"It used to be a big deal to go to a restaurant," says Mary-Catherine
Deibel. But at today's pace, "between takeout and going
out," she observes, it rarely seems a special occasion. UpStairs
on the Square, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, restaurant Deibel co-owns
with Deborah Hughes, counters with a roster of award-winning chefs,
a unique décor (described variously by critics as "a throwback
to 1940s glamour" and "a Barbie bordello"), and a
personal approach so thorough the reservation system includes notes
like "had wedding here, two kids, remind MCD to say hello."
Deibel is known locally with her business partner
("I have two life partners, my husband and Deborah—and I
probably spend more time with Deborah") for their first venture,
UpStairs at the Pudding, which prospered for nearly 20 years before
losing its lease in 2001. In December 2002, they reopened in a vacated
theater with a space for "casual haute cuisine" and the
fancier Soirée Room two flights up.
Officially, Hughes—who was the chef at the
first UpStairs—oversees kitchen matters, and Deibel focuses on
public relations and hospitality, although the line between the two
women's roles gradually has blurred, Deibel says. Between meals,
Deibel has what resembles an office job, with morning e-mails and afternoon
meetings. During mealtimes, she mingles and smooths the day's
wrinkles: an impatient party of six, an incognito critic, a query about
the bitter green, trevisano, served charred atop the duck salad.
While a student at Newton College, Deibel supported
herself waiting tables at Peasant Stock, a Somerville eatery owned by
her theology professor, Jerry Pierce '64. "Even if I was doing
the dishes I'd always sneak out to see who was there and to make sure
the candles were lit," she says. Deibel worked there for 14 years,
while pursuing graduate studies in English and an initial career managing
classical music groups. A pile of New Yorker rejections at home
testifies to that era, as does a cello that has hardly left its case
since Deibel turned 31. That was the year she and Hughes pulled together
a modest amount of capital, scouted locations around town until they
saw a high-ceilinged space that cried out to be a dining room, and set
their tables for the first time.
Nicole Estvanik
Photo: Mary-Catherine Deibel NC '72. By Gary
Wayne Gilbert
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