River Bar To Open on November 12

Corned beef and cabbage dumplings with a rye dipping sauce. Photo provided
After some unforeseen delays, River Bar is set to open later this week. The Assembly Row restaurant is the fifth Somerville project from restaurateur Ken Kelly, who also owns sister venues The Independent, Foundry on Elm, Saloon, and Brass Union.
River Bar features an expansive 2,600 square foot patio overlooking the Mystic River. The covered, heated outdoor space— a showpiece of the restaurant that dwarfs its intimate, 36-seat dining room—also boasts fire pits, couches, and trees.
Much has already been made of Patrick Gilmartin‘s (Staff Meal truck, Rialto) dinner menu of “elevated street food,” which includes chorizo Scotch quail eggs, corned beef and cabbage dumplings with a rye dipping sauce, and whole grilled fish. Now we have the rest of Gilmartin’s offerings, which include a sandwich-heavy lunch menu (house-made Chinese sausage sub, a fried eggplant sandwich with Tonkatsu sauce) and a brunch menu with confit chicken scrapple and eggs, smoked bluefish hash, and a breakfast sandwich with Taylor Pork Roll and a Stone & Skillet English muffin.
River Bar will open for weekday lunch from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., weekend brunch from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and daily dinner from 5-11 p.m. River Bar also will offer a late-night menu until 12:45 a.m. Take a look at the finalized menus below:
River Bar Menus
661 Assembly Row, Somerville; 617-616-5561 or river-bar.com.