The Hummus Shop Opens on Beacon Hill
The “micro restaurant” is the next step for a food truck that’s been delighting Boston for the past few years.
The Hummus Shop’s sabich in a bowl. / Photo by Colin Daly
Hummus lovers of Boston are about to have a new one-stop shop for all of their chickpea-based needs. Colin Daly, a Boston native and hummus expert, is launching the next step in his food journey this weekend: The Hummus Shop, a petite retail version of Daly’s successful food truck, will open on October 12 on Charles Street. The mobile hummus-ery has been going strong for about three years, and Daly’s company, Just Us Foods (producing hummus, falafel, and tahini), has been planning this addition since 2023.
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“We know how seasonal Boston can be,” Daly says. “While summer is great and fall is okay, there are seven months that aren’t great for a food truck.” The truck has been successful—Night Shift Esplanade, Belmont Farmers’ Market, and SoWa Market being the hottest spots for its hummus and pita eats—but those periods of inactivity inspired Daly to think bigger.
Daly and his team designed their new retail location from scratch. With the help of Joe the Architect, a Medford-based design group with residential and commercial fingerprints across the state, they made sure to get every inch out of their space. With a customer area of about 250 square feet and six chairs, the shop might have diehard hummus enthusiasts finding themselves in a line out the door. That sort of tight-knit space gives the new Hummus Shop a speakeasy vibe, something Daly says was intentional.
“We’re aiming for a micro restaurant, but still something very new-age to fit into the Beacon Hill feel,” Daly says. The restaurant will offer much of the same from the food truck. Falafel plates and hummus bowls are some of the standard fare, but Daly says the real showstopper is the sabich, featuring fried eggplant. The little details added to the dishes, whether it’s pickled purple cabbage or spicy schug sauce, are what keep customers coming back, but Daly also knows the importance of supporting nearby businesses.
The microgreens are locally grown, the hot sauce is from a Lowell-based company, and the olive oil is sourced from Turkey and sold out of the North Shore. And while Daly has spent time in Israel learning the ins and outs of all things hummus, it’s those Boston roots that brought him back and urged him to build up something new.
“We’re making up to 1,000 pounds of hummus a day,” Daly says. “That’s the core of our business, putting good, local, and fresh foods into good people’s mouths.”
The Hummus Shop’s sabich in a pita. / Photo by Colin Daly
The Hummus Shop opens October 12, 2024, operating from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. 37A Charles St., Beacon Hill, Boston, eatjustus.com.
