Restaurants

Charlie’s Kitchen in Harvard Square gets new management

Its current owner told the Licensing Commission that new management doesn't plan to change much about the Cambridge institution.

Charlie's Kitchen in Harvard Square has new management, according to a Licensing Board meeting. Courtesy Google Maps

June 12, 2024

Charlie’s Kitchen in Harvard Square is getting new management, and potentially new owners that reportedly have plans to bring the Cambridge institution “into today’s time,” said current co-owner Paul Overgaag.

The news broke at a License Commission meeting last Thursday, when Overgaag told the body that David Toraji Oshima and Derek Luangrath — both with industry experience at places like Cafe Sushi and who recently turned the former R.F. O’Sullivan & Son into The Cornerstone — would take over as operators with the board’s approval and eventually as owners.

“After 28 years, the interest from the Overgaag brothers to run got less and less,” Overgaag said. “We couldn’t keep up with the new times and the new ways things are being done.”

The Overgaag family began searching for a replacement more than two years ago. Oshima and Luangrath were a perfect fit, Overgaag said, because they had no plans to make major changes to the decades-old bar and restaurant.

“They love Charlie’s Kitchen,” Overgaag said. “When they were young, they had good memories of it. They want to keep it as Charlie’s Kitchen. It just needs to go into today’s time.”

This is unlike when the duo took over the now-closed R.F. O’Sullivan & Son space in Somerville. Oshima and Luangrathand transformed its bar bites menu into Japanese-Hawaiian gastropub fusion cuisine — soft opening The Cornerstone in December 2023.

It isn’t immediately clear what modern touches Oshima and Luangrath will add to Charlie’s Kitchen. An Instagram post from Charlie’s Kitchen and Oshima teased a revamped menu at the restaurant’s beer garden, as well as new items shared on Oshima’s account, like an island-spiced buttermilk chicken sandwich and Mahi Mahi tacos.

The plan is for Oshima and Luangrath to potentially become owners of Charlie’s Kitchen in the next couple of years, according to Overgaag, whose family also owns the neighboring Red House.

Charlie’s Kitchen, a staple for residents and visitors seeking a burger and a beer, predates even Overgaag’s ownership of the place, having opened on Eliot Street in 1951.