A long-time specialty shop in Newton Highlands – The Walnut Market – offers wines and foods sourced from outside the U.S., including bagels from Montreal that are unlike any others anywhere, from Newton to New York.
The Market, at 20 Lincoln Street in Newton Highlands, is currently owned by Matt Santarpio, who used to manage two liquor stores; one in Roslindale and one in Dorchester. Looking to start his own business, Matt noticed that The Walnut Market was up for sale and that the previous owner – who was a regular customer of Matt’s at one of those liquor stores – was planning to retire. Santarpio bought the store in January 2020 – right before the pandemic hit.
Santarpio admits that the pandemic made business at The Walnut Market difficult. He was waiting for his liquor license to be approved, so he was unable to sell any alcohol throughout 2020. And the regular customers who went to the market before the change in ownership started coming in only after Covid restrictions were lifted.
“It was elderly people that were worried about getting sick. They would either just stay in or get delivery, or move in with some younger family members to be in a less densely populated area. So there were really not a whole lot of people around during that time,” Santarpio said.
Despite these difficulties, business at The Walnut Market soon returned to normal once the pandemic receded and Santarpio was able to continue selling specialty products. He notes that there are two products that people will “drive out of their way” to get – Montreal-style bagels and Alfajores.
Unique Specialty Foods
Every month, Santarpio gets a fresh shipment of Montreal-style bagels. The Walnut Market is one of four stores in the United States that sells bagels delivered straight from Montreal. One reason why the bagels are so hard to find is that they can be made only in dome-shaped, wood burning ovens, which do not pass the fire code in many places throughout the world. Additionally, not many people are allowed to use these ovens because they are a fire hazard.
Santarpio says that Montreal-style bagels are made very differently from how New York-style bagels are made. In New York, bakers are taught to wrap the dough around their thumb, so when it bakes, the bagel expands and almost fills in the hole. In Montreal, bakers wrap the bagel dough around the other four fingers, so that the bagel is left with a noticeably larger sized hole. Montreal bagels also blend honey into the water when the dough is boiled, so the bagels get a pretzel-like crust when they are fired in the oven. The Walnut Market’s Facebook page keeps Newton customers informed about when the next shipment of bagels will arrive.
The Alfajores is a dessert commonly found in South America, and the woman that makes the ones for The Walnut Market happens to be from Peru. The Peruvian version of the Alfajores has a soft, buttery cookie on the outside and the dulce de leche in the middle.
Although Santarpio was not surprised by the popularity of the Montreal bagels – since the previous owner constantly mentioned them – he was surprised that the Alfajores became popular, since they take little shelf space in his store.
Long-time Customers
Highlands resident David Mirsky has been going to The Walnut Market since he first moved to Newton Highlands with his wife 53 years ago. He first noticed the market while on a walk around his neighborhood, since he lives about two streets away. David loves the shop’s wines, cheeses, chocolates, Peruvian cookies, and Persian ice cream, and he tries to get them as often as he can. He also loves The Walnut Market for its feeling of nostalgia for when he first moved to Newton Highlands.
“Newton Highlands has always been a somewhat different corner of Newton, a little bit like Nonantum. It was sort of the two areas that were more ethnic and homey. Things have changed as real estate values have become incredibly inflated,” David said, “In a way, Walnut Market has a little feeling of nostalgia for that time when the Highlands was a more informal, cohesive kind of community than of necessity.”
Another resident, Matt Winer, says he has been going to The Walnut Market for over three years, since finding it while wandering around the Newton Highlands, and from there he began buying a wide selection of products. The products he purchases most regularly are hard cider and Pine State Popcorn from North Carolina. Matt adds that a product that surprised him was the Peruvian cookies because he was not expecting them to be made by an actual Peruvian lady, and he was impressed with how much information Santarpio had about the products he sells.
“Matt is a veritable font of information about the products he carries,” Winer said, “It’s pretty clear that that’s where his interest and passion lies. He always has information at his fingertips about the stuff in his store and beyond just that as well so it’s always interesting to go in there. Whatever product I am interested in he knows the backstory through and through.”
Jonas Cohen, a recent graduate of Newton South High School, has been going to Walnut Market since spring of 2020, stopping by the store regularly after his shift at the nearby Grape Leaf restaurant. While the products that he regularly buys are chips, candy, and water, Jonas admits that he enjoys seeing Santarpio every time he visits.
“Matt is a cool guy, go shopping at his store,” Jonas said.
Part of the Highlands Business Community
Linda Gulman, the owner of the Highlands candy shop, Indulge!, has been running her shop for thirty-three years and is currently one of the longest-tenured business owners in Newton Highlands. Gulman says that she shares a lot of the same customers with Santarpio because many Highlands customers like to go to a range of stores and support local businesses.
“We really like Matt a lot,” Linda said, “He’s been a really good addition to the Highlands, and I feel like he really takes pride in his store, which is nice because I do the same thing.”
Santarpio continues to offer a 5% discount to customers who patronize other stores in Newton Highlands to encourage people who are in the neighborhood and within a short distance to support multiple businesses in the area. He also encourages the community to attend the Friday night concerts at the Hyde Center down the street during the summer. He notes that the concerts greatly help his business during the slower summer season.
Chloe Yu is a Fig City News intern and rising sophomore at Emerson College.
