To eat, perchance to dream big
A Diesel by any other name, part of a poetic Union
The owners of the Diesel Cafe in Davis Square are opening a new cafe in Union Square, another sign of growing interest in the artsy neighborhood the city has targeted for revitalization.
The cafe is opening in the former East Asian Bank on Bow Street, a building whose owner envisions it becoming a sort of cultural center.
Diesel Cafe owner Jennifer Park and her business partner, Tucker Lewis, signed a lease last month for the entire first floor of the former bank, and recently started renovations to convert the 3,500-square-foot space into an eatery with seating for 85. They plan to take advantage of its now-overgrown courtyard for additional seating.
The owner of the bank building since 2005, Ifeanyi Menkiti, is a professor of philosophy at Wellesley College and a poet who bought the Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Cambridge last year. Menkiti wants to use a portion of the building's second-floor space for poetry readings.
He also leased a portion of the Union Square space to the Zeitgeist Gallery, a performance and art gallery, which closed its Inman Square location in November. Zeitgeist founder Alan Nidle said many permitting hurdles have to be cleared before the gallery can open, but he likes the space.
"It's too early to say what's in store," he said.
Park says their new coffee shop will have a different name -- as yet undecided -- but will share many features of the Diesel Cafe, including late hours, wireless Internet service, a fairly extensive menu and what Park hopes is a comfortable feel.
Park and Lewis opened Diesel in 1999 with Rusty Poole after the three became friends working together at Herrell's Ice Cream in Harvard Square. Lewis and Park, now the owners, have wanted to expand for a couple years, according to Park.
The Union Square project will reunite the pair with Ben Dryer and Karyn Coughlin, who opened Sherman Cafe on Washington Street in 2004. All four worked together at Toscanini's before opening their own businesses.
Park said she and Lewis like the idea of catering to "a really wide crowd," and were drawn in part to the ethnic diversity and variety of types of businesses in Union Square, which plays host to Korean and Peruvian restaurants, Indian and Italian groceries, and Brazilian clothing stores.
The pair believes that their commitment to customer service and the cool, comfortable design they are planning will make it work. They plan to open early and close late, offer a breakfast menu and provide a larger dinner selection than just sandwiches and salads.
Park, who was 20 when she and her partners opened Diesel, said this second store will give the partners a chance to use new design themes.
"The look will be really different," she said. "We didn't want it to feel like a franchise or a chain."
Victoria I, who with her husband Phil Lamb renovated a church around the corner into luxury condominiums, was happy to learn of their plans for the former bank building.
"We're getting a younger and younger crowd in this area and I think something like that could draw people in," she said. 