Table Talk
Photograph by Anthony Tielui
It’s About Time: After years of delays, we had just about given up on Descent, the club that’s set to finally open downstairs in the W hotel this month. Like many new bars of late, it’s modeled on a Prohibition-style lounge, with a classic cocktail menu and sexy décor. Too me-too? Maybe. But we won’t complain about the addition of yet another place that pours proper (and properly stiff) drinks.
Open for Business: Kendall Square gets a new neighborhood restaurant in Abigail’s, a comfy, family-run spot boasting plenty of industry cred: Chef James Ludwig and bar manager Rob Iurilli hail from cult-fave B-Side Lounge (now defunct). Expect a stacked raw bar, gussied-up homestyle cuisine like pork chops with roasted grapes and black-pepper dumplings, and — our favorite part — boozy slushies.
Photograph by Anthony Tielui
Take Two Once upon a time, Back Bay’s Saint was the hot place — but in recent years, not so much. Mercifully, owner Brian Lesser has turned it into Storyville, a bar/club hybrid that pays homage to the space’s ’50s-jazz-club roots, enlisting Sel de la Terre expat Louis DiBiccari and Woodward vet “English Bill” Codman to create the food and drink. The Bordello Room will feature classics like lobster a l’americaine (top), plus cool cocktails (like the Lady Day, right) and tons of tiki bevs.
New Addition Journeyman’s yet-unnamed adjoining bar could debut by Halloween. According to general manager Meg Grady-Troia, it will take the Somerville restaurant’s local, seasonal philosophy and apply it to libations. Sam Treadway (Eastern Standard, Drink) will run the bar, and, in contrast to Journeyman’s pricey prix-fixe format, the place will serve casual à la carte dishes.
In the Works After six years of battling Red Sox fans and BU undergrads for a barstool at Kenmore Square’s Eastern Standard, cocktail nerds will soon find a haven of their own at the Hawthorne. This latest venture from the ES and Island Creek Oyster Bar team (owner Garrett Harker, chef Jeremy Sewall, and bar director Jackson Cannon) will occupy the former Foundation Lounge space.