"It's exciting to go back to something you built and breathe new life into it."
Nick Lisotto said that to Brookline.News about Sorriso Market, the wine and gourmet shop at 27 Harvard St. that he sold in 2023 and has now taken back. The firm that bought it went bankrupt in 2025. After months of legal proceedings and a settlement, Lisotto had the chance to reclaim the business. He reopened in the same space around the start of September.
He didn't put the shop back the way it was. He rearranged the room for gatherings, and that choice sums up Brookline Village this fall. With the townwide fall festival gone from the calendar, October here runs on small rooms that host the same kind of evening again and again: a tasting table, an open studio, a 10:30 a.m. puppet show. Most of them sit within a few blocks of the Brookline Village T stop.
What Sorriso changed when it came back
According to Brookline.News, Lisotto originally sold for personal reasons, not because of rent or slow sales. He wanted more time with his family. The version of Sorriso that came back in 2026 is set up around events. The space has been reorganized to host wine tastings, from casual Tuesday nights to openings of one-of-a-kind bottles. There will also be balsamic tastings, and pasta-making workshops are planned for later.
"Now it's truly going to be an experience," Lisotto told the paper. He also said he plans to expand the art gallery side of the shop.
The reopening happened in stages. Sorriso soft-opened over a weekend and kept Wednesday-through-Sunday hours in September. The full relaunch of events and offerings was set for October. The shop hasn't posted a dated October tasting calendar, so check with Sorriso directly before planning a Tuesday around it.
Some things carry over from the first run. Bottles still range from about $20 to about $200. For serious collectors, a private membership opens up the deep cellar and its rarest bottles. In August, Brookline.News also reported that the reopened shop would focus more on European wines. The balsamic tastings come from work Lisotto did while he was away from the shop. He became one of the exclusive U.S. importers for Lini 910, a winery and balsamic producer in Canolo, Italy. He also runs Sorriso Pasta, which makes pasta from freshly milled European grains.
His pitch for a small shop is personal knowledge of each customer. "When I say this is the best Barbera under $30, I truly believe that because I've had 600 of them," he told the paper. That only works if people come back often enough for him to learn their tastes, and a tasting calendar gives them a reason to.
Station Street already runs this way, every third Thursday
Sorriso is new to this format, but the blocks around it have been running it for a while. Arts in the Village Third Thursdays is a year-round Brookline Village event. Its next date is Thursday, Oct. 15. The listings on Arts Brookline line up well enough to fill a full evening on foot, in this order:
- 5 p.m., Station Street Studios, 17 Station St. Open studios run until 9 p.m., with printmaking, a beaded-earring demonstration, conversations with the artists, and refreshments. Children are welcome.
- 6 p.m., The Village Works, 202 Washington St. A free evening of community coworking and creative writing runs until 8 p.m.
- 6:30 p.m., Feet of Clay Pottery, 21 Station St. A free handbuilding class runs until 8:30 p.m.
- 8 p.m., Hipstitch, 194 Washington St. A half-hour fabric-collage mini-workshop runs until 8:30 p.m.
Two of the four stops are next door to each other on Station Street. The other two are a few doors apart on Washington Street. It all starts and ends at the businesses themselves, and nobody has to close a street for it. If you leave at 9 p.m., Merai at 14 Harvard St. is still open. The bar describes itself as an elevated dive with Thai-flavored food and cocktails, and its Thursday hours run from 5 p.m. to midnight.
The same Thursday evening, Puppet Showplace Theater starts Shadow Puppetry 101 at 6:30 p.m. The class is on Zoom, so it doesn't fit the walking route, but it's taught by Sarah Nolen of Puppet Motion. It's recommended for adults and teens 16 and up, and it meets on Thursdays through Nov. 12.
Weekend mornings at 32 Station Street
Third Thursday covers one evening a month. Puppet Showplace Theater, across the street from the studios at 32 Station St., covers the weekends. Its October lineup changes almost every weekend and has a different suggested age range each time:
- Sunday, Oct. 11 and Monday, Oct. 12, 10:30 a.m. Sugar Stories by Sunny Side of the Street Theater is a wooden marionette show about gliding possums, played in a tabletop toy theater. It's recommended for ages 4 to 8. The Monday show falls on Indigenous Peoples' Day.
- Sunday, Oct. 18, 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The Loose Caboose by Harry LaCoste uses hand puppets and live music to tell the story of a stranded train engineer. It's recommended for ages 3 to 7.
- Saturday, Oct. 24 and Sunday, Oct. 25, 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The Four Seasons by Drama of Works pairs classical music with flat tabletop puppets in a story about seasonal change and a parent and child. It's recommended for ages 3 to 8.
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Lisa the Wise: A Baba Yaga Story, also by Sarah Nolen of Puppet Motion, is a shadow-puppet show about a girl outwitting the best-known witch in the woods. It's recommended for ages 4 to 10, and it's the Halloween morning option in the Village.
Earlier in the week, the Brookline Village Library has a free author talk with Scott Kerman on Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 6 to 8 p.m., according to Brookline.News's weekly events roundup.
Coffee and Thai food on Harvard, Washington and Cypress
The food and drink openings around these blocks follow a similar pattern. Several of them are second versions of something that already existed, or a pop-up that grew into a permanent spot.
Newbery St, a Thai specialty coffee roaster, built its following with weekend pop-ups at Merai. The most recent dated listing we found was Sunday, Aug. 23, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., serving Thai coffee, matcha, Thai tea and N-Pan salt bread. The roaster is now building its first permanent cafe at 240 Harvard St., the former Cremeux space closer to Coolidge Corner. It ran a Kickstarter campaign to cover the last costs. In late August, Brookline.News reported that the cafe was still under construction and that the owner hoped to open by October, with no firm date set. Check Newbery St's own channels before heading over for a cup.
On Cypress Street, the Thai restaurant So Kitchen has rebranded as Chaba Cafe at 224 Cypress St. It serves curries, noodles and fried rice, and it held a grand opening on Saturday, June 13.
Junbi Matcha & Tea at 190 Washington St. is the brand's first Massachusetts location. Brookline.News recommends starting with a classic ceremonial matcha before moving on to specials like sea salt caramel, blueberry lavender and strawberry. It's two doors from Hipstitch, so it's a natural first stop before the Oct. 15 route.
October without Brookline Day
All of this matters more this year because Brookline Day was canceled for Sunday, Sept. 27 as the nor'easter approached. Brookline.News reported there would be no rain date. Porchfest moved to Oct. 3, but Brookline Day was not rescheduled. That leaves no single townwide fall day on the calendar. What's left in the Village is a set of smaller, scheduled events that you can work into a normal week.
Laid out on the calendar, the rest of the month looks like this. The library talk is on Wednesday, Oct. 7. Marionettes are on Oct. 11 and 12. Third Thursday is Oct. 15, with four stops between Station and Washington streets. The Loose Caboose is Sunday, Oct. 18. The Four Seasons is the weekend of Oct. 24 and 25. Baba Yaga is on Halloween morning. Sorriso's October tastings at 27 Harvard St. fill in around those dates, in a room Lisotto rearranged so neighbors could gather around a table.
If you own or lease a street-level storefront on a corridor like Harvard or Station Street and want to talk about how the space can bring in foot traffic as well as sales, Debbie Adamidis works with owners and tenants on neighborhood retail leases. Schedule a consultation.
