Farmshare Update: First shares are in

By on 5 June, 2013 in CSA

CSA shares are in. The first farm to drop off was Enterprise Farm in Whately, MA. If you’re wondering what’s in season at this exact moment in New England, here’s what members are picking up today: Rhubarb Baby Bok Choi Green Kale Collards Spinach Red Leaf Lettuce Red Oak Lettuce Hakurai Turnips

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Blank slate: BUR update

By on 5 June, 2013 in Burlington (BUR), Design

Sorry all, I know the pictures lately are starting to blend together. Concrete and sheetrock only come in so many colors, and the temporary construction lights cast a certain glow. And forgive me if I’m giving you the impression we’re a construction company not a food company. But there’s lots going on right now, we [...]

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Last parsnips of the season

By on 4 June, 2013 in Menu, Operations

We all get excited when parsnips hit our menu. They are the first vegetable to be harvested in New England. That’s because they winter underground. There are 2 crops: autumn and spring. The spring crop is more rare, more work, many farmers don’t bother. But if you can find them they are amazing. The parsnips [...]

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Better sounding Clover

By on 4 June, 2013 in Customers, Design

This is going to be a long post. I’ve been thinking for a long time about sound in our restaurants and I’m going to bring you up to date. At HSQ we spent something like $13k on the sound system, and I just wasn’t that happy with the result. The Sonos is a pain for [...]

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Does that ceiling look familiar?

By on 4 June, 2013 in Construction, Kendall Square (KEN)

  No, that’s not a picture from 2 years ago of Clover HSQ construction. That’s a photo from 2 weeks ago of what will be the next Clover (after Burlington and Brookline Village). That’s going to be Clover Kendall Square. That’s right, Kendall. Given our truck at Kendall we’ve been determined that someday we’d open [...]

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Hear live music from Della Mae at the Clover trucks and HSQ today

By on 4 June, 2013 in Customers

In Austin where I’m from, food and music are hardly ever separated. It’s really exciting. My mom used to pay my sister $20 if she would get up and dance to the live Tejano music at Guero’s, our favorite restaurant. I was always too shy, and I lost out on a lot of money that [...]

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Trenching done

By on 3 June, 2013 in Design

When I was a kid I loved reading those books that would show you a cut-away underground. Something fascinating about the stuff happening under your feet that you cannot see. Our trenching is covered. And in a few days you will have no idea there was anything going on under there. It went from this [...]

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Garlic Mustard is back on the menu

By on 3 June, 2013 in Design, Environmental, Menu

  That’s garlic mustard. And my hand, pulling it up. Garlic Mustard is a culinary herb that was brought here to eat by some settlers a while back. Unfortunately, it doesn’t just taste good, it spreads very quickly and chokes out all of the indigenous undergrowth. So some towns, like mine, have organized garlic mustard [...]

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Breaking open the bubbly

By on 3 June, 2013 in Team

  I’ve been trying to figure out a good way to communicate progress and success to our managers. We’re all able to step back and take pride in what we’re building. But I think it would be great to share more specific information in an ongoing way. We’ve been growing and the leadership team has [...]

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I really love this space

By on 31 May, 2013 in Brookline Village, Construction

I keep loving this little space. I feel like I shouldn’t. It’s much more modest than most of our other upcoming projects. It used to be a Papa Ginos. It’s a little riskier for us than some other locations that are in the pipeline. It’s going to be take-out only. But it’s got this great [...]

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Burlington: meet weekends

By on 29 May, 2013 in Burlington (BUR), Location

As many of you know, Michael is parking his truck in Burlington leading up to our June restaurant opening. This week we’re adding Friday night dinners and Saturday and Sunday breakfasts in the parking lot of 100 Mall Rd (where our restaurant will be). We’re also working on a ton of exciting pre-open activities, including [...]

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Trenching in Burlington MA

By on 28 May, 2013 in Burlington (BUR), Construction

While I was at the restaurant the plumbing inspector came by and gave the thumbs up. That means next time I’m here these pipes will be covered with concrete. I first learned about this construction called “slab on grade” at our East Cambridge location. It still feels sort of crazy to me. Concrete is cast [...]

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True North Coffee in Burlington MA

By on 28 May, 2013 in Burlington (BUR), Customers

I’ve been spending a lot of early mornings in Burlington, MA. Believe it or not we’re weeks from opening our restaurant there. It’s exciting, and terrifying, as all new opens are. The other day when I was at Starbuck’s waiting to meet with my contractor I posted here on the website. Some of you suggested [...]

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Rolando transitions

By on 28 May, 2013 in Menu, Team

I expect most of you know Rolando, our Executive Chef. Rolando was my first hire at Clover back in 2008. And that experience set the tone for the adventure ahead. A couple months before I hired Rolando I was certain I was going to outsource the menu development to a well known chef. Fast forward [...]

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Food Truck Music Tour with Della Mae: Tuesday, June 4

By on 27 May, 2013 in Customers

A group of customers approached us with the idea to do a food truck music tour featuring their band. We were really excited. They’re Boston natives and their record label has offices in Burlington, near our future restaurant. Tuesday June 4 the Clover trucks (and HSQ) are becoming music venues. Follow Della Mae from one Clover [...]

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