Cello in Lenox Wants Customers to Find Hospitality, Fun
Ryan and Kim Boya love the sense of community in the Berkshires and want to make the restaurant a destination that both visitors and residents will return to time and again.
Partners Ryan and Kim Boya reopened the restaurant in July last year at 37 Church St.
They say becoming partners at Cello happened really fast.
"So Bjorn Somlo, who was the chef owner of Nudel, was a good friend of mine, and he had reached out to me to let me know that there was an opportunity for a partnership to happen at Cello," said Kim Boyo. "It was a really great opportunity for us to join on board because of the mentorship that we're getting from our business partners, and we're learning a lot of things that we necessarily wouldn't have learned being in a different position."
Nudel had been in the 37 Church St. space for more than a decade, before closing during the pandemic. It reopened during 2023 as Cello with new management but closed the following May.
Both Boyas studied in the culinary program at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I. Kim used to work for a catering company that did work for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which meant spending her summers at Tanglewood. She says she fell in love with the area and knew she wanted to come back one day.
"I really loved it because of the sense of community out here and just like the fun opportunities and things there is to do with like hiking and being outside, and just like the food community out here has always been really nice," she said. "So it was, it was always kind of like a second home to me, which is great."
One of the biggest challenges the Boyas say they face is the seasonality change.
"Seasonality for sure. Yeah, yeah, this being a vacation destination, and you're not consistently busy year round, that's been a big learning curve for us," Ryan said.
Kim said the shift in clientele from summertime to winterime is very different.
"Which is kind of fun because we get to try out a little bit more of a casual menu in the wintertime," she said. "It's sort of what we've been doing with hopes of being able to have something on the menu for everybody. And then in the summertime, our clientele shifts to a lot of folks who are here just for the summer, coming from the city, looking for something a little bit more elevated."
Kim and Ryan want to make sure Cello is a place of hospitality and fun. They enjoy getting close to the customers and hope it's a destination they want to come back to.
"You know, we want to make sure that people are coming in and they're having a good time. They're welcomed as soon as they're in the door. And we really love being able to build relationships with people as well, and it's so important because we have those people that we've met over the summer last year who we keep in touch with all winter," Kim said.
"We get email and what not, and we get excited when they get to come back in the summer, and it's definitely like a big point for us to make sure that this is a safe space for everyone to join us, and that we can make them feel like they're at home."
A goal they have for the future is to be able to make their menu year-round instead of just seasonal by preserving some of the summer dishes.
"One thing we wish we had more time for last summer — that we're hoping to be able to do this summer — is really spend some more time preserving some of those, like summer fruits and vegetables in different ways, so that we can utilize them throughout the winter time, like making jams with our berries that we can get, and canning tomatoes and freezing different like things that are available," said Kim.
"It can get kind of sad in the winter out here with the lack of availability to those fresher foods."
The menu offers shareables, small plates, entrees and sweets. It also has a range of cocktails, craft beers and wines, along with non-alcoholic beverages.
"I think it's also just showing people that like food is fun and it doesn't have to be something that's a big to do. ... I think our menu really reflects that as well." Kim said. "One thing we really enjoy is making sure that folks are sharing food together, because there's nothing more special than breaking bread with a friend for the first time and just really enjoying that experience."
Ryan says two of his favorite dishes right now are the chickpea panisse made with garlic chili crunch, green garlic chimichurri, and a sunnyside egg along with the orange toast made with Berkshire Mountain Bakery miche sourdough, honey sumac ricotta, pickled asparagus, and calabrian chili.
There's also a pate de campane, cornbread and maple syrup, pork tacos and sweet potato soup, flank steak and spaetzle, and Greema's chocolate cake, based on Ryan's grandmother's recipe.
Orange toast with asparagus often appears on the changing menu.
Kim also grew up baking with her grandmother in Topsfield, and recalls making pies at the Topsfield Fair.
"They used to host baking competitions every year at the fair, and I did them specifically within the beekeeper building. And it was really fun, because you had to bake everything with honey, a certain percentage of honey, versus just using, like regular cane sugar," she said. "And I really kind of remember that taking off for me when I was like 12, and just doing those little like competitions throughout high school and stuff like that was really fun for me."
They want to show the community that food can be fun and they're looking to do partnerships with local businesses, such as a sugar shack dinner it did with Mill Brook Sugarhouse in mid-March.
"We've always wanted to be able to do some more with our community and get more involved with other restaurants and do some partnerships there," Kim said, "We've been trying to do an event like that every month throughout the winter to switch things up and keep it kind of fun and light, and we're really excited about that."
The restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday 5 to 9 p.m. And the menu can change a bit every day. They recommend to make reservations on the weekends as the restaurant has 29 seats, making the space intimate.
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