Photos by Katie Noble

Chef Afruza Akther and her husband-assistant, Abu Taher, work on hand-rolling a Bengali flatbread called paratha on a Saturday afternoon at Nibble Kitchen restaurant at Bow Market in Somerville. Akther, who is from Bangladesh, uses the bread to make tasty kati rolls for a Bengali lunch, filling them with customers’ choice of chicken or vegetables, even a Bengali-style omelet if they wish.

“I want to bring traditional food from my culture to the community,” Akther said.

That’s part of the goal of Nibble, a new restaurant with an innovative approach. The Somerville Arts Council runs the restaurant, which opened last fall. According to council cultural director Rachel Strutt, Nibble Kitchen gives Somerville immigrant chefs like Akther an entry into the challenging restaurant world at minimal risk, while building upon an already successful Nibble program dating back a decade, made up of cooking classes and popups in other locations, a blog and a book.

Strutt sees opening a restaurant as an unconventional but crucial step for an arts council in an immigrant city like Somerville. It was born out of excursions through Union Square and its immigrant restaurants and markets, some featuring ingredients that are now used to make dishes at Nibble Kitchen, which occupies a space on the first level of Bow Market next to Remnant Brewing.

Asked about the program name, Strutt said, “It’s a little bit that makes you want more, whets your appetite. You walk in the door of Nibble Kitchen and take a little bite that entices you to learn about the person who made that food.”

The restaurant operates Thursdays through Sunday, with different chefs each day. Currently, on Thursday and Friday nights Robson Lemus makes Brazilian street food from his home state of Bahia. On Fridays and Saturdays Akther serves Bengali lunch. And on Saturday night and Sunday Carolina Garcia and Carolina Salinas make arepas, a favorite of their native Venezuela. Throughout, kitchen manager Aly Lopez is there to help.

Strutt takes applications from chefs every year and does recruiting. The goal is to have two rotations of chefs per year, with the next rotation beginning in July and continuing to 2021, although there is flexibility for chefs who might benefit from an additional six months, Strutt said.

On a Saturday afternoon, Bengali music played as visitors streamed inside for Akther’s lunch cuisine. In addition to the kati rolls, guests could sample piaju, or lentil and chickpea fritters, dipping them in kasundi sauce, a mustard sauce that Akther describes as a Bengali staple, while enjoying a cup of ginger tea.

Fellow chefs Lemus, Garcia and Salinas have had similarly successful receptions. Friday-night guests can savor Lemus’ moqueca, a stew of fish, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, coconut milk and cilantro. They can also try his acaraje, or black-eyed-pea fritters filled with a whole shrimp, with a coconut-based peanut sauce called vatapa, as well as his yucca fries.

On Sunday morning, Garcia and Salinas make meat and vegetarian arepas, including their Catira, or chicken and cheese option, and their Rumbera, made from plantain and cheese. For those wishing to have it all, there is the ultimate arepa or pabellon, featuring a choice of meat with black beans, plantain and cheese.

“We grew up eating arepas,” Garcia said, adding that people can have arepas “every day, breakfast or dinner. They’re part of our roots, our flavors.”

In addition to their space at Nibble, the Venezuelan duo has also opened a restaurant at nearby Aeronaut Brewery, called Las Carolinas. Garcia credited Nibble with helping her and her business partner reach this goal.

The Somerville Arts Council hopes that Nibble Kitchen will offer a vehicle for the talents of all its chefs, whether they end up launching their own restaurants or not. Regardless of their ultimate destination, Nibble Kitchen is helping them, and their customers, savor the journey.

nibblesomerville.com

This story appeared in the Spring 2020 issue.