Harvard Square Eats Up the Opening of Beyond Full

Cambridge residents inaugurated a new Mass. Ave. restaurant with a hipster look into the local dining scene at Beyond Full’s grand opening on Tuesday.

Sitting between Harvard and Central Square, Beyond Full, which offers traditional diner fare, comes several years after Beyond Full’s owner Richard R. Yancey opened the restaurant’s first location in Hopedale, Mass. — a small town around 40 miles from Boston. The new restaurant fills the vacancy left by the beloved Zoe’s Diner.

The move to Cambridge brings Beyond Full to a more “artsy” and metropolitan setting, according to Yancey, himself a native Bostonian. Yancey said that melded well with his more urban vision for the restaurant — which features walls painted with colorful graffiti and air abuzz with hip-hop music.

“It’s artsy, it’s right next to the college, and it has an urban vibe to it. So, this is a great fit for what we sell,” Yancey said.

Yancey said Beyond Full’s food stands out for its freshness.

“Our burgers are hand-pressed and they’re fresh. They’re not frozen,” Yancey said. “We don’t deal with frozen, so they taste amazing.”

Denise A. Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, said the restaurant would bring a new vibe to the area, calling it “a little more edgy than what we have here in the Square.”

“It has a different look about it, which we love,” Jillson said.

Jillson added that Beyond Full’s every day operation would help it overcome the business challenges that faced Zoe’s, which she said focused too heavily on weekend breakfast and brunch.

“I think that in order for a restaurant to succeed in Harvard Square, and in any district, really, it needs to be an everyday operation,” Jillson said. “I really believe that the new owners, Richard and Carrie, are committed to doing that.”

Though the restaurant’s location on the outskirts of Harvard Square may require extra work to draw people in, Jillson also expected it to find customers from nearby mid-Cambridge residents.

After settling in Cambridge, Yancey said he hopes to expand Beyond Full to other tourist hubs in the metropolitan area, such as Boston’s Newbury St.

Despite his now-expanding business, Yancey only got his start in the restaurant business a few years ago, upon becoming an empty nester. Before his daughter left for college, a conversation between the two inspired his venture.

“I was a stay-at-home father, and I was at a breakfast spot in Hopedale, and she asked me what was I going to do when she goes to college?” Yancey said. “I said, ‘I don’t know, maybe I’ll open a restaurant. I was just joking.’”

“She said, ‘What about this place?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, we love going to this place,’” he said, of a local restaurant he and his daughter frequented.

After a conversation with the owner of the restaurant, Yancey bought the building and opened Beyond Full’s first location.

Six years later, Yancey said he hopes that same business will welcome Cambridge students and residents from all walks of life.

“I want to bring a positive but an interesting vibe, a place where you can come and relax and be able to dress any way you want, more of an artsy environment,” Yancey said.

“An environment that welcomes every human being on the planet,” he added.

— Staff writer Christiana P. Foufas can be reached at christiana.foufas@thecrimson.com.

— Staff writer Jaya N. Karamcheti can be reached at jaya.karamcheti@thecrimson.com.