L’Espalier Alum to Open Fat Hen Inside La Brasa

La Brasa, Provided

UPDATE, January 13, 10:30 a.m.: Tomorrow is your last chance to get a preview of Fat Hen, before the restaurant-inside-a-restaurant undergoes renovations for its spring 2016 debut. Chef Michael Bergin is teaming up with Mucci Imports, LLC for an Italian wine dinner. Tickets for the 6:30 p.m. event are $85 per person and available now.

PREVIOUSLY:

When La Brasa opened in Somerville last spring, the globally-inspired, wood-fired kitchen offered takeout sandwiches, coffee, and more during the day from a prep area-cum-market and café. But chef-owner Daniel Bojorquez has a broader culinary plan for the space: chef Michael Bergin, who, like Bojorquez, is an alumnus of late Sel de la Terre and L’Espalier, is opening a “soulful” Italian concept there.

Fat Hen will permanently occupy the former La Brasa Market & Café come spring 2016, with 30 seats of its own. You can get your first taste of Bergin’s fresh pastas, braised meats, and locally-grown and foraged produce during monthly pop-ups beginning on November 12.

Expect antipasti like insalata autunno, with smoked burrata, bee pollen, squash, pickled apples, and nuts; and pasta dishes like spelt pappardelle with a white, pork shoulder sugo; foraged mushroom cappelletti with ricotta and chanterelle miso; and semolina cavatelli with Calabrian rabbit sausage, Brussels sprouts, and pecorino. Large-format plates may include roasted whitefish with sea urchin neonata and pickled potatoes; and chicken alla mattone, with Jimmy Nardello pilacca peppers and blackened broccoli rabe; and sweets include vanilla semifreddo with grappa, grapes, granola, and balsamic.

The “modest but mighty” beverage program will focus on niche Italian wines and craft beers.

Tickets for the inaugural, four-course meal are $55 per person and are available now on Eventbrite.

Fat Hen, coming to La Brasa, 124 Broadway, Somerville; 617-262-3023.