From the inception of Boston’s Michelin Guide to receiving a James Beard Award nomination this year, Chef Erin Miller of Urban Hearth in Cambridge knows now is the right time to take her renowned farm-to-table restaurant to the next level by moving into a bigger, livelier space.
“We’ve been looking for a couple years, and had some near misses finding places, and nothing felt right. I just think that the cosmic forces were kind of working their magic,” Miller said in an interview with MassLive. “We’ve got such an extraordinary team, folks that have been with us for over three years that are really excited about this next step.”
After nine years, Urban Hearth will leave its 24-seat space at 2263 Massachusetts Ave. and relocate and expand to the heart of Cambridge’s Inman Square at 1281 Cambridge St. The restaurant officially announced this expansion on social media Wednesday, Oct. 29.
“As our popularity has grown, we’ve found it harder and harder to find space in our books for the growing number of guests wanting to dine with us,” Urban Hearth wrote in an Instagram post.
“We know this is a big change and we want to assure all our valued guests and dear friends that this new space will still provide the warm, welcoming, intimate, experience you know and love us for. Only now you won’t have to squeeze through the service station to use the restroom,” the post continued. “We are so thrilled to share this news with you, but of course it isn’t without a twinge of sadness, as this will be the last holiday season we will be spending at our Mass Ave. So get those reservations in while you can!”
Miller has earned national recognition for her craft and leadership. The chef was recently named a 2025 finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef, Northeast award. In addition, Miller is the only chef to receive congressional recognition for her work. A longtime forager, Miller’s culinary style combines her classical French training with New England’s seasonal bounty.
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Mushroom foraging trip in Lincoln with Chef Erin Miller
With multiple Best of Boston and Top Restaurant nods, Urban Hearth’s farm-to-table cuisine highlights only the freshest ingredients in their purest form. The restaurant’s rotating seasonal menu features dishes such as seared bluefin tuna crudo, crispy marinated duck breast and celery root savory creme brûlée.
As much as they love their current location, Miller and her team have been looking for a new space for about the past two years.
“We kind of outgrew it some time ago. It’s really hard to do the high-touch kind of food that we do, the high-touch hospitality and service that we do in such a small space, and actually have it be financially viable,” Miller explained. “So the seed was planted a while ago to start looking for a new place.”
That said, Miller was determined to stay in Cambridge or Somerville to be amongst Urban Hearth’s “growing community of regulars.”
“We just felt passionate about staying here,” she added.
Miller’s team also wanted to be closer to public transportation but avoid being in one of the big squares (i.e. Harvard or Davis). On top of that, Miller said they wanted to maintain the “homey feel” that Urban Hearth embodies.
“We didn’t want anything too big,” she said. “We were looking for a space with character. So that was kind of a tall order and took time to find. And we’re just tickled that we found it.”
The restaurant will take over the space of Turning Tavern, which is closing in the near future. The space was formerly occupied by Bukowski Tavern and before that it was Jae’s Cafe. So the building has a longstanding history with the community.
The new Urban Hearth will feel familiar to its original location, but be more spacious and refined. Miller said her team’s focus “is on redesigning the dining room so that it feels lively and welcoming.”
On top of adding a new 10-seat bar, Urban Hearth’s popular Chef’s Counter will be expanded from four seats to six. After construction, the new space will also feature an open kitchen concept similar to that at the restaurant’s Massachusetts Avenue location.
“It’s important to us that we have an open kitchen and that there be this conversation between the cooks in the kitchen and the people in the dining room so that it feels more like a party,” Miller said. “The kitchen will kind of come out into the dining space so that people who walk by to the bathroom, just like now, can say ‘Hi,’ [and] can see what’s going on in the kitchen. It’ll feel really open and alive.”
The expansion will also unlock several new opportunities for Urban Hearth from hosting curated wine dinners to having a more robust beverage program. Above all, the new space will help Miller and her team maintain their commitment of educating people about food sustainability.
“It just feels so good that we’re able to stay in Cambridge, stay in our home, and just offer the love and attention and thoughtfulness about food and our agricultural community,” she said. “It’s just a really great opportunity.”
Renovations on the Inman Square location will begin this winter with the new space projected to open in the first quarter of 2026. In the meantime, guests can continue to dine at Urban Hearth’s current location, which is open from 5-10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. There are also plans to keep the original Urban Hearth as a secondary concept once the new location is up and running.
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