In 2016, Union Square’s Juliet restaurant opened, funded by a Kickstarter campaign of $40,000 raised over 30 days. Just five years later, co-owners Katrina Jazayeri and Joshua Lewin used the same concept to fund the restaurant’s expansion, this time with a goal of $100,000. 

“Juliet, the original, was an experiment,” the campaign page explains. “That experiment succeeded and will remain the baseline of what we do next. But Juliet is ready to grow up, and we need your help to make this new project as successful as the first one.” The restaurant reached their goal of $100,000 in just four days; the campaign continues to run through May 8.

“That’s a big difference,” says Lewin. “It isn’t just Katrina and me working harder, it’s about so many people being fully engaged in what we do, who are part of the mission-oriented work and evolution of the company.” Lewin explains the mission for the expansion is “the development of careers,” which he emphasizes, “is everything the business is founded on.” 

Before Juliet was a restaurant, it was more of a concept: Lewin and Jazayeri ran a pop-up with a menu that rotated nightly based on their “favorite things,” including family histories and countries they’d traveled to, all on a shoestring budget. Lewin said the collection was the inspiration for what became Juliet’s “production:” a theater-style, immersive dining experience and a business plan deeply rooted in the development of purposeful restaurant careers. 

“The point wasn’t to just have another restaurant in town,” says Lewin when he and Jazayeri first considered opening a brick and mortar. Lewin explains that the visualization of the restaurant provoked deeper questions and qualms they had both experienced while working in the industry—Lewin with over 20 years and Jazayeri with just under a decade. 

“If we take our fun thing and turn it into a career, that leads to questions about how people are paid in restaurants, how they are valued as individuals, where the power structure rests in restaurants and what we wanted to do in our business plan to address those things,” Lewin explains. “We developed a business out of our hobby not just to leave our jobs, but to work on the mission of our lives.”

Juliet’s new space is twice the size of the existing space at 2400 square feet, requiring more staff to maintain the same level of quality as the original 26-seat restaurant. Lewin says the increase in space furthers Juliet’s mission because there will be more demand for leadership positions and career development for the restaurant’s core staffers, from chefs to managers to behind-the-scenes directors. 

As for the menu, the revolving prix fixe of three to five courses (with surprises that add up to nine to 12 courses) will remain, along with an à la carte menu that Lewin says will focus on the coastal cuisine of both the Italian and French Rivieras. 

“We have a reputation for tasting menus—we share that spirit, a sense of discovery—but the actual experience is more casual and collaborative among the diners themselves,” says Lewin, referring to the core offering as a menu production. “The prix fixe will rotate around coastal cuisine but can also offer Persian to Greek to Mexican to American.” 

Reservations for Juliet’s prix fixe dinner are based on a ticketing system. Guests pre-pay for the menu production which involves food, drink and dynamic room designs that change and evolve with each course. 

“Juliet becomes an interactive theatre rather than just a reservation,” says Lewin. The new restaurant offers 64 seats, with only 20 of those available for the curated culinary experience, the rest à la carte.

While the menu constantly changes, you can expect the freshest ingredients and a curated wine list as Lewin emphasized the importance of sustainability, community and local sourcing of supply within the company. 

“We have a core of suppliers who we’ve developed over 12 years,” says Lewin, mentioning spice supplier, Curio, in Cambridge; fresh produce from local farms throughout Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island and Maine; local fishermen for the majority of Juliet’s seafood dishes; and saffron sourced directly from Afghanistan. “We think really holistically and try to fill our pantries with products that have an impact in communities.” 

Juliet’s core suppliers also include small estate vineyards throughout the US creating a wine list, and wine pairings, that match the repertoire of the culinary menu. Lewin said both he and Jazayeri, who was bestowed the title of Wine Commander within the first year of opening, specifically seek out female-owned wineries, attesting to the company’s mission of reinventing the industry structure, since both the wine and restaurant industries are traditionally male dominated. 

“We’re looking for business practices and environmental practices, in addition to taste,” says Lewin. “Every beverage on our list has a two-stage process; we ask, ‘Do we love this product and do we want to support the way it’s brought into this world?’”

In relation to the pandemic, Lewin said it may have stalled the expansion but it sparked conversation about some of the industry stigmas that Juliet is committed to changing. 

“There are a lot of conversations happening about how to pay people more, to develop careers more purposefully, to value individuals for their skills and individuality,” says Lewin. “There’s a potential for it to be a very positive restructuring and reopening for workers and we feel that is important, so we’re excited for the new Juliet to be able to contribute to that.”

Juliet the original is currently open for takeout. Lewin says that they plan to remain open until the new restaurant takes over presumably by end of this year; however, that date is in flux given the uncertainty of local restrictions. Keep up to date with all of Juliet’s news via their website and social media channels.

Juliet
21 Union Square
Somerville, MA 02143

@julietunionsq
julietsomerville.com

This story appeared as an online exclusive in May, 2021.