Watertown’s Revival Cafe Combines the Talents of Two Experienced Restauranteurs

One of Watertown’s newest cafes combines creative forces of two people with culinary pedigrees in the Boston area. The cafe, which is tucked in a corner of East Watertown, melds the vision and taste of the two owners.

Nookie Postal and Liza Shirazi opened their newest location of Revival Cafe in January at 99 Coolidge Ave., in the back of a recently constructed life science building on the former site of the Mount Auburn Club.

Postal owned Commonwealth in Kendall Square, which closed last year after 10 years. Previously, he served as the executive chef for the Boston Red Sox for seven years, and was sous chef at Oleana in Cambridge.

Shirazi ran Crema in Harvard Square for many years. The cafe closed in late 2018 after Shirazi’s business partner left, and Crema lost its lease. Meanwhile, Postal and Shirazi had been having conversations about a partnership.

“That’s what Revival was born from. It’s kind of a really great combination of me and her,” Postal said. “She deals with much more of the, the front of the house coffee, the look the feel, and I’m like, if you look around, you’ll see like things that stick out and those are me: like the inflatable wiener, the Energizer Bunny, you know the 7-up phone, and Urkel — that’s me. The pretty colors, tables, the tile — that’s her. She deals with the coffee and I deal with more of the food.”

Revival’s menu offers some classics, as well as some items with a different twist.

“We do egg sandwiches but they’re a little different. We also have a Plain Jane Sando which is just like egg, cheese, on an English muffin kind of like bread that we make. That’s just like real simple,” he said. “But, also you get more fancy stuff like broccoli and aiolis and things like that.”

A popular item is Bagelicious, which has egg white, grilled broccoli, cheddar, spicy aioli, and a house-made bagel. Also on the breakfast menu is overnight oatmeal, with almond milk, almond butter and maple syrup.

For lunch Revival has sandwiches, salads, green bowls, and sweet potato noodle bowls.

Each day, Revival has a choice of coffees, Shirazi said.

“We always try to make the Classic: something that’s really approachable, like what people more expect when they get a cup of coffee,” she said. “And then the Complex is a little bit more adventurous.”

Shirazi personally tastes the coffee served at Revival, and uses a variety of roasters from across the country, including some small ones from New England.

“We definitely tend more towards lighter roast so you can actually taste the integral flavors of the bean itself, from the country of origin, and the farm of origin,” she said. “So, we are working with smaller roasters, and being able to kind of showcase some of these smaller, more specialty roasters across the country in our stores. And a lot of people may not have heard of them before, but it’s nice to know different ones.”

For tea drinkers, Revival uses the same tea company as Shirazi used at Crema. Revival also has a rotating limeade.

The first Revival opened in the Alewife area of Cambridge in 2018, and that’s where the bread and pastries for all locations are made. A year later they opened a cafe in Somerville’s Davis Square. Since then they have opened in Lexington Center and in Boston’s Financial District, and another is planned in Boston’s Fort Point.

The Revival in Watertown is located in the bright, glassy lobby of the new life science building. The building has visitor spaces in a surface lot just behind the cafe. Most of the building has not been leased yet, so Postal said he hopes that local residents discover the cafe.

“I just feel that we have a beautiful space. And I know there’s people in Watertown. We just got to get them here. And gotta let them find out about Revival,” he said.

“There are places for people to sit, meet, mingle, read a book, have coffee with somebody. There’s a fireplace,” Postal said. “And the wifi — 6Gs — it’s super fast.”

The building is pretty quiet on the weekends and evenings, so Revival is looking at hosting events, Shirazi said. They recently had a local guitarist perform.

“It’s such a big space and the ability to do events and parties,” she said. “So there’s definitely a lot of potential here. It’s really just getting word out to the community.”

Revival Cafe is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., seven days a week. See more at https://www.revivalcafeandkitchen.com/