Chef Alex Saenz Takes Over at Bisq

Alex Saenz / Photo provided

Inman Square has been without Alex Saenz’s cooking for a few months—the talented chef left Puritan & Co. earlier this year for a brief return to his hometown Charleston, South Carolina—but he’s back now, newly instated as chef de cuisine at Bisq.

Saenz takes over for Dan Bazzinotti, who opened the eclectic, charcuterie-focused wine bar with owner Keith Pooler in 2015. Bazzinotti has taken his talents to the soon-to-open Eataly Boston, according to a Bisq representative.

While at Puritan & Co., Saenz displayed his upbringing with playful takes on fried chicken, catfish, shrimp and grits, pimento cheese, and the like during Southern Sundays. He will continue to draw on these flavors at Bisq, as well as the Peruvian flair Bazzinotti built into the small plates menu. Saenz is a Peru native, like Bazzinotti’s wife. Prior to Puritan & Co., Saenz was Jeremy Sewall’s chef de cuisine at Lineage.

Look out for changes coming to Bisq, including new weekly specials, like buckets of fried chicken on Game Night Mondays. Under Saenz, dollar oysters continue all day on Sundays. The infamous “Bazz hook-up board”—a chef’s selection of charcuterie—will stick around, with the new chef de cuisine’s spins (and, presumably, his name). Saenz will continue Bisq’s whole animal dinners on Fridays.

Bisq, 1071 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge, 617-714-3693, bisqcambridge.com.