Nick Lisotto sold his Brookline Village wine shop in 2023. The company that bought Sorriso Market went bankrupt in 2025. After months of legal proceedings, Lisotto got the business back, and the week of Sept. 1 he reopened it in the same space where he had started it.
Around Harvard Square and Cypress Street, that pattern repeats this fall. A manager is taking ownership of the restaurant he already runs. A coffee roaster is outgrowing the weekend corner it borrowed inside a neighbor's bar. Even Clementine, the one deal led by an operator from outside Brookline, comes in by buying Garrison House's liquor license and furniture. In Brookline Village, the people already working on these blocks are the ones making the changes.
The wine shop that went back to its founder
Brookline.News reported that the reopened Sorriso Market changed its layout to make room for community gatherings. Plans include wine tastings that range from casual Tuesday nights to opening one-of-a-kind bottles, balsamic tastings, eventually pasta-making workshops, and a bigger role for the art gallery. Lisotto told the outlet he wanted the shop to feel the way it did the first time around.
"I would like to have the same kind of culture and atmosphere we cultivated when we originally opened."
The wine is still the core of the shop. A private membership is planned that opens the deep cellar, where Sorriso keeps its rarest and most expensive bottles. In September the shop opened Wednesday through Sunday, with the full lineup of events set to relaunch in October. Current hours and the tasting calendar are posted on Sorriso Market's site.
Before the 2023 sale, Lisotto had already closed Sorriso's second outlet in the Coolidge Corner arcade. The comeback is a single shop in Brookline Village, built around events.
Cypress Street keeps its kitchen and changes its owner
At 10 Cypress St., the kosher Mediterranean restaurant Za'Tar reopened under new management in June. Mola Mekonant became general manager that month. In September, Brookline.News reported that he was in the process of taking full ownership and planned to rename the restaurant Mola once the transfer was done. Mekonant is taking over a kitchen he already runs, so the address stays the same and only the name on the sign is set to change.
Farther along the same street, the Thai restaurant So Kitchen became Chaba Cafe this summer. The menu is still Thai, focused on curries, noodles and fried rice. Chaba Cafe lists its address as 224 Cypress St. Both Cypress Street changes kept the restaurant's cuisine and its address.
A coffee roaster that started inside a neighbor's bar
Merai, at 14 Harvard St., is a Thai-inspired dive-bar-style restaurant in Brookline Village. On weekend mornings it has also hosted Newbery St., a Thai specialty coffee roaster from founder Pack Katisomsakul. The roaster's pop-up usually runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. An event listing showed it still pouring there on Saturday, Oct. 24.
Newbery St.'s next step is a permanent café at 240 Harvard St. in Coolidge Corner, the former Cremeux space. The team ran a Kickstarter to cover the last costs of building it out. In late August, Brookline Record reported that the café was targeting an October opening but had no official date. Newbery St.'s own site is the best place to check whether this weekend's coffee is on Harvard Street in the Village or up the street in Coolidge Corner.
Newbery St. tested its coffee in a weekend corner of a Brookline Village bar before planning a café of its own.
Even the newcomer is buying the room as it stands
Garrison House opened at 6 Harvard Square in late 2021, replacing Magnolia Smokehouse. It is run by Hawkeye Hospitality, the group behind Elm Street Taproom, Five Horses Tavern and The Chester Tavern. It has two floors, with a pub-style restaurant upstairs and Village Social Club downstairs, a lounge that has hosted live music and other events. It opened as COVID-era rules were winding down, with a takeout window on the side street for social distancing.
Brookline.News reported on Oct. 20 that Garrison House is closing and that a new concept called Clementine will take its place. Restaurateur Mathew Freid is behind it. He owned Idle Hour in downtown Quincy from 2017 to 2024 and has worked at the Beehive, Capo and JM Curley in Boston. Town licensing documents show Clementine paying $315,000 for Garrison House's liquor license plus furniture and other assets.
The plan keeps the building's size and stretches its hours. Clementine is slated for 128 seats inside and 32 outside. It would stay open until 1 a.m. on weekends, an hour later than Garrison House. Freid has also applied for an entertainment license covering live music, taped music, television and movie screenings and floor shows. The transfer was on the docket for a town hearing on Oct. 21. On Oct. 27, WhatNow reported that Clementine was still working to secure the license and that neither Garrison House's closing date nor Clementine's opening timeline had been announced. For now, Garrison House is still the restaurant at 6 Harvard Square.
Where each change sits
Most of these changes are within a short walk of each other. The two Coolidge Corner addresses are farther up Harvard Street.
- Sorriso Market, Brookline Village: reopened with its founder the week of Sept. 1, with tastings and a cellar membership planned
- Merai, 14 Harvard St.: home of the Newbery St. weekend coffee pop-up, typically 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Garrison House, then Clementine, 6 Harvard Square: license transfer pending, no opening date announced
- Za'Tar, planned to become Mola, 10 Cypress St.: ownership passing to its general manager
- Chaba Cafe, 224 Cypress St.: the former So Kitchen, still serving Thai food
- Junbi Matcha & Tea, 190 Washington St.: soft-opened June 30, held its grand opening July 11
- Newbery St. café, 240 Harvard St., Coolidge Corner: the former Cremeux space
Junbi is the one true newcomer on the list, a matcha shop that Brookline Record covered this fall. The menu runs from classic ceremonial matcha to specials like sea salt caramel, blueberry lavender and strawberry.
This week and next, a short walk from the Village
Thursday, Nov. 5, has the busiest calendar of the week. Brookline's Department of Public Works holds Go Green After Halloween from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the West Centre Street Parking Lot, during the Brookline Farmers Market. That evening, Coolidge Corner Theatre holds the BIG Teen Media Showcase in movie house 5 from 6 to 8 p.m., with a screening and a Q&A with the producers. From 5 to 8 p.m. the same night, Brookline Booksmith at 279 Harvard St. hosts Stop & Chat: Community Servings Pie in the Sky.
On Sunday, Nov. 8, at 10:30 a.m., the Booksmith's family story hour features Ping Zhu and Animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Coolidge Corner Theatre's Noirvember series is already running. It opened on Sunday, Nov. 1 with On Dangerous Ground, as Brookline.News listed.
Next comes the holidays. The Charles River Regional Chamber has set First Light, Brookline's annual holiday kickoff, for Thursday, Dec. 3, from 4 to 6 p.m., with more details to come. Clementine, Mola and the Harvard Street café could all be open by the time the lights go up, or still waiting on paperwork. Sorriso and Chaba Cafe are open now, and Newbery St. was still serving coffee inside Merai as of late October.
If you live near Harvard Square or Cypress Street and are wondering what these storefront changes could mean for your own plans, Allison Blank & Company follows Brookline Village block by block. Start your Newton or Brookline market plan with a team that knows these blocks.
