By Cal LaFauci, Belmont Voice correspondent
A few minutes after the bread vendor arrived at Bellmont Caffè, owner Rachid Smairi and his staff were discussing the merits of Greek versus Moroccan cuisine, their voices building with good-humored passion.
“See, this is why I come here every day,” said customer Patrick Grasso, tilting his head toward the animated conversation.
Even on the cafe’s quietest days, it hums with friendly chatter. Most of it comes from Smairi, who rotates between delivering food and welcoming customers. He jokes with a group of regulars about keeping a camel in the back of the restaurant. Recently, he surprised a new patron by bringing up the specialized bagels he imports from Montreal during a conversation – the same bagels the customer raved about to his family after a recent work trip.
Customers say Smairi’s eight years of dedication to consistent, quality food and service have transformed Bellmont Caffè from a coffee shop into a community meeting place. Many regulars view the restaurant as a home away from home, and Smairi says it’s his life’s work to keep it that way.
“I feel like I’m here for a purpose, not to just sell coffee,” he said. “If somebody is going through some difficulty, and there is something I can provide and do, I won’t even think twice. I will do it for them.”
Smairi’s passion began during his childhood, as the youngest of 12 siblings in Casablanca, Morocco. He spent much of his youth working in the kitchen with his sisters, mixing handmade whipped cream and learning how to make cakes from scratch. He adored cooking and eating homemade food, knowing the effort and love his family put into each dish.
“I grew up in that house loving these things,” he said. “That was the main source of me falling in love with the kitchen and forming a connection with cooking.”
That passion inspired him to do more with food after he won his country’s lottery program, which allowed him to immigrate to the United States in March 2001 and eventually become a citizen in 2006. He began working in the food industry, but in 2003, he decided to pursue his new interest in restaurant operations.
“I got to try something different … which is dealing with customers and day-to-day operation with employees, scheduling, food, ordering, and all of that,” he said. “I loved it.”
Over 14 years, Smairi worked his way through Boston’s coffee scene, from a Huntington Avenue cafe to a Starbucks at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston to the Starbucks at the Prudential Center’s Barnes & Noble to a Dunkin’ Donuts in Belmont. After seven years there, one of his customers, Paula Carter, shared some insider information: The original owners were planning to sell the Bellmont Caffè. Soon after, he approached co-owners Minas Daldalian and Raffi Megdesyan, and they made a deal. Smairi became the cafe’s owner in March 2018.
After picking up the keys, he shifted the cafe’s atmosphere in a Mediterranean direction, an homage to his homeland.Smairi’s love of homemade food animated his imagination and led to a curated menu featuring international cuisine. He gushed to a customer near the kitchen about the specialty waffles he imports from Belgium, then dipped behind a curtain and brought out two egg croissant sandwiches for a couple of regulars, and a crepe for another. Smairi says finding good food for his customers is something of an obsession. Even on vacation, he tries to bring food back to serve at the cafe.
“We try to get a little bit of every place to make sure that the happiness of the customer is met,” he said.
That goal extends to how he interacts with his patrons. If he can’t help someone, he tries to connect them to someone who can. He helped one customer who lost her job in the medical field get an interview by connecting her to another customer in the same profession. He introduced a couple to his mother in Casablanca so they could share a meal with her during their trip to Morocco. He offered to walk a 90-year-old woman to the cafe.
“People can come here once every few months, and somehow he will remember, ‘How’s your kid doing in school?’” Grasso said. He started coming to the cafe four years ago and, after meeting a group of regulars, he has been coming consistently ever since. “He’ll have questions about them even though he hasn’t seen them for six, 10, 12 months … I find that amazing.”
Over time, Smairi built a community of customers from all walks of life – construction workers, Harvard professors, doctors, professional athletes such as Boston Red Sox outfielder J.D. Martinez, and politicians such as Mitt Romney. The reason each person returns differs, but the community aspect is central to most people’s reasoning.
“I feel like there’s a good vibe in this place that isn’t reflected in other places that are more corporate or chain in the town,” said William Valentine one recent afternoon. “My mother’s boss, (state) Sen. (William) Brownsberger, does a lot of meetings here outside because of the outdoor aspect and because of the community that’s been developed by the owner. A lot of places aren’t like that.”
The cafe’s liveliness and warmth attract long-time regulars such as Linda Bragman and her group of friends back again and again.
“I live by myself. I met these friends here for the last four years. We’re like family,” Bragman said, looking at the group. “But Rachid, he’s just a wonderful shopkeeper. It’s not like when you’re walking into Dunkin’ Donuts, you go and you leave. This is like home.”
Customers have reflected his effort and positivity over the past eight years. During the coronavirus pandemic, neighbors stopped by to support the cafe financially, buying $300 to $400 gift certificates to use in the future. That support got the business and Smairi through the pandemic. Another time, an anonymous customer left a letter on the counter addressed to “Rachid, Bellmont Caffè,” thanking him for helping her through a hard time.
“I was going through a very difficult time and you were there for me,” the note reads. “That’s not usually me, but at that period it was and I felt your positivity and love… It helped me a lot in that period.”
Smairi said the woman left $100 in the envelope and signed the handwritten letter, “a customer.” He plans to keep both.
“It just touched my heart a lot,” he said.
The most recent form of support came in the mail in July 2025 – the Best Coffee Shop of Belmont Award. According to BusinessRate, which sponsored the award, the prize is “earned not by application or nomination, but by the authentic feedback of (its) own customers” who wrote Google reviews.
“It’s nice to hear your effort has been noticed,” he said. “And, you know, it gives you a battery recharge of doing more and more and more, and it keeps that excitement going. It’s only going up and up.”
Smairi hopes to eventually own the property and expand the cafe. Until then, most weekends will be filled with customers crowding into the small space, drinking warm beverages, dining on Smairi’s curated selection of food, and connecting with one another.
He says he loves every second, and a recent gesture suggested he is sincere.
After enjoying his first meal at the cafe, the bagel-loving customer placed his dishes at the main counter. Smairi asked him to wait a moment and disappeared into the kitchen. He emerged moments later with a bag of the man’s coveted Montreal bagels. Smiling, Smairi passed the gift to his customer.
This story was written by a journalism student in BU’s Newsroom program, a partnership between the university, The Belmont Voice, and other news organizations in the Boston area.
