UpStairs on the Square's Monday Club is the First of Several Spots to Get a Facelift
The Zebra Room in the Monday Club now has prancing zebras on the wall. (Photo courtesy of Mary-Catherine Deibel)
Late this summer, UpStairs on the Square closed its more casual downstairs Monday Club Room, in order to give the famously whimsical space a bit of a facelift. It’s reopening next week, so we chatted with co-owner Mary-Catherine Deibel to find out what we can expect from the updated space and its accompanying new menu.
“It’s pretty major,” Deibel says of the overhaul. To that end, there’s a new black and white floor, actual prancing zebras painted in the “Zebra Room” (before there was just zebra carpeting) and new carpeting. The compression, ventilation and floor has been replaced in the kitchen, while two gas-fired pizza ovens are on their way over from Italy, to be installed behind a new “food bar” alongside a panini grill.
To go with all of the physical changes, the menu has been tweaked as well (see below). “It will be a bit more contemporary,” Deibel says. There’s more of an emphasis on shareable small plates like sirloin carpaccio, brick-pressed octopus and cod cheeks with batter-fried scallions, as well as an expanded selection of pizzas, with luxe toppings like duck fat-roasted potatoes, guanciale and robiola. Check out the link below for a full look at the new offerings.
We’re happy to see city stalwarts like UpStairs freshen up a bit—and they are just the first of many to get a facelift. Nearby French-Cuban restaurant Chez Henri got a recent revamp with hardwood floors and fresh red paint in the bar area a couple of weeks ago, and by mid-October will be boasting new chandeliers, custom hand-blown sconces and artwork. Meanwhile, Marc Orfaly’s Theatre District spot is expanding its teeny bar from four to ten seats. And a long-delayed revamp we are particularly excited for, at Ken Oringer’s Clio and Uni, will finally take place early next year.
(UpStairs on the Square, 91 Winthrop Street, Cambridge, 617-864-1933, Upstairsonthesquare.com)
