Western Ave Corp. is the trumped-up online name for Western Market - the cute little corner shop next door to Basta Pasta Trattoria. It's the farthest thing I could imagine from a corporation. There's no ice-cream sculpted Donald Trump hairdos here. This place is MOM and most definitely POP.
If you've ever showed up to Basta to place a take out order you may well have ended up wasting some time in here. Maybe an hour or so, given the horrendous waits for stupendous pasta. :(
That is how I came to find and love Western Market. Whilst Basta only has coke, sprite and lipton for your drinking needs, Western have scoured the earth to bring you guava, papaya, aloe, lychee and a million other foreign fruit juices in tins. Even Vimto. Weird.
The whole shop is like the Shaw's "world food" section. It's GOYA-porn and more. Some stuff runs in quite expensive but would be hard to find anywhere else and the staff are helpful at pointing out what is a bargain and what is only to be bought if truly necessary.
So cool enough so far, nice people and some fun drinks and world food to peruse. What did I forget? BEEF PATTIES! Yes yes, homecooked and on sale at the counter. Maybe not as great as you'll find in Queens or at food trucks across the tri-state area, but still - homecooked fresh Beef Patties for a dollar or two. You don't see that in Cambridge very often and it's worth going out of your way to try - especially if out of your way means popping in next door whilst your pasta is hewn from the forces of earth. read more