Mahmood Abu-Rubieh grew up in the booths at Brookline Lunch in Central Square. He did his homework there and watched Monsters, Inc. in the basement while his parents, Jamal and Manal, ran the restaurant they have operated since 1989, according to Boston Magazine. He has since built a new set of wooden booths at 108 L Street, shaped to fit the odd corners of the former L Street Diner & Pizzeria. They were designed to look like the ones he grew up in.
Two other South Boston counters went the opposite way between late summer and fall. Fresh Boston closed on Old Colony Avenue in August. Lulu Green served its last day on West Broadway last Saturday, October 17. Both kept their Cambridge locations open. Each Southie change since late summer, whether an opening or a closing, came from a business that also has a Cambridge address. A neighborhood counter now often answers to a second location somewhere else, and this season that second location was in Cambridge every time.
A Central Square booth, rebuilt on L Street
Boston.com put the opening of the second Brookline Lunch in late September. Boston Restaurant Talk confirmed it was open on September 28. The family calls the new location B-line Southie. It carries over the dishes that built the original's following: the baklava pancakes, the spicy sausage shakshuka and the za'atar bowl, with everything still made from scratch.
The Southie location also does some things the original does not. Boston Magazine reported that the drinks get more attention here. Espresso comes from a La Marzocco machine, the coffees use house-made syrups, and the menu includes a karaz iced latte made with cherry syrup and the Lemonana, a fresh lemonade with mint. The original on Brookline Street is cash-only and known for hour-long waits for a table.
The bigger change is a pizza oven. Abu-Rubieh told Boston Magazine it is partly a nod to the previous tenant and to what the neighborhood might still want from the space. "Our pizza kitchen will hopefully open in the next month or so," he said in late September, with whole pies and slices planned for lunch and dinner. When that article ran, the hours did not include dinner. Until a launch is announced, the pizza kitchen and evening service are still plans. The current menu is the breakfast and lunch list.
Two Southie originals chose the other address
Brookline Lunch brought a Cambridge business to Southie. Lulu Green and Fresh Boston show the same arrangement in reverse.
Boston Restaurant Talk reported Lulu Green open at 675 W Kendall Street in Cambridge by June 1. Four and a half months later, the owners announced they were closing the West Broadway café after seven years. Caught in Southie published their message:
"As a small, family run business, we want to focus our full attention on growing our newly opened Kendall Square location in Cambridge. This will allow us to bring our focus under one roof."
Fresh Boston's goodbye in August was similar. Boston Restaurant Talk placed the shop at 232 Old Colony Avenue. After nearly four years there, the owners said the challenges small businesses have faced in recent years had become too much. They called the closing temporary. Their message, also reported by Caught in Southie, added that "our Cambridge location will remain open, so you can still get your fix." The same report noted that Fresh Cambridge and Fresh Nantucket would both stay open.
Taken together, the year's dates show how closely the peninsula was tied to Cambridge decisions:
- May 4: Caught in Southie reports a cleanout crew working inside the dark L Street Diner.
- June 1: Lulu Green is reported open in Kendall Square.
- August 15: Fresh Boston announces it is closing on Old Colony Avenue and keeping Cambridge open.
- August 30: Caught in Southie reports that Brookline Lunch is coming to the old L Street Diner space.
- Late September: Brookline Lunch opens at 108 L Street.
- October 17: Lulu Green serves its last day at 246 W Broadway.
In each case, the decision rested on how the business was doing as a whole, not on one storefront. Lulu Green's own message said the neighborhood "welcomed us with open arms." For a family business with two locations, Southie's goodwill still had to be weighed against the pull of a new location.
The diner's liquor license left before the diner did
The L Street Diner case shows the same thing happening with assets, not just restaurants. WBZ NewsRadio reports the diner opened in 1986. Last spring, Caught in Southie reported that the owners of the pizzeria and diner at L and 5th had sold their liquor license to Ballers, the pickleball and padel club in the Seaport. Accounts of how long the "on vacation" sign hung on the door vary. Caught in Southie said more than a year. A neighbor quoted by WBZ NewsRadio put it closer to six months. Either way, the license went to the Seaport and the room went to a Cambridge family.
The same kind of trade is happening in the other direction on West 1st Street. In May, Universal Hub reported that the Boston Licensing Board had approved plans by Jack Bardy, owner of the South End's Beehive, for King Bee. The project would turn three former industrial buildings on West 1st Street into a restaurant and entertainment venue. To stock its rooms and bars, Bardy is paying $400,000 for the liquor license of Mission Hill's Squealing Pig, which closed after a fire in 2024. Earlier coverage put the project at 202 W 1st St.
So one license left L Street for the Seaport, and another is coming to West 1st Street from Mission Hill, carried by a South End operator. At the May hearing, Beehive's attorney said King Bee would aim at "a more mature audience" than the bars along Broadway. He described that part of South Boston as currently lacking such options. He expects demand to grow with new residential buildings and hotels, the redevelopment of the Gillette campus, and visitors to the nearby convention center. The coverage confirms approvals, not an opening date.
Four addresses to watch this winter
The fall's changes leave some open questions, each tied to a decision being made somewhere else:
- 108 L Street: Brookline Lunch's pizza kitchen and dinner service, the part of the menu meant as a nod to the old diner.
- 246 W Broadway: The closing reports for Lulu Green's former café named no successor.
- 232 Old Colony Avenue: Fresh Boston called its closing temporary, and its closing announcement named no other use for the space.
- 202 W 1st St.: King Bee has its zoning and licensing approvals but no reported opening month.
Meanwhile, Caught in Southie reports that the city has extended Boston's 2026 outdoor dining season through November 15. Participating restaurants can keep patio tables out, weather permitting. That leaves a few more weeks of sidewalk tables on Broadway before winter.
Earlier this year, the neighborhood's summer evenings were the story; that's covered in our South Boston summer guide. The Seaport's restaurant scene follows a different pattern, which we wrote about in why the Seaport collects proven concepts. On the peninsula this fall, the clearest sign of the change is the new booths at 108 L Street, built to match a room in Central Square, where breakfast is now served in the former home of a diner that opened in 1986.
David Mackie follows South Boston address by address, including which storefronts change hands and which corners are about to get new life. If you own near one of these blocks and want to know what the changes might mean for your own property, start with a confidential home valuation or a private conversation, and receive exclusive off-market listings as they come up.
