I’m going to be very sorry to see this restaurant go. Inna’s Kitchen is shutting down after 6 years in its Newton location, per its newsletter. The last day in business will be this coming Saturday, April 29th. They’ll be holding a farewell open house on Sunday. The Boston Public Market location will remain open.
Inna has always been a wonderful host and I love her place. My son Alex likes a meatball sandwich and she made it special for him, as it’s not on the menu. Also, where else can you get shakshuka?
I’ve always enjoyed my food and conversations there with both Inna and Alex. Great people and I wish them the best of luck, but I wish that luck would include Newton.
UPDATE: On Monday, Inna’s will become Eleana’s. In fact, the new owner is there now learning the restaurant. She’s Venezuelan with a Lebanese background, so she’ll keep some of Inna’s dishes and then also bring in her own. Inna will be focusing on the Boston Public Market, where she picked up an additional 100 square feet and now has a breakfast bar. She also said that with the increase in delivery options she hopes to use that as a base to grow that side of the business.
Eleana’s will not offer shakshuka, that can still be had downtown.
Until we increase the number of condos/apartments, it’s going to be difficult for any restaurant to survive.
Without the high volume, it’s almost impossible to keep ingredients at its freshest unless you throw away excess every night and only serve the freshest. Vicious cycle of mediocre food or high prices
.. Unless the NIMBYs allow it…
Another reason may be the high taxes and rents which make it difficult for small businesses to survive. I know Rox Diner in Newtonville has a winning business model. They draw people consistently from all over the North side.
Two places off the top of my head that serve shakshuka are COOK in Newtonville (brunch menu) and Tatte Bakeries (such as the one on Beacon St in Brookline).
What a shame about Inna’s. I love that place! Not only do I sing high praises, but Yelp reviewers seem to regularly agree.
@Bugek
Spot on! I have been saying this for a few years.
I also noticed that Trutony’s is now closed. Anyone know the story there? Two great losses for sandwiches in Newton. I hope that Barry’s finds a buyer–their closure would just be too much to sustain. Any recommendations for other great sandwich places to help me survive the grief?
See the update above. The restaurant is changing hands but a shop will remain open there.
I also noticed that Trutony’s had closed. It cleared out very fast.
I have been told that Barry’s is no longer on the market! Thank God! Zaftig’s and Kugel’s are the only other deli’s around…except for the one in Cambridge that takes a reservation about 2 weeks in advance if you want Sunday brunch! (Can’t remember the name…)
Clearly Barry’s has gone way downhill over the past year or so presumably due to change of ownership… Quality and service not close to the same with premium prices… No thanks.
Huh? More housing–with residents off at work all day–is irrelevant to a place like Inna’s that isn’t open for dinner, or on Sundays. A place that does largely breakfast/lunch takeout has to depend on local businesspeople and their clients and customers. I’m practically a next-door neighbor, but I never got much use out of Inna’s. Pleasant people, though. All the best to them. Meanwhile, commercial rents are high in this neighborhood, and spaces keep shrinking. The storefront adjacent to Inna’s subdivided a couple of weeks ago, with the longtime dry cleaner Miss Hefferman’s moving into a minuscule space at the back of the building. I certainly hope they survive there. Now, that’s a place I use. Venezuelan-Lebanese sounds intriguing, however. I’ll definitely do my civic duty and stop by.
@bugek Amen. We spend too much time focusing on Historic Districts and leaf blowers than affordable housing. NIMBY politics.
To agree with Bugek and counter Colleen, I offer Malden as an example of how making changes and building new housing revitalizes local business. They have transformed their town by updating the facades of local businesses, tearing down their government center, adding a robotics center and green lighting the construction of 1000 new apartments in buildings ringing their commercial center.
“We’re trying to provide density in downtown to support businesses and then in outlying neighborhoods, explained Mayor Christenson. “Already the downtown is thriving in a way it hasn’t since it was a shopping destination in the 1970s.”
“I never thought I’d see that kind of activity again,” said Neil Sullivan, “It’s coming back.” Sullivan grew up going to the Jordan Marsh and Woolworth’s stores that anchored the business district. The storefront where his mother used to bring him to buy shoes now houses his cafe, Cornucopia. Nestled amid a mix of restaurants, barber shops and the popular entertainment outlet Boda Borg, Sullivan says business has been so brisk, he hopes to expand his hours to nights and weekends. He says he routinely fields inquiries from people interested in buying his business.
http://news.wgbh.org/2017/04/20/local-news/next-hot-place-live-already-out-reach
@theo
is there a ye olde sandwiche shoppe in the historic district? then at least they’d have to preserve the mustard recipes .
@amanda @marti
rents are definitely a part of the problem – it’s all about margins and what people are willing to pay for the service. you can only raise prices so much before you lose customers.
Inna’s was open on Sundays. A favorite breakfast destination, though I failed to get out for breakfast over the winter . Inna’s made wonderful breakfasts with homey Jewish/Israeli accent. I’m definitely going to miss the place.
Malden may be hot, but it’s not much of a model for Newton. For one thing, Malden has an actual downtown, where high-density development makes a lot of sense, along an actual mass transit (Orange Line) station. Malden has higher density housing nearby, much less costly market-rate rental and purchase housing, and a very diverse mix of native and immigrant residents. But I suspect a majority of Newton residents would not actually choose to move there. Nobody talks about how great its schools are, either (though ours may be a bit overrated).
Newton has a lower population density overall, and by design has smaller village centers and no downtown. Newton is unusual in that regard, but it works. Adding luxury high-rise or mid-rise apartment buildings with a handful of income-restricted lottery-ticket units raises market prices, as allowing higher density development makes land more valuable. And makes little stores and restaurants less able to compete against national chains and franchises.