have a few apologies to make. It was a beautiful day yesterday. We had 3 order-takers outside the truck so we were killing the line. And everyone was fired up about the new parsnip sandwich we launched in the seasonal slot.

So we took some orders for parsnip sandwiches without realizing we were running out of parsnip ingredients on board the truck. It was bad communication on our part. It meant that we had 16 parsnip sandwiches in the queue, and only enough ingredients to make 6 sandwiches. By the time we realized this, many of you had already been waiting for about 10 minutes. We got everyone replacement sandwiches, but it meant that many of you waited nearly 20 minutes for your food.

So a huge apology from us. We never, ever want anyone to wait that long. If you were on that list in the picture, please reach out. Your next parsnip sandwich is on us.

As you can see, we’re getting used to 70-degree days and more and more customers trying Clover for the first time. Which brings me to an exciting announcement: we’re hiring order-takers and lead order-takers. Know any happy, extroverted people who love food and hard work? Send them to the Careers tab on the website to fill out an application.

 

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Eat everything this summer from a farmshare

By on 30 April, 2013 in Brookline Village, Burlington (BUR), CSA, Harvard Square, HUB, Location

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I’m not exaggerating. In addition to produce, Red Fire Farm and Kitchen Garden Farm are offering egg, fruit, and flower shares. And we are partnering with Valley Malt in Hadley to offer a grain CSA (think fresh-milled flour, malt, dry beans, polenta…and kits with everything you need to make your own beer).

I was trying to figure out how to tangibly display the shares. For the first few weeks, I tried using real food, but it didn’t last. And nothing was in season that was representative of the shares. Ayr said, “How about fake fruit?”

One trip to Michael’s in Porter Square and I was all set up. Those are real, fake Concord grapes. The real ones you’ll get in your fruit share this summer will taste a lot better, I promise.

Signups end May 1. All the details are at www.cloverfoodlab.com/CSA.

 

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Farmshare deadline approaching

By on 29 April, 2013 in Brookline Village, Burlington (BUR), Harvard Square, HUB

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That’s me at the greenhouse at Drumlin Farm, back in March. See my coat? Back then the air was freezing but the greenhouse was warm. It was filled with these tiny leek seedlings. By now the ground has warmed up enough that all the leeks have been planted, and the Drumlin farmers are on to seeding beets, carrots, spinach, peas, and fava beans.

If you want to join Drumlin farm (or 5 others) this summer and pick up your produce at a nearby Clover, act now. Sign-ups for our CSA program close 5-1-13. We’ve just added a new pickup point: our soon-to-open spot in Brookline Village (6 Harvard Street, right next to Dunkin’ Donuts). Already 20 families have signed up to be a part of this pickup point, and we’re looking at close to 300 members across all 4 pickup locations.

Don’t delay. Read more and sign up: www.cloverfoodlab.com/csa.

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Amy from Burlington

By on 23 April, 2013 in Burlington (BUR), Customers, Location

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This is Amy. I met her at 20 Blanchard St., Burlington last week. We’ve been parking at that site every Wednesday and it’s been really fun. Like the early days of Clover again. So many of our customers up here have heard of Clover but haven’t tried us before.

Amy is an example of somebody who hadn’t even heard of us. She was driving behind our truck, on its way to our site and started wondering what Clover is. She texted friends and one of them knew us and encouraged her to eat with us. So she checked our website, found our operating location in Burlington, and came over with a half dozen colleagues, all first timers.

Amy — hope it was awesome and that I’ll see you back tomorrow!

FULL BURLINGTON SCHEDULE:

Lunch 11-2pm

MON: 44 Mall Rd, Burlington, MA (near Fidelity)
TUE: 168 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, MA (Northwest Park)
WED: 20 Blanchard Rd, Burlington, MA (our oldest site now)
THUR: 113 Hartwell Ave, Lexington, MA (POSTPONED TIL 5/2, WAITING ON TOWN INSPECTION)
FRI: 168 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, MA (Northwest Park)

 

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Future Clover Brookline Village customers

By on 22 April, 2013 in Brookline Village, Customers

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I spent the afternoon with an Exacto Knife, scraping off the Papaginos sign at 10 Harvard Street in Brookline Village. We’re going to have a restaurant there, have you heard? I’m working on a window sign announcing the restaurant as a CSA pickup point. I had to write backwards on the inside of the glass, and there’s no way I was free-handing it. So I wrote out my message and tried to tape it to the front of the glass so that I could trace it on the back.

It was ridiculously windy, and blue tape sucks. So I was struggling. Out of nowhere, a jogger named Ken came by. He jumped to help me stick one corner up. He’d never heard of Clover, just wanted to help. Then Jen walked by, saw the word Clover, and gasped. She used to eat with us at City Hall. She and her son offered to hold up one side while I grabbed more tape. Then when Jen had to leave, Dave appeared to help. He knows all the chefs in the area, and told me I had to check out Matt Murphy’s and Pomodoro. He said, “I think you’re going to do good business here.”

Wow, Brookline! And I wasn’t even selling anything yet! Some other highlights of my afternoon. Ate an unbelievable sandwich from Cutty’s, spuckie (apparently this is a New England Continue Reading →

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Customer sandwich design contest

By on 18 April, 2013 in Harvard Square, Location, Menu, Recipes

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We did a seasonal sandwich design contest with MIT customers. MIT Medical put it all together and took submissions. We narrowed down the list from 30 to 6 finalists and invited those folks to join our weekly Food Development Meeting. Here are the 6 finalists:

A. Beets and horseradish mayo sandwich
B. Smoked gouda and apple sandwich
C. Seared carrot/ middle eastern style sandwich
D. Rutabaga/black pepper onions sandwich
E. Pumpkin/black bean sandwich
F. Leeks/breadcrumbs sandwich

We loved all of these, they’re all going into development, and chances are you’ll see a bunch of them on the menu in late autumn/early winter. We’re pretty excited about the beet + horseradish mayo sandwich. The customer who designed it grew up eating pickled beets out of a can in Hungary. Michael Docter of Winter Moon Roots says he’s going to supply us with some amazing beets next Winter. I thought string cheese could be a good match for the beets. What do you think? Which sandwich sounds most exciting to you?

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Gustavo Alfaro visits Clover

By on 17 April, 2013 in Harvard Square, Location, Menu, Suppliers

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Seconds into his visit this past Sunday, Gustavo was inviting me and “our best customers” to visit his farm in Guatemala. How awesome is that!?!

We’ve always made it a point to develop relationships with coffee roasters we love. We never thought it would be so soon that we’d be able to meet the growers of our coffee too. Gustavo runs Cafe Alfaro. He grows beans for Barismo in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. He was a scientist who took over his family’s coffee farm when his father died.

The best part of his visit was when he shared the 2013 lot of Buena Esperanza, which won second place in Guatemala’s Cup of Excellence. I’ve never tasted black coffee that was so sweet and smooth. If you want to try some of Gustavo’s coffee, we’re pouring the Pena Blanca in our $2 slot everywhere, and selling the bags at CloverHSQ. Maybe one day you’ll be able to sign up for a coffee trip at Clover.

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Clover on TV Diner

By on 13 April, 2013 in Brand, HUB

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We got a note saying the NECN show TV Diner wanted to come to the HUB. We were really excited. Everyone knows TV Diner. It’s a really good audience for us, especially as we grow into the suburbs. I have a feeling a lot of people will watch who’ve never heard of us.

Billy and Jenny stopped by the HUB for breakfast. Breakfast sandwich, coffee, popover, and a yogurt and granola with pears. They were super professional, knew exactly what they wanted. Turns out Billy grew up right around the corner from the HUB and remembered the days when it was the Casal Bakery.

I’m told this piece will air today 4/13 at 10am. It’s part of a thing about breakfast, lunch and dinner in East Cambridge, and includes Puritan & Co., and maybe East Coast Grill. I’m going out to try to find a TV to watch…

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