Where to eat when you visit Ascent Technology

We love to eat.

Fortunately, there are many interesting options in our building, right outside our front door, and within a short walk from Ascent Technology.

Good food really close by

BeanTowne Coffee House & Cafe. Building 200, One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139. +1.617.621.7900. From early morning through late afternoon, you will usually find a few of us at BeanTowne Coffee House & Cafe, the cozy coffee shop on the first floor of our building. You'll also find a wide variety of temptingly delicious croissants, muffins, scones, sandwiches, wraps, soups, sweets, hot chocolate, coffee, and tea served by the some of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

Flat Top Johnny's. Building 200, One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139. +1.617.494.9565. Flat Top Johnny's is a convivial pub and pool hall on the first floor of our building. It's a good place to go for burgers at lunch time, and it's a great place to go for drinks, snacks, and pool with friends and co-workers after work.

The Blue Room. Building 200, One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139. +1.617.494.9034. When we are in the mood for great food and conversation, we head to The Blue Room, in the lower level of our building. In good weather, the chefs open the grill on the patio, and we can pretend we are on vacation, not at work, at least for a little while. In the winter, the dining room is one of the coziest, most comfortable places we know of, especially when the snow is piling up outside the windows.

Tommy Doyle's Irish Pub and Restaurant. Building 100, One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139. +1.617.225.0888. Tommy Doyle's, just outside the front door of our building, offers all sorts of pub food, as well as complete dinners. It gets a bit noisy on the nights the DJ is there, which makes it all the more fun. There is patio seating in the good weather.

Cambridge Brewing Company. Building 100, One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139. +1.617.494.1994. The Cambridge Brewing Company, the oldest brewery-restaurant in the area, specializes in matching creative American cuisine with freshly-brewed beers. There is a pleasant, sheltered seating area at the tables in the courtyard, which we love to occupy at lunch time during the warmer months.

The Friendly Toast. Building 300, One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139. The Friendly Toast is a retro-style diner that serves comfort food, including all manner of terrific stick-to-your-ribs pancakes, waffles, omelets, sandwiches, sides, and drinks. And it's right outside our front door. What more could you ask for?

Good food close by

Emma's Pizza. 40 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. +1.617.864.8534. Emma's Pizza, a tiny pizzeria across the street from our offices, makes some of the best pizza in the metropolitan area. The crust is super thin, and there are dozens of toppings to choose from. Emma's also serves great salads and sandwiches.

Hungry Mother. 233 Cardinal Medeiros Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02141. +1.617.499.0090. Hungry Mother, just around the corner from our offices, serves Southern-style food prepared with classical French technique. It's small and popular, so be sure to reserve a table well in advance.

Area Four. 500 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139. +1.617.758.4444. Area Four is our favorite early-morning place to pick up croissants (the best in the area!), pastries, and coffee on the way to the office. Lunch and dinner are great, too: a variety of salads and sandwiches, as well as delicious pizzas, meat, seafood, and vegetables all roasted in wood-fired ovens and served directly "oven to table". The bakery, restaurant, and bar menus feature local, organic, and sustainable ingredients.

MexiCali Burrito Co. 500 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139. +1.617.225.2777. MexiCali serves burritos, tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and nachos with a variety of meat and vegetable fillings, as well as quacamole and chips. The salsa will knock your socks off. It's about a five-minute walk from Ascent Technology.

Legal Sea Foods. 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02139. Telephone: +1.617.864.3400. Although it can be expensive, noisy, and rushed, Legal Sea Foods is our favorite full-service restaurant for seafood. The chowder is outstanding, and the fish is the freshest you'll find anywhere. It is next to the Boston Marriott Hotel Cambridge, about a ten-minute walk from Ascent Technology.

Sebastians. 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. Sebastians offers an enormous variety of healthy salads, pasta, rice bowls, and crepes made to order, as well as breakfast pastries, sandwiches, and gelati. Sebastians does a huge take-out business, and there are plenty of tables inside. Sebastian's is a ten-minute walk from Ascent Technology.

Au Bon Pain. 238 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. Telephone: +1.617.491.9751. We go to Au Bon Pain, in the center of Kendall Square, for coffee, croissants, muffins, soups, salads, and sandwiches. There are many tables with free Wi-Fi inside and, in good weather, a few tables on the sidewalk outside. It's about a ten-minute walk from Ascent Technology.

The Food Court. 3 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142-1607. The FoodCourt at 3 Cambridge Center, between the MIT Coop and the Boston Marriott Hotel Cambridge, offers American, Asian, and Italian take-out food from a variety of small food shops, as well as another branch of Au Bon Pain. There are indoor tables and outdoor tables. When the weather is pleasant, it's fun to eat in the rooftop garden on top of the adjacent parking garage. It's a ten-minute walk from Ascent Technology.

Rebecca's Cafe. 290 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. Telephone: +1.617.494.6688. Rebecca's Cafe features an ever-changing and always delicious selection of breakfast pastries, sandwiches, hot luncheon entrees, and desserts. There are a few self-service tables inside. Rebecca's is in the center of Kendall Square, a ten-minute walk from Ascent Technology.

Cosi. 290 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. Telephone. +1.868.5810. Cosi offers a wide variety of breakfast items and sandwiches on bread baked right in front of you and dinner entrees at night. It also offers free wireless Internet access, which makes it quite popular. There are several self-service tables inside and a few tables on the sidewalk in good weather. It's a ten-minute walk from Ascent Technology.

The MIT Food Trucks. Carlton Street, behind the Kendall/MIT MBTA station, by the entrance to MIT Medical, Cambridge, MA 02139. The food trucks that park on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus (just off Main Street, approximately two blocks from Ascent Technology) offer inexpensive Asian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and vegetarian foods at lunchtime. The food trucks are an MIT institution, and, just in case you wondered, MIT makes the vendors adhere to strict hygiene standards. The trucks are a ten-minute walk from Ascent Technology.

Good food within walking distance

Bertucci's Brick Oven Pizzeria. 799 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. Telephone: +1.617.661.8356. Bertucci's has unbeatable brick-oven-fired pizza, as well as salads and pasta. Better yet, they deliver!

Craigie on Main 853 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. Telephone: +1.617.497.5511. Craigie on Main, and its chef/owner Tony Maws, have received terrific reviews and have won just about every award you can think of. The menu changes daily; the food is always seasonal, perfectly prepared, and beautifully presented. Be sure to make a reservation well in advance.

Mary Chung Restaurant. 460 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139. Telephone: +1.617.864.1991. Mary Chung has been a favorite hang-out for MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory hackers since the '70s. We believe it still has some of the best Mandarin and Szechuan food around. Bring cash; they don't take credit cards.

Miracle of Science Bar and Grill. 321 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139. Telephone: +1.617.868.2866. We like to meet our friends from MIT at the Miracle of Science for great burgers, drinks, and loud music here after work. You'll love the chemistry class decor. It's a 10-minute walk along the northern edge of the MIT campus from Ascent Technology.

Helmand. 143 First Street, Cambridge, MA. Telephone: +1.617.492.4646. Helmand is so warm and inviting, you may never want to leave. The food is delightful, with many fresh Afghani vegetarian dishes and lamb and beef kebabs and stews. Best of all, a baker makes delicious, aromatic flat bread in a wood-fired oven at the side of the main dining room throughout dinner. A 15-minute walk from Ascent Technology, Helmand is open only for dinner.

Cambridgeside Galleria. 100 Cambridgeside Place, Cambridge, MA 02141. The Cambridgeside Galleria offers several options for eating. There are two full-service restaurants—the California Pizza Kitchen and The Cheesecake Factory—in the mall, and several take-out places in the Food Court. The last time we checked, the Food Court featured food from Aladdin's, Au Bon Pain, Burger King, Cajun Big Easy, D'Angelo Sandwich Shops, Dunkin' Donuts, Freshëns Yogurt, Indian Chili, Master Wok, Sarku Japan Sushi Bar, Sbarro Italian Eatery, Taco Bell, and Thai Accent. You can reach the Cambridgeside Galleria on foot from Ascent Technology in about 20 minutes or via the free Cambridgeside Galleria shuttle bus which stops in front of the Boston Marriott Hotel Cambridge.