Look Inside Southern Kin Cookhouse, Opening at Assembly Row This Friday

Satisfy your cravings for fried okra, chicken and waffles, shrimp po' boys, and whiskey in Somerville.

By Alex Wilking· 6/1/2016, 11:55 a.m.

The dining room at Southern Kin. / Photo by Warren Jagger.

Southern Kin Cookhouse, the newest restaurant from Boston Nightlife Ventures, has pegged Friday, June 3 as its official opening date at Assembly Row. And if you’ve been combing the Boston area looking for authentic Southern fare like shrimp po’ boys and fried okra, you’ll be delighted to see the menu.

Spearheading the kitchen at Southern Kin is Bill Brodsky, chief culinary officer at BNV, and once the executive chef at the Palmetto Café at the Charleston Place Hotel in South Carolina. His menus at Southern Kin span more than lowcountry cuisine, though, featuring dishes like buttermilk fried Mississippi catfish and black-eyed pea succotash, chicken and cheddar-chive waffles, and Kansas City-style barbecue ribs. Small plates also veer nontraditional, with Farmstead Bruschetta—slices of grilled brown bread slathered with chicken liver mousse and topped with Benton’s country ham, and red pepper jelly—plus classics, like house-made pimento cheese fritters with smoked tomato jalapeño marmalade, and juniper and lemon-pickled Geechee shrimp.

And of course, there is a selection of pies, including buttermilk, Georgia’s peach crumble, and brown butter-bourbon pecan.

“Southern Kin is a departure from the concepts I have previously shared with New England,” said Brodsky, in a press release. BNV is also behind the Tap Trailhouse, Griddler’s Burgers and Dogs, and the culinary incubator Wink & Nod, which just brought Gita Kantrow on board as its newest chef. “[It] represents a melding of Creole, barbecue, and lowcountry, with a hint of Southwestern, and the menu features bold and bright flavors presented in a caring manner.”

The bar and communal seating at Southern Kin. / Photo by Warren Jagger.

Whiskey is the focus of the bar program, curated by BNV beverage director Michael Boughton. There are more than 100 different bottles, including around 50 different Kentucky and Tennessee bourbons, and a rotating cast of private reserve whiskeys. Taste it in classic cocktails, like a cask-aged Old Fashioned or a julep, or sip (or shoot) house-made infusions. And if you’re indecisive, you can opt for a whiskey flight. There are also cocktails—and boozy frappes—built with gin, vodka, and other spirits from the full bar.

Boughton also developed a sweet tea program to showcase another Southern specialty. Served tableside, the non-alcoholic refresher comes with a choice of sweeteners like housemade grenadine or mint syrup.

The newest restaurant at Assembly Row seats about 100 inside, and eventually, an additional 60 outside on a wraparound porch. Southern Kin’s dining room will be daily for lunch and dinner, and weekend brunch will start in a few weeks.