Medford Square's New Tables Arrived Before Its New Buildings

You can buy shokupan again at 24 High Street. The square loaf costs $13.50 whole or $7.00 for a half. It comes from Kevin's Bread, which has been baking Japanese milk bread since 2020, and the bakery counter is open past dinnertime on most days. The bread now sells in a Medford Square storefront that housed an Italian restaurant for eleven years. The recipe and the bakers belong to a Japanese market that spent fifteen years on Riverside Avenue before its building was slated for demolition.

This fall, most of what's new in the Square came this way. A business moves into a space that already exists on High Street. The larger plan for the city-owned parking lots behind it is still on paper. Knowing which changes are already open and which are still pending makes the Square easier to plan around this season.

A market lost its building and came back as a restaurant

In March 2025, Boston Restaurant Talk reported that Ebisuya Japanese Market at 65 Riverside Avenue would close by the end of May 2025. The owners had been told the building would be demolished that summer. The city's demolition permit for 65 Riverside was issued in June 2026, a year later than that timeline.

Then the High Street side of the Square opened up. In July 2026, Patch reported that Real Italian Gusto had permanently closed at 24 High St., where it had opened in 2015. The same report said Ebisuya would take over the space. Until then, the bakery and kitchen had been running out of 64 Summer St. in Malden.

In September 2026, the business reopened as EBISUYA, a restaurant and bakery café. Its own site tells the story this way:

"For fifteen years, Ebisuya Japanese Market was where Medford came for Japanese groceries, fresh fish, and a taste of home."

The Hiromoto family runs it. They have operated restaurants since 1993. The menu puts sushi and Japanese comfort food next to Neapolitan-style pizza from an oven imported from Naples. Gusto was also known for Neapolitan-style pizza, so that part of the old menu survives in a new kitchen.

How to use EBISUYA this fall

The restaurant is still in a soft opening, so expect the details below to change. Here are the hours posted on its site this October:

A few practical details:

• The restaurant is closed Mondays, and there is no dinner service on Tuesdays.
• Online ordering isn't live yet, so takeout orders are placed in the store.
• Bento, catering and bulk orders are quoted by email at [email protected].
• The restaurant also holds small Japanese cultural classes and evening events. Seats are limited and booked through its site.

Dinner ends at 8 p.m., which is early for a downtown restaurant. If you want sushi before a show at the Chevalier, plan to eat at 5 or 6.

The same pattern a few doors down

The other recent High Street opening happened the same way. In December 2025, Boston Restaurant Talk reported that Plazita Mexico Tacos was moving into 49 High Street. It is the brand's third location, after Wakefield and Watertown, which serve tacos, burritos, tortas, quesadillas and taquitos. A February 6, 2026 update confirmed the Medford location was open.

So two of the newest places to eat on High Street opened within the same year, and both moved into existing storefronts. EBISUYA brought back an operator Medford already knew. Plazita brought in a regional business that chose the Square for its next location. Neither waited for new construction.

Evenings still run through Forest Street

The Chevalier Theatre at 30 Forest St. is a short walk from both new High Street restaurants. Here is the theater's published calendar from Halloween weekend through mid-November:

On a Friday or Sunday show night, you could pick up a pizza or a sushi plate at EBISUYA when dinner opens at 5, walk over to Forest Street, and still make the show. Thursday, Nov. 5 also works, since dinner runs Wednesday through Sunday.

Also on Oct. 30, the Gede Fèt Festival starts at 6 p.m. at Arts Collaborative Medford, 162 Mystic Ave. It's across town from the Square, and the same evening as the Paul Anka show.

The riverside route is already finished

In August 2025, Streetsblog Massachusetts reported that the Clippership Connector had opened. The path runs from Medford Square to Riverbend Park and completes a continuous off-street walking and biking route along the Mystic from the Wellington area to the Square.

That means an after-lunch walk from High Street can follow the river for a good distance, through the I-93 underpass and past Riverbend Park, without crossing traffic. The city describes the Clippership pop-up park as a seasonal space, open spring through fall. Late October is near the end of its season, so this is the time to see it before it closes for winter.

If you'd rather ride, the Square has had a Bluebikes station since Medford joined the regional system in fall 2022. The city's network now has 18 stations. The newest, at 490 Boston Ave. near the Medford/Tufts Green Line stop, opened this month and is the first of three planned for that area. Bluebikes offers standard bikes and pedal-assist e-bikes, and you can return a bike to any station in the network.

The parking lots are still waiting for their turn

The biggest change planned for the Square is moving more slowly than the storefronts. In May 2025, the city chose Transom Real Estate to redevelop three city-owned parking lots along Clippership Drive and Riverside Avenue. The proposal included a grocery store, a café and apartments.

Gotta Know Medford reported in February 2026 on the plan Transom's representative had presented to councilors. That version of the plan had roughly 300 homes, 20 percent of them affordable, and a 15,000-square-foot grocery store. It also included two residential buildings and more than 600 parking spaces, 100 of them reserved for City Hall staff and visitors. No grocer has been named. The same report put construction at about two years, with no start date set.

The City Council took the next step this spring. Gotta Know Medford reported in May that the Council approved an overlay letting Transom redevelop the lots, along with the broader Medford Square rezoning. Transom's Peter Spellios said the work would happen in phases. The city's Medford Square redevelopment page still calls it a proposed project. The next steps listed there are negotiating a final land lease and bringing it back to the Council.

The grocery store has zoning approval but no lease and no tenant. For now, the lots you park in for a Chevalier show are still parking lots.

If you're curious how changes on High Street and the future of the Square's parking lots might affect your street, Laurie Crane is glad to talk it through. Request a personalized market consultation, and we can look at what's open, what's still proposed, and where your home fits.