30 Dunster Street at Mount Auburn
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-441-9797
The Finale concept was borne out of a Harvard Business School brainstorming session in 1996. Sophomore would-be entrepreneurs Paul Conforti and Kim Moore spent the next couple of years refining the idea before opening their upscale dessert-focused café near Boston’s Park Plaza hotel in 1998.
Now with three locations, Finale offers an intimate setting that has been called plush, romantic and perfect for a late-night bite after a show or an indulgent mid-afternoon break. You can also get lunch and dinner here, and there’s a full list of wines, beers, cordials and coffees. Those Harvard kids think of everything.
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Chef Nicole Coady touts Finale as the country's only upscale dessert restaurant. Certainly it's the only upscale dessert restaurant with an Ivy League pedigree.
The Harvard Business School-developed concept known as Finale was launched in July of 1998 on the fringe of the Theater District by founders Paul Conforti and Kim Moore. Since the restaurant's inception, Coady has been instrumental in menu design, staffing and overall concept development.
Coady is a graduate of Johnson & Wales University, where she earned a dual degree in baking & pastry arts and culinary arts in 1993. (She also matriculated three years toward a bachelor's degree in biology at West Virginia University prior to attending Johnson & Wales.) She prides herself on having a broad background in pastry arts, the result of having worked in five-star restaurants as well as in small French bakeries.
Prior to joining Finale, Coady worked at the Ritz-Carlton at Buckhead, where she learned from Corporate Executive Pastry Chef Norman Love and Pastry Chef David Robbins.
Coady likes to describe her style as "American, with a European flair." She is a fan of familiar flavors and feels that these are among the most important elements to a good dessert. Additionally, she likes to "wow" the guests with grand presentation. Each plate is carefully designed and garnished a la minute during service.
A native of West Virginia, Coady is a member of the U.S. Pastry Alliance, the National Restaurant Association and the Professional Pastry Guild of New England. She has been featured in Newsweek as one of the industry's "hot new chefs," and has her eye on building a specialty bakery business as well as launching a wholesale and catering business.
