NORTHAMPTON — The owners of Tellus & the Satellite Bar have secured a liquor license for a casual fare restaurant they plan to open at the former site of Lichter & Levin Delicatessen at 1 Market St.
Cafe Howl will focus on a more casual menu than the Tellus & the Satellite restaurant and nightclub’s current upscale dining options, Tellus co-owner Amanda Riesling said at the License Commission’s most recent meeting.
“It’s a different concept, starting with lunch we’ll be moving into breakfast hours as well and then keeping it open at least into the evening and possibly later at night,” she explained. “The model is mostly counter service and takeout. We’ll be doing more casual food than Tellus does and we’d love to add a bar.”
Speaking at the Tuesday Farmer’s Market on Tuesday where they were selling pizza slices in front of the Tellus restaurant, Riesling explained that market research has shown a demand for pizza by-the-slice and a counter service model downtown. She said she hopes to later introduce sandwiches, breakfast options and set up a bar for evening service.
With the former deli’s front sign having already been painted-over, Riesling explained that she and her business partner Nhan Bui plan to open the more than 3,000-square-foot space in September and are awaiting the arrival of its pizza oven next week.
Bui said he did not believe the restaurant faced much competition in the area, noting that Howl’s style of cuisine, especially its lunch options, were hard to find around Northampton.
“The kind of sandwiches we’d be doing, no one’s doing like an authentic banh mi. No one’s really doing like an Italian beef or any of the stuff we make,” Bui said.
Riesling and Bui opened Tellus & the Satellite nightclub in 2022 in the basement level of Thornes Marketplace, as the nightlife business was slowly beginning to rebuild after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cafe Howl, named after the 1956 Allen Ginsberg poem “Howl,” aims to carry on a pride in quality food and beverage service that Riesling said fosters a sense of community for her customers makes her and Bui’s businesses stand out.
“We take a lot of care and time and thought into everything that we buy and everything that we put on every single plate, and that translates to everything we put in every glass, so that’s the thing that I think that I’m most proud of,” Riesling said. “That, I believe, is all about feeding people food and feeding people with community and space … it’s really important how it feels in there because it’s the one thing that no computer or phone can replace: connection with people.”
The space at the corner of Bridge and Market streets housed a coffee shop called the Roost for about 14 years before it closed in March 2025. Four months later, the Jewish deli Lichter & Levin Delicatessen, only to close last December after six months in business.
