Ebisuya in Medford and the Gundam Base Popup in Burlington
im a medford blogger today
ebisuya is coming back to medford, in cafe form. the original grocery store in medford square was a solid spot to get japanese groceries, and they had a solid hot foods/sushi counter where you could order fresh. when it closed down i felt like a piece of what made medford special disappeared, though i do appreciate all of the small shops in the medford/malden area.
they're taking over the spot of Real Italian Gusto. That was a nice restaurant, the pizza was great (they had a proper oven) and the vibe of the restaurant to me felt like I was eating in a (spacious) home. I think the vibe will be great for Ebisuya, who's planning on using that existing space as. They mention even using the pizza oven to make Tokyo style pizza.
I'm a bit sad that it's not a grocery store proper, but rather a bakery/restaurant. I'd probably go less often because i prefer to cook at home these days. but i'll try to frequent when i can. i went today because they had a small popup for egg sando and katsu sando. i was about third in line, lining up 15 minutes before after going to the post office. the line wasn't too long, i don't like being part of lines for small popups, i feel very exposed to those passing by like they would question my decisions in life. i just happened to show up.
one of the store owner though came out and was really excited to see the line. i don't think they expected the anticipation and she came out and chatted with the line a bit before they opened, explaining that they are waiting for city hall to open back up for them to have their hearing and probably get city permission to start operating as a restaurant. until then they are preparing and trying to do things for the community like this popup. i appreciated her sharing and it made me feel happy to support this business that seems to just want to provide good food. inside the shop it was still basically the same layout as Real Italian Gusto. i ordered for me and my wife and left. i hope there was enough for everyone.
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later i went to the Gundam Base popup at Burlington. the Gundam Base was open for the month of August and i had been meaning to go out. i'm not big on gunpla but i'd always been interested. i can see the appeal, and i was excited that something like this ended up in Burlington, instead of deep in Boston or not coming at all. the Boston area is getting more and more japanese i guess. the store was awesome, it wasn't too crowded and it felt like there was a lot of stuff in stock. another thing i was worried is that the store would be understocked or long lines, etc. the hobby itself is not riddled with scalpers yet i guess.
everyone i encountered was super chill, the staff were really nice and answered questions. from this experience it feels like the community itself is pretty welcoming. i chatted a bit with a guy who said he has been building gunpla since he was a kid, and i imagine it must be pretty cool for this store to show up then. a lot of these hobbies, especially japanese focused hobbies, are hobbies that exist only in online spaces. you order these things online or you chat with others about it in forums, reddit, discord, etc. and maybe you have a handful of friends who are into it with you. i'm not in the MA gundam scene, there's probably meetups etc. but yeah i like it. i ended up walking out with the Freedom Gundam Verson 2.0 (Silver Coated). might be a bit more than I can handle but hopefully I can finish it. Would like to post a picture here when it's done.
