Sign up for The Dish
Stay up to date on the latest food and drink news from Boston.com.
Ube cafe closed twice by Somerville officials over licensing
The owners of Kuya Jay's Ube Kafe claim the city has issued confusing and changing orders since they tried to open their doors in mid-November.
A cafe in Somerville serving ube treats and other Filipino foods has temporarily shuttered not once, but twice, by city orders after what the business owners claim were confusing and changing orders over licensing.
Kuya Jay’s Ube Kafe held a soft opening on Nov. 15, bringing its pop-up business to life in an existing food business known as Gerly’s Ice Cream, which was temporarily closed for the season and whose owner allowed Kuya Jay’s to use the space through spring 2026. According to photos and videos online, the business had already garnered lines out the door for its menu of lattes and sweet treats utilizing the ingredient ube, a purple yam native to the Philippines.
Advertisement:
On a phone call with the Kuya Jay’s owners and husband and wife Jay and Sarai Ricciardi, they told Boston.com it was a menu change, not a change in ownership.
“The only thing that was a change of menu was Filipino flavors,” Sarai said.
But a city spokesperson said the owners of Kuya Jay’s weren’t allowed to move into the space occupied by Gerly’s, which city officials said also had an expired health license.
“It is ISD’s understanding as it was communicated to us, that the Kuya Jay’s Ube Café mistakenly thought that they could utilize Gerly’s food license to operate without any revisions or additional review, which they cannot,” a city spokesperson said.
Advertisement:
The first closure occurred on Nov. 19. According to an email provided by the City of Somerville, ISD inspectors visited the Gilman Square business because of the expired food license — a license that Sarai said had been renewed before Nov. 19 by Gerly’s owner Gerly Adrien. A city spokesperson confirmed Gerly had submitted a renewal application and paid a renewal fee on Nov. 12, but said ISD could no longer “finalize” the renewal after finding the business had “altered its menu, equipment, and floor plan without the required approvals.”
At that time, Kuya Jay’s was also serving TCS (temperature-controlled for safety) foods, such as meat-filled empanadas and rice dishes. Sarai said the confusion over whether they could serve food was due to a zoning overhaul that occurred in 2019, changing Gerly’s Ice Cream from a fast-food category to a cafe/coffee shop category.
What ensued next was confusing guidance from the city, Sarai said, who added that she was told to file for a separate food license for Kuya Jay’s, only for it to be put on hold a day later because Gerly’s had an existing food license.
Advertisement:
“We’re doing exactly what you want us to do every day, but every day is something different,” Sarai said. “What do we need to do to open the doors tomorrow?”
However, a city spokesperson argued that they were consistent in their messaging that both Gerly’s and Kuya Jay’s had three options: renew Gerly’s existing license with modified operations, operate as a shared kitchen, or switch license holders from Gerly’s to Kuya Jay’s. In a meeting on Thanksgiving week, the two food businesses agreed that the first option would be easiest, but it meant Kuya Jay’s could only serve coffee, ice cream, and some non-TCS desserts.
Kuya Jay’s reopened its doors Nov. 26, only to be shut down again on Dec. 2 with a sign that said “Closed by the Board of Health.” A Stop Work order was also issued on Dec. 2 and posted on the business door.
“This time they said we served an illegal sandwich,” a caption from Kuya Jay’s Instagram said about the sign. “You can’t make this stuff up. Who ate the salty sandwich at Kuya Jay’s?”
Advertisement:
The city didn’t provide more information about the sandwich in question, but Sarai told GBH, who first reported the closures, it was over an ube sweet roll pastry.
Still, the business would remain closed because of an added hood ventilation system and beverage equipment in addition to the delays incurred over changing plans from the business owners, a city spokesperson said.
Sarai and husband Jay have run their ube pop-up for over a year now in other municipalities and said they haven’t gone through the kind of bureaucratic ordeal that they find themselves in now that they’re doing business in Somerville.
“We feel like they’re trying to find every code that isn’t fully enforced with other businesses and maybe imposing it on us,” Sarai said.
Support, however, has poured in for the Ricciardis in the form of social media comments from customers to other area business owners sharing their red tape struggles, as reported by GBH.
Christine Carlino, a Gilman Square Neighborhood Council board member, told the public media outlet that the process to open up shop in the neighborhood has hindered businesses from ever opening.
The Ricciardis received some good news Friday from a building commissioner who said Kuya Jay’s was in full compliance, but they’re still waiting for ISD to remove their sign from the business door. They’re still hopeful they can eventually do business in Somerville and bring more Filipino cuisine representation to the area.
Advertisement:
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Kuya Jay’s Ube Kafe. Boston.com regrets the error.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com