Where to O’Some Café near Watertown Square, a tiny, cheerful, month-old spot in a former vape shop. It takes customers a moment to realize they’re in a cafe called O’Some — as in awesome. The house motto is “Be O’Some All Day!”
Why Because who doesn’t want a good brew served with a smile (behind a mask)?
The back story Ricci Cheng, 31, came to the United States from Hong Kong to go to college and got a job working at the Dunkin’ Donuts in Downtown Crossing, which meant coffee was flying out of the machine and into cups. She also worked at Boston News Café, another madhouse in town. Cheng attended Bunker Hill Community College and transferred to the culinary program at Johnson & Wales, where she got a degree in nutrition. For three years, she commuted from her home in Reading to Providence in time for 7 a.m. classes, so the daunting hours that go with being a baker don’t faze her. Another job was at Cupcake City in Reading (no cupcakes in her own shop). She found the cafe space, which is across from Watertown Free Public Library and near Town Hall, during the pandemic and spent a year working on it, first finding a contractor who would return her calls, and then doing the renovation.
What to eat There is one small oven in this slip of a place and Cheng is the only worker. She produces a small number of confections at this point. Tall squares of glazed yuzu pound cake, flavored with the citrus fruit that originated in Asia and is now grown in the United States, sit on a pedestal. Chocolate chip cookies might be hot from the oven. (Is there anything better than a hot cookie, no matter what bakers tell you about letting them cool?) “I first focused on coffee and a small amount of baked goods that I can handle,” says the cafe proprietor.
What to drink Coffee ground on the premises from beans roasted at Gracenote Coffee in Boston and Cambridge, and Broadsheet in Cambridge. Cheng adds no flavorings to the brews. Her loose tea is in a filter whose top is slung over the lip of the cup. In addition to an array of hot drinks, she makes iced matcha latte, matcha soda, and yuzu expresso, which is her favorite drink (blended espresso and yuzu soda).
The takeaway The decor is spotless and spare, with a sweet wall-mounted diorama of O’Some that Cheng’s cousin made for her. Rush hour at a downtown Dunkin’ was good training for a one-woman show in this petit space. 100 Main St., Watertown, osome-cafe.square.site
Sheryl Julian can be reached at sheryl.julian@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @sheryljulian.
"cafe" - Google News
September 30, 2021 at 10:56PM
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