A world of cuisine at Framingham Centre

By Dylan Pichnarcik

Associate Editor 

Across Route 9, multiple plazas are home to restaurants, cafes, and quick-service eateries that represent a world of cuisine in the historic Framingham Centre Common. 

Walking across the footbridge across Route 9 connects High Street to Worcester Road West and the accompanying businesses. The footbridge also provides access to businesses on and around Edgell Road, including Trolley Square. 

To get to Trolley Square from campus by car, turn right onto High Street and then turn left at the intersection of Edgell Road. Continue straight into Framingham Centre and then turn left at Auburn Street. This leads to the back parking lot of Trolley Square and the businesses inside. According to Apple Maps, this is a 0.9-mile drive that can be completed in 5 minutes. 

Trolley Square, located at 855 Worcester Road, is home to multiple restaurants, including Kugels New York Style Deli. 

Opened in September 2005 by Dave Livis, Kugels offers all-day breakfast and lunch offerings seven days a week from 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and on Sundays from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. 

Originally, Livis opened Kugels with two friends who no longer own or operate the business. A real estate agent by trade, Livis served as the restaurant's financial backing. He now operates the deli with his wife, Sandra. 

Kugels is a diner-style restaurant with a walk-up counter and indoor seating.

Livis said popular items on the Kugels’ menu for breakfast are pancakes and eggs benedict. For lunch, he recommends a reuben or a chicken sandwich. 

Livis’ personal favorite is the Montreal smoked meat sandwich.   

When patrons come to Kugels, they “get a good meal at a fair price," Livis said.

He said Kugels is visited by college students, but most of his customers have been eating at Kugels for the last 20 years. 

“It's very satisfying. I have a very good relationship with a lot of people, and you know, we've lost a lot of people because this is more of an older-style establishment. So a lot of our clients have passed on, but hopefully, we get the new ones,” Livis said. 

Livis added that he believes most students tend to go to IHOP, which is in the neighboring plaza, because of its extended hours. However, “the students are more than welcome.” 

Kugels offers mobile ordering through DoorDash, GrubHub, and Uber Eats. 

According to a Kugel's menu brochure, Trolley Square served as a car depot for the Boston and Worcester Street Railway Company. Now it is home to not only Kugel's New York Style Deli but also several other restaurants, including Rasoi Indian Cuisine.  

Opened in 2023 by Jaspreet Singh, who is originally from Punjab, Rasoi’s menu features primarily North Indian cuisine. 

He said when opening Rasoi, he traveled around Massachusetts while selling rice and spices to determine which dishes were popular. He then consulted with his brothers - who are both chefs - to determine what the best menu for Rasoi would be. 

Ultimately, they decided to focus on one type of cuisine - something that other Indian restaurants in the area do not offer, Singh said. 

Singh said most of the business generated from FSU students comes from their delivery service. 

Online ordering is available through Rasoi’s website. Indoor seating with complementary chai is available seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. 

He said popular items featured on the menu include dahi kebab, beetroot kebab. “Afghani chicken is the number one favorite here. It’s served with a flatbread called rumali roti.”

Singh came to Massachusetts in 2012 and has lived in the Boston area since then. 

He said the Framingham community is “very open-hearted. Very, very nice people here. They are educated people, I feel like this [is] home, and I enjoy growing more here.”

Singh highlighted the quality of the ingredients used at Rasoi. He said the restaurant only uses fresh produce, even at high costs. 

“I’m losing money, but I’m gaining more customers. I want to give you the best food,” Singh added. 

In addition to serving food at Rasoi, a few doors down from the restaurant is Indian Food & Spices, a grocery store also owned and operated by Singh. He purchased the grocery store from the previous owners, who operated it for 20 years. 

The grocery store was the first location he purchased in 2022. It sells imported Indian foods and offers prepared food cooked by Singh’s mother in what he refers to as “Granny’s Kitchen” in the back of the store. 

“In the back, there is a homemade kitchen where my mom makes unique food like butternut methis, aloo baingan,” Singh said. 

Both Rasoi Indian Cuisine and Indian Food & Spices are located in the front of Trolley Square with parking lot access from Worcester Road. 

On the backside of Trolley Square, a new restaurant - which has only been open for less than a month - offers southeast asian cuisine. 

A SouthEast Kitchen, owned and operated by Asek Ritrai and his parents Wiroj and Suwannee, offers Thai cuisine with plans to offer Vietnamese and southeast asian dishes. 

“Food has just always been part of my life,” Ritrai said. “I think it's a big part of everyone's life that they don't really look at, because you always need to eat. That's why I find it important to share.”

He added his goal for the restaurant is to keep quality at the forefront of his business. “I don't want to water down anything where I don't have to. I'd rather increase prices than try to water down and cut costs. I try to keep all ingredients fresh and the highest freshness as I can.”

Ritrai said popular menu items include pad Thai, curries, and massaman curry for those who don’t like spicy food. 

A SouthEast Kitchen is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and 11:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Online ordering is available on GrubHub and DoorDash. 

Ritrai said he has plans to open a cafe in the restaurant and sell some of the products he uses to prepare meals at the restaurant. 

Just a short drive from Trolley Square and from campus, another plaza serves food that many Framingham State students regularly enjoy. 

University Pizza, located at 961 Worcester Rd., serves up pizza, appetizer, and sub offerings, which are  available for student organizations to purchase via a purchase order from the Office of Student Experience. 

Owner Augusto Romeiro said the location had been a Pizza parlor since before the 1990s, and has been operated as University Pizza since 2013. 

Romeiro said he took ownership of the restaurant in 2018.  

“The students make up a good part of our business, especially with all the clubs that order from us every week for meetings,” he said.  

Romeiro said of the many items on University Pizza’s menu, “Nothing can compete with the numbers of cheese and pepperoni pizzas that we sell daily.” 

He added, "The subs, like steak and cheese or chicken parms, are not that far behind!”

Romeiro said the Framingham community has been supportive of the restaurant, which has a loyal following of daily and weekly returning customers. 

“We are very grateful for each one of them. It’s been great to see how much Framingham is growing and we look forward to seeing what the future holds. We are a small family-owned business trying to do our best and serve good food,” he said. 

 As a special offer to readers of The Gatepost, Romeiro said University Pizza is offering a 10% discount on carry-out orders from May 8 to May 15 with a valid student ID from FSU upon payment.

University Pizza is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sundays from 12:00 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

Ordering from University Pizza can be done using their phone number (508) 879-1234. 

To get to University Pizza from State Street, turn left onto High Street, then make another left turn onto Edgell Road. Finally, turn left at the intersection of Edgell and Worcester Roads.