The previous tenant at 24 High Street had to take out the front window to get a pizza oven from Italy into the building. When Kevin and Kyoko Hiromoto took over the space this year, they kept the oven and left the window alone. A Japanese family that had never planned to make pizza now sells katsu pizza as its bestseller. The Boston Globe told the story in an October 21 review.
That oven sums up the season on High Street pretty well. Over the past year, three long-running places from Medford Square to West Medford closed or came close to it, two of them within a month of each other this fall. As of late October, none of the three spaces is left without a successor. Each successor also keeps something from what came before: an oven, a name, a dining room built out over more than a decade.
The Oven at 24 High Street
For fifteen years, Ebisuya Japanese Market was where Medford came for Japanese groceries, fresh fish, and snacks students missed from home. In 2025 it closed when its building had to be demolished because of a faulty foundation. The Globe noted that the market had also become a community hub, hosting cooking classes, cultural events, and language salons. That detail explains what came next.
The Hiromoto family has run restaurants since 1993. In September 2026, according to EBISUYA's own site, they returned to Medford Square as a restaurant and bakery café. The space had been Real Italian Gusto, and the oven came with it. "We were not planning Italian-Japanese fusion at all," Kyoko Hiromoto told the Globe.
Chef Ryuichi Douglas Gray, formerly of Capo, runs the kitchen. The Globe found these on the menu:
- Napolitan spaghetti and miso carbonara with chashu and egg yolk
- Mentaiko spaghetti in a cheese sauce with spicy pollock roe, seaweed, and shiso
- Milano-style doria, a rice gratin with béchamel and Bolognese, plus a vegetarian version
- Pizza topped with wagyu and onion-truffle jam, a seasonal Jack-o-Miso with kabocha, miso, and bacon, and the katsu pizza
- A bright green melon float for dessert
Hiromoto's line about that bestseller is the best summary of the place:
"No Italian would approve of chicken katsu on pizza, but the people approve."
The daytime menu is the clearest link to the old market. Kevin's Bread has baked Japanese milk bread since 2020, and EBISUYA now bakes it fresh every day. The site lists a whole square shokupan at $13.50 and a half loaf at $7.00, and says prices may change daily. Lunch brings egg salad and chicken katsu sandwiches on that bread, plus onigiri. The site describes the hours as a soft opening. Lunch runs Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and dinner runs Wednesday through Sunday, 5 to 8 p.m. The restaurant is closed for lunch on Monday and for dinner on Monday and Tuesday.
The community side of the market came back too. A piano stands ready for live music, which the Globe says was a must-have for Kevin Hiromoto, a musician who came to Boston to study with jazz drummer Alan Dawson. The restaurant also hosts hands-on Japanese cultural classes and small evening events. Seats are limited, and dates go up on Instagram at @ebisuyaboston.
Two Doors Apart in West Medford
Farther up High Street, near the West Medford Commuter Rail station, two neighbors had their own close calls within a month of each other.
Paul Revere Restaurant has operated at 447 High Street since 2000, and Hoodline traces the business's roots on the same street back to 1938. It has primarily served breakfast and lunch, with eggs, pancakes, French toast, omelets, and sandwiches. The restaurant closed on August 30, as Boston Restaurant Talk reported. Less than two weeks later the plan changed. Patch reported on September 11 that the restaurant would continue under two longtime Medford residents. In their statement, the departing owners said they were excited "to pass the lantern to two longtime Medford residents who will carry on the spirit and legacy of this special place." Boston.com reported the same handover. Neither outlet has named the new owners, and the restaurant has told customers to stay tuned. The restaurant's website lists breakfast-and-lunch hours, Tuesday through Sunday, but the page isn't dated, so call to confirm the restaurant has reopened before you plan a visit around it.
Snappy Pattys at 454 High Street didn't get a reversal. It served its last meal on Saturday, September 26, after more than a decade on High Street. "To our wonderful neighbors and friends, after 14 incredible years of serving this community, we have made the difficult decision to close our doors," the ownership wrote, as Patch reported.
What Snappy Pattys built is the reason the space found a new tenant so quickly. It opened in August 2014 in what had been Pompei and Company Stained Glass, starting with 36 seats and its signature patty melt sliders on brioche. It later added plans for a patio of about 50 seats and expanded into an adjacent space, roughly doubling the indoor footprint. That brought it to 82 seats with a bar and a separate dining room. A brand-new operator walking into 454 High Street gets a dining room that was built up over more than a decade.
That operator is Rory O'Connor's Irish Pub, which is slated to take over the space. Patch reported that no opening date had been announced. Hoodline found the clearest early sign of progress, a September Craigslist post seeking a head chef for "a brand-new West Medford opening."
One more thread runs through 454. Chef Nicholas Dowling, who co-founded Snappy Pattys, became executive chef at The Lantern inside the Great American Beer Hall in Medford. The chef behind the original menu is still cooking in Medford.
The Three Addresses, Side by Side
| Address | What closed or nearly closed | What's there now | Still unknown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 High St., Medford Square | Ebisuya Japanese Market, 15 years, closed in 2025 | EBISUYA restaurant and bakery café, open since September 2026 on soft-opening hours | When full hours begin |
| 447 High St., West Medford | Paul Revere Restaurant, closed Aug. 30 | Paul Revere Restaurant, set to continue under new local ownership | Names of the new owners and a reopening date |
| 454 High St., West Medford | Snappy Pattys, opened 2014, last service Sept. 26 | Space slated for Rory O'Connor's Irish Pub | Opening date |
What Each Successor Inherited
Read together, the three stories show the same pattern. Each successor took over something specific from the place before it.
- EBISUYA kept two inheritances. One is the Real Italian Gusto oven, which shaped the menu. The other is its own bread, baked since 2020, which carries on the market's daytime role.
- Paul Revere Restaurant keeps its name, address, and job. It remains a West Medford breakfast-and-lunch spot, passing to residents of the city it serves.
- Rory O'Connor's gets the room. That means the 82 seats, the bar, and the separate dining room Snappy Pattys built out over the years.
The timing helped. EBISUYA's return was a story in waiting all summer. Boston.com noted on September 3 that it was still awaiting permits for in-person dining and was doing a festival popup on September 5. Eater Boston listed it in its fall openings preview on September 8. By the time the West Medford news broke in September, Medford Square already had a restaurant reopening. In West Medford, the reversal at 447 came before the closing at 454, and 454 had a named successor the same week it went quiet.
Where to Sit Down on High Street This November
For now, EBISUYA is serving, Paul Revere Restaurant is set to return under its new owners, and 454 is in the hands of a pub that was hiring a head chef in September.
- Lunch in Medford Square: EBISUYA from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, for onigiri, katsu sandwiches on shokupan, or a loaf to take home.
- Dinner in Medford Square: EBISUYA from 5 to 8 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, with doria on the menu as the weather turns. Bulk, bento, and catering orders can be requested by email through the restaurant.
- Breakfast in West Medford: Paul Revere Restaurant at 447 High Street. Call first to confirm it has reopened and to check hours under the new ownership.
- Watch the windows at 454: Rory O'Connor's Irish Pub has not announced an opening date.
Change along a main street like High Street affects how a neighborhood lives day to day, and it can figure into how buyers see the homes nearby. If you own near Medford Square or West Medford and want to understand what that means for your own property, The Marrocco Group is glad to talk it through. Schedule a complimentary market consultation, and we'll bring the same local detail to your home's story.
