9 Brookline St, Cambridge, MA 02139 ♦ https://www.instagram.com/brookline.lunch/?hl=en
Despite its name, Brookline Lunch is located in Cambridge. The reason for this misnomer still escapes me to this day. Frankly, I have spent more time than I should trying to find the explanation behind it. However, the food at this little establishment was good enough to make me momentarily forget my unsound fascination with its incorrect appellation. In other words, Brookline Lunch doesn’t seek to impress with gimmicky, costly, overly complicated dishes. Instead, it focuses on simplicity, flavors, and originality.
They specialize in Mediterranean dishes with an occasional Oriental flair. In fact, the little restaurant owes its popularity to the Baklava pancakes, a behemoth of a desert, consisting of a delightful mixture of pancakes, baklava, crunchy phyllo with different kinds of crumbled nuts, and homemade rose syrup. A true culinary tour de force! The rest of the menu features entrees, equally as delectable, like the Spicy Sausage Shakshuka and the Ultimate. Dense, delightful, and hearty, thanks to the fresh feta, herbs, cucumber, eggs, sausages, and pita, both afford an abundance of textures, spices, and savors that enthrall the palate.
In brief, Brookline Lunch crafts exquisite, original, copious, and affordable meals. The success of their Baklava pancake has incited them to create more seasonal mouthwatering specialty deserts regularly posted on their social media. However, I must warn you: this is cash only. Nonetheless, don’t let the inconvenience of such a policy rob you of a wonderful culinary moment.