A year ago this month, a café opened on the ground floor of the Doherty building at 421 High Street. It became the third Twisted Tree Cafe, after two in Lincoln: one on Lincoln Road by the commuter rail station and one at the deCordova Museum. Boston Restaurant Talk covered the opening on November 21, 2025. At the time, it looked like a nice extra for the strip near the West Medford station.
Ten months later, it looks more like the backbone. Between August 30 and September 26, High Street lost Paul Revere Restaurant, its breakfast diner, and Snappy Pattys, its bar-and-dining-room spot. The block's oldest morning tradition and its main evening spot both closed inside four weeks. That leaves a newcomer handling breakfast, plus a cluster of counters, takeout spots and shops that have quietly become the core of the street.
The diner that carried a 1938 name
Hoodline reported in August that Paul Revere Restaurant had anchored West Medford's High Street since 2000. The same report traced the name at that location back much further. Citing the Medford Historical Society & Museum, it said a restaurant called the Paul Revere first opened there in 1938, with a tin ceiling and a long lunch counter.
The theme came from geography. Hoodline noted that High Street runs along the route Revere rode on April 18, 1775. The menu leaned into that history with omelets named the John Hancock, the John Adams, the King George III, the Red Coat, the Battle Green and the Crispus Attucks. The kitchen turned out the diner basics: breakfast plates, waffles, pancakes, club sandwiches, burgers and wings.
Medford Patch reported that the family planned its final service at 447 High Street for Sunday, August 30, 2026. Hoodline's later coverage described the diner as closed for good that day.
Four weeks later, the bar went dark too
Snappy Pattys, across the street at 454 High Street, served its last customers on Saturday, September 26. Medford Patch carried the owners' goodbye: "To our wonderful neighbors and friends, after 14 incredible years of serving this community, we have made the difficult decision to close our doors."
The restaurant got its name from mini patty melt sliders on brioche. Patch's account shows how much the room grew over the years. It opened with 36 seats in a former stained glass shop. Plans for a patio of about 50 seats followed in 2015. Later it expanded into a neighboring space that had been a women's gym, which roughly doubled the indoor footprint and brought capacity to 82 seats, with a bar and a separate dining room. Lunch, dinner and weekend brunch all ran out of a scratch kitchen.
Between them, the street lost a lunch counter with a history going back nearly nine decades, and it lost its biggest room for a sit-down dinner, a drink at the bar or a weekend brunch with a group.
The newest café is now the morning anchor
Twisted Tree Cafe's own site lists the West Medford location at 421 High Street, notes the November 2025 opening, and describes a menu of breakfast, sandwiches, salads, soups and espresso drinks. Boston Restaurant Talk's opening post added toasts, bowls and tea to that list, with gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan and dairy-free options.
The café was already in place when the diner closed, so High Street never went without a breakfast option. This month marks its first year on the street. Its website has a Medford online-ordering link for anyone grabbing something on the way to the Lowell Line train.
The block, address by address
Here's the stretch from the Doherty building down past the station, in street-number order, including the two storefronts that closed this fall:
- 421 High St., Twisted Tree Cafe. Coffee, breakfast, sandwiches and bowls, a year old this month.
- 439 High St., West Medford Spa. Listed on the Massachusetts Department of Revenue's retailer license list for the period starting October 1, 2026.
- 440 High St., Heritage Liquors & Market. Listed on the same state list for the same period.
- 447 High St. The former Paul Revere Restaurant.
- 453 High St., C.B. Scoops. Richardson's ice cream along with pastries, cookies, soups and sandwiches.
- 454 High St. The former Snappy Pattys, now slated to become Rory O'Connor's Irish Pub.
- 455 High St., New Hong Kong Village. According to its own site, it has served Chinese food in Medford since 1994, making it the longest-running restaurant on this list now that Paul Revere has closed.
- 460 High St., Simple Fare To-Go. A takeout storefront with online ordering for pickup. It's closed Mondays.
The list shows how the block works now. Most of what's left is built for quick stops: a coffee and a sandwich, a scoop and a cookie, dinner picked up at the counter, a bottle and some groceries from Heritage Liquors & Market. New Hong Kong Village, at more than three decades, is now the longest-running kitchen on the strip.
The address everyone's watching is 454
The biggest open question on the block is the former Snappy Pattys space. Medford Patch reported that Rory O'Connor's Irish Pub is slated to take it over. Hoodline's September 30 report said the switch already seemed to be in motion. In September, a Craigslist post sought a head chef to run the kitchen at what it called a brand-new West Medford opening.
The space is a good fit for a pub. Snappy Pattys left behind a main bar, a separate dining area and an outdoor back patio, and Hoodline pointed out that the building sits near the West Medford Commuter Rail Station. It's a room already set up for a bar crowd and a sit-down dinner.
In Medford, an incoming bar also has to get through the city's License Commission. According to the city's liquor license page, an alcohol license can't be transferred without the Commission's approval, and accepted applications get a public hearing. Those hearings are where neighbors usually get their first official look at a new restaurant's plans.
When you want a bigger night out, the season runs through City Hall
Until 454 reopens, the closest calendar of crowd-sized events is down High Street in Medford Square. Most of it is happening at City Hall:
- Sunday, November 22, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Medford Farmers Market holds its Holiday Harvest Market at City Hall, 85 George P. Hassett Drive. Its regular winter market starts January 12, 2027.
- Wednesday, December 2, 4:30 p.m. The Jingle Bell Festival starts with a tree lighting on City Hall Plaza, featuring Santa and kids' activities, then moves inside to the Council Chambers for the holiday tree display. The city calendar also lists a Winter Extravaganza that evening from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
- December 2 through 6. The Holiday Tree Display stays up at City Hall, and the raffle drawing is Sunday, December 6, at 3:30 p.m.
- Saturday, December 5, 4:30 p.m. The festival's Entertainment & Dinner opens with Tufts sQ!, an a cappella group, followed by cocktails and a buffet. Tickets are sold through the festival at 781-835-5300.
- Sunday, December 6, noon. Amy-Jayne McCabe performs holiday music, followed by a pastry reception.
If you need something festive for out-of-town guests between now and early December, that's the list. You can still start the morning at 421 High Street, and the takeout counters on the block can cover dinner afterward.
We'll keep watching High Street at JMR, especially 454 and 447, and we'll share news as those storefronts fill. If you own property near the West Medford station and want to know how this fall's changes on the block affect what your home is worth, JMR Real Estate Group would be glad to put together a free home valuation that covers the street as it stands now.
