The Most Anticipated Summer 2019 Restaurant Openings around Boston

The roses are blooming, school’s out for the season, and the Bluebikes are busy—it’s meteorologically summer, Boston. With a new season comes a whole new lineup of restaurant openings to keep an eye on around the city. This summer will bring an all-day café, rotisserie, and wine bar in Cambridge from the owners of Branch Line; a floating restaurant near the Charlestown Navy Yard; and, imminently, a game-changing resort casino home to more than a dozen new restaurants. Keeping in mind that restaurant openings are often subject to unanticipated delays (we’ll keep you posted!), here is a look at 14 upcoming restaurants we are most looking forward to.

Truffled salmon carpaccio from the menu at Mystique, opening soon at Encore Boston. / Photos courtesy of Big Night Entertainment Group

The Encore Boston Harbor

UPDATE, June 23: All 15 dining options—and the rest of the larger-than-life resort casino—are now open in Everett.

PREVIOUSLY:

Soaring high above the industrial landscape just over the Boston city line in Everett—you’ve certainly noticed—is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that’s poised to change the local nightlife scene forever. The largest single-phase construction project in state history, the Encore Boston Harbor resort is home not only to a Vegas-style casino, a $650-and-up-a-night hotel, a Harborwalk and public parkland, but also to 15 new dining and drinking options. Among the most exciting? There’s Mystique, a sushi restaurant and robata grill from Boston nightlife leaders Big Night Entertainment, which has a couple ex-Makoto (Miami) chefs leading the kitchen. The Oyster Bar has Neptune Oyster alum John Ross steering the ship. Fratelli will deal in fresh pastas, brick oven pizza, and Italian entrées from North End restaurateurs Nick Varano and Frank DePasquale. Rare Steakhouse promises unique (and, yes, rare) cuts of beef, including prized Kobe. There will also be a burger bar; high-end Chinese food; an Italian-American joint named for Sinatra; a beer bar, called Waterfront, featuring exclusive local beverages; a garden lounge; a 24-hour café, and an every-hour Dunkin’ Donuts; drinks served ’til 4 a.m. to active gamblers; and more. You have our attention, Encore.

One Broadway, Everett, encorebostonharbor.com.

Katrina Jazayeri and Josh Lewin of Juliet and the soon-to-open Peregrine. / Photo by Brian Samuels Photography

Peregrine

UPDATE, July 3: Peregrine has softly opened at the Whitney Hotel. Chef Josh Lewin, partner Katrina Jazayeri, and their team are now serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, from 6:30-10 a.m. and 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; and dinner from 5-9:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. More menu items and weekend brunch will come online soon.

PREVIOUSLY:

Chef Josh Lewin is taking a bird’s-eye view to develop his latest menu: Peregrine, headed for the Whitney Hotel in Beacon Hill, “takes its cues from everything that bird might see” as it flies around the Mediterranean coast, Lewin previously told Boston. Now on track to open in early July, it will be the second all-day café from Lewin and partner Katrina Jazayeri, who are also behind Juliet in Somerville. The couple has hired chefs Matthew Bullock (formerly of Lord Hobo), Noah Clickstein, and Will Deeks, and is rounding out its team now. When it opens this summer, Peregrine will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner specifically inspired by influences of Catalonia, Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia, including charcuterie and oysters, Sunday roast beef dinners, an assortment of sfizi (small plates), hand-rolled pastas, classic cocktails, and natural wines. Stay in the loop with @peregrine_boston on Instagram.

The Whitney Hotel, 170 Charles St., Boston, peregrineboston.com.

Fried chicken, creamy mac and cheese, and more Southern-style fare is on the menu at the Porch, which is opening a huge new “juke joint” in Medford this summer. / Photo courtesy of the Porch

The Porch Southern Fare & Juke Joint

UPDATE, July 15: The Porch is now open in Medford. 

In spring 2018, chef Jonathan Post and partner Cenk Emre closed their 20-seat Wakefield restaurant, the Porch, after two years in business, in anticipation of opening a new and larger version in Medford. That 250-seat spot—which will have a 54-seat bar and lounge area, with room for a pool table and a stage for live music, plus outdoor seating—is nearly ready, now eyeing an opening day sometime during the second week of July. It’s located at River’s Edge, a new development also home to the pair’s Freerange Market. At the Porch, Nashville native Post will expand on his previous menu, but also bring back favorites including fried chicken, collard greens, and shrimp and grits, plus a Southern barbecue program fueled by a custom, 1,000-pound-capacity wood-fired smoker. The bar will serve up plenty of cold beer, whiskey, and craft cocktails. Weekly music performances “will focus on contemporary bands from the American South,” plus bands covering “Southern style” genres like blues, rockabilly, and alt-country, Post explains. “This will not be some goofy caricature of Southern culture.”

175 River’s Edge Drive, Medford, theporchsouthern.com.

Heather and Colin Lynch of Bar Mezzana, Shore Leave, No Relation, and the soon-to-open Black Lamb brasserie. / Brian Samuels Photography

Black Lamb

UPDATE, July 16: Black Lamb is now open in the South End.

The team behind the South End’s Bar Mezzana and Shore Leave is working on an American brasserie for the neighborhood. Former Barbara Lynch Gruppo director of operations Ben Kaplan has joined the ownership group of chef Colin Lynch and his wife, Heather; business partner Jefferson Macklin, and beverage director Ryan Lotz. The team has hired chef Chris Drown (Hamersley’s Bistro, Hojoko, O Ya) to lead the kitchen serving lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. Black Lamb is now under construction at the former Stephi’s on Tremont space.

571 Tremont St., Boston, Instagram.

The menu board is up at Taqueria el Barrio, opening in early July near the BU campus. / Photo courtesy of Taqueria el Barrio

Taqueria el Barrio

UPDATE, August 6: Taqueria el Barrio is now open in Packard’s Corner

Servio Garcia, an owner and longtime general manager of Bergamot and Bisq, is putting the finishing touches on his passion project: A fast-food spot serving up authentic tacos, quesadillas, and tortas from his homeland of Mexico. “I always wanted to open a Mexican restaurant, but I never wanted to open a restaurant that didn’t honor our food,” says the Puebla native. Location was also key to this new project, so Garcia made moves on a former UBurger space near the Boston University campus. The style of food “is appropriate for being in a high-traffic, college area,” he says. Construction on the space is nearly complete, with details like hand-painted talavera-tiled tabletops. Garcia has partnered with Bisq chef Alex Saenz on his latest venture, and the duo has hired chef Luis Figueroa to lead the day-to-day in the kitchen. Figueroa, also originally from Mexico, is focusing on cuisine from the northwest part of the country, and making flour tortillas in-house. There will also be 100% corn tortillas available, from Mi Tierra in Hadley. Customers will pick their protein, and Garcia is particularly excited to offer vegetarian-friendly “chorizo,” housemade using soy instead of pork. The shop will offer churros for dessert, and a selection of Mexican sodas, plus agua frescas like jamaica (hibiscus), and tamarind; and horchata. Pending final inspections, Garcia is hopeful Taqueria el Barrio will open July 1.

1022 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Instagram.

Chef Chris Parsons is opening the Oyster Club. / Photo provided

The Oyster Club

UPDATE, July 23: The Oyster Club will open Saturday, July 27. 

Among a few new projects opening this year from chef Chris Parsons (formerly of Steel & Rye) is a classic New England seafood restaurant and raw bar in an iconic area of Boston. Taking the former Via Matta space in Park Square, the Oyster Club is now eyeing a July 15 debut—ample time to make use of the property’s 70-seat outdoor patio this season. (Parsons’s fried chicken-focused Lily P’s is separately in development for a fall opening over in Kendall Square; and the chef also hints at a third project coming later in 2019.) The Oyster Club is a return to seafood for Parsons, who shuttered his critically celebrated Winchester restaurant, Catch, in 2010. In Park Square, the Best of Boston winner (and avid fly-fisherman) is developing a menu of crudo, ceviche, and “in the shell” appetizers; simple grilled entrees and pan-roasts; smoked fish, like salmon rillettes; lobster rolls; and more.

79 Park Plaza, Boston.

Chef Derek Robert is at the helm in the kitchen at the Emory. / Photo by Drea Catalano

The Emory

UPDATE, July 25: The Emory opens Monday, July 29, in Beacon Hill.

We’ve been looking forward to this “modern barroom” in Beacon Hill from former No. 9 Park, Stoddard’s, and Foundry on Elm bartender Andy Kilgore for some time now. There have been some construction-related delays—and also, intended-opening-chef Brian Young, a Top Chef alum, left the project in May to relocate to be closer to family. The Emory is now on track for a July opening, with Derek Robert as executive chef. A Springfield native, Robert was on the opening team at chef Matt Jennings’ Townsman, where he rose to chef de cuisine; he has been involved with opening the Emory for several months. He is an avid butcher, pasta-maker, and fermentation enthusiast, and plans to showcase all of those skills with menu items like buffalo-style sweetbreads with pickled celery; grilled oysters with ‘nduja; baked potato beignets with smoked bacon; pan-roasted deckle steak with green romesco, grilled local asparagus, and a beef fat popover; herbed tagliatelle; and large-format proteins to feed four to six people. Taking over the former Scollay Square restaurant in what was once the lobby of the Bellevue Hotel (c. 1985), the Emory will have just under 70 seats, including some at a marble bar. Follow along on Instagram and Facebook as the Emory gets ready for its summer debut.

21 Beacon St., Boston, 617-430-6325, theemoryboston.com.

Shy Bird is an all-day cafe, rotisserie, and wine bar headed for Kendall Square. / Photos by by Emily Hagen

Shy Bird

UPDATE, August 20: Shy Bird is now open in Cambridge.

Longtime Eastern Standard manager and Branch Line owner Andrew Holden is busy building up a team to open a new, but related concept in Cambridge. Landing later this summer is Shy Bird, a rotisserie-focused anytime restaurant for the growing East Cambridge area, located on the well-traveled corner of Third Street and Broadway in Kendall Square. With an espresso program, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a robust wine list plus craft beers and ciders, “It will be warm, welcoming, and comfortable when the sun’s up and you’re having a cup of coffee at 7 a.m., and also a place you want to have a glass of wine at 10 o’clock at night,” Holden previously told Boston. Washington, D.C.-based architecture firm HapstakDemetriou is leading the buildout of the restaurant, which is headed for the same building as Kendall’s forthcoming Brothers Marketplace grocery store. The all-day café and wine bar will also have outdoor seating.

1 Broadway, Cambridge, shybird.com.

Chef Tiffani Faison is opening Orfano in August. It will be her fourth restaurant in the Fenway neighborhood. / Photo by by Ken Richardson for “Tiffani Faison Has Nothing to Apologize For”

Orfano

UPDATE, August 13: Opening in August in the Fenway

Big Heart Hospitality—the restaurant group run by chef Tiffani Faison and her wife, Kelly Walsh—is opening its fourth restaurant in the Fenway this summer, showcasing “redefined” riffs on Italian-American classics. Expect antipasti, soups and salads, house-made pastas, entrees and chops, and more offerings for the table. Just one year after debuting the unique Fool’s Errand, Faison’s cocktail bar in between her barbecue joint, Sweet Cheeks, and her Southeast Asian-inspired Tiger Mama, Orfano is headed for the nearby Pierce Boston tower. Located at the corner of Brookline Avenue and Boylston Street, the Pierce is also home to Nathálie Wine Bar and a new location of Wine Press bottle shop. Orfano will have about 100 seats, including streetside window-facing spots for snacks and aperitivo. It’s a completely different concept from anything else in Faison’s Fenway empire, but it’s a return to Italian for the chef, who led the kitchen at Rocca in the South End before opening Sweet Cheeks. Stay tuned for more details.

188 Brookline Ave., Boston, Instagram.

La Sirena

Opening late this summer in Boston’s Financial District

The team behind Yvonne’s, Ruka, and two Lolita Cocina and Tequila Bars is striking a different tune with their latest Boston restaurant—and it sounds like a Cuban beat. COJE Management Group Chris Jamison, Mark Malatesta, and culinary director Tom Berry are developing La Sirena, a Cuban-inspired spot headed for a former bank in the Financial District. (It’s the same location where COJE was once eyeing a members’-only cigar lounge, but it sounds like that aspect of the plans have been scrapped.) Last year, the team spent a week in Havana and Miami “pulling inspiration for this project,” Jamison told Eater Boston, “and we’re going to do something I haven’t seen done in Boston before.” The name La Sirena translates to “the mermaid,” and it has claimed its place on Facebook. @LaSirenaBoston has also shared a mojito-inspired spread on Instagram. Besides promising something “gorgeous and delicious,” the team is cagey on details ahead of an anticipated late-summer 2019 debut—but based on their track record, we’re already hungry for whatever they’re cooking up.

10 Post Office Square, Boston.

Banh mi are part of the lunch routine at the forthcoming Nightshade Noodle Bar in downton Lynn.

Nightshade Noodle Bar

Opening late this summer in Lynn

Construction is well underway to transform a former coffee shop in downtown Lynn into a permanent home for chef Rachel Miller’s Viet-American pop-up, Nightshade Noodle Bar. Miller was formerly chef de cuisine at two Boston fine-dining icons, Bondir and Clio, before launching the Nightshade pop-up in April 2017. Nightshade Noodle Bar will be open Wednesday-Sunday with casual, grab-and-go-focused lunch options like banh mi sandwiches, Vietnamese iced coffee, noodle bowls, and vegetable dishes; and at dinnertime, about 16-18 ever-changing small plates, noodle dishes, and Viet-Cajun-style boiled seafood to mix and match. Miller is planning to get a full liquor license, and is busy hiring “an awesome female-packed management squad.” Stay tuned for more details ahead of an anticipated August opening. In the meantime, find Nightshade every Monday night at the Buenas Maxi Kiosko at Bow Market, serving up $10 “hot noods”—an ever-changing menu of herbaceous dishes like cau lau Lynn, with handmade noodles using One Mighty Mills wheat, roast pork, pickled corn, and green garlic; and Vietnamese/South American mashups, like mi kho pino (egg noodles with mi kho sauce and Buenas’ pino empanada filling of ground beef, olives, and raisins).

73 Exchange St., Lynn, nightshadens.com.

Rochambeau

Opening late this summer in Back Bay

After the Lyons Group quietly shuttered its formerly loud, boisterous, multi-bar venue Towne Stove and Spirits early this year, owner Patrick Lyons promised something new—something more in line with today’s dining scene. Now, we have a few more details: Called Rochambeau, the new venue is appealing to our appetite for classic French cuisine, as well as for casual, comfortable, all-day dining. Rochambeau will divide the huge, former Towne space into two distinct concepts with their own entrances, according to Leo Fonesca, senior vice-president of operations for the Lyons Group. The main restaurant will be a vibrant French-inspired brasserie, while a Boylston Street-facing café will serve breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks, including house-made croissants and café au lait. Hues of blue awash both the café and brasserie, while the main restaurant will have some complementary pops of pink tiles and tin ceilings. Greenery will be used to divide the large dining area into more intimate spaces, and a four-sided bar anchors the room. Rochambeau will also have a 65-seat, landscaped outdoor patio on Boylston Street.

900 Boylston St., Boston, lyonsgroup.com.

Six West Rooftop Bar and Lounge will open this summer at the Cambria Hotel Boston. / Rendering via RODE Architects

Six West

Opening late this summer in South Boston

At the soon-to-open Cambria Hotel Downtown Boston (which is actually in Southie), expect “unbelievable views” from a rooftop bar by Boston Nightlife Ventures, the team behind the South End’s Wink & Nod (among other venues). Executive chef David Daniels, who is currently in the kitchen at Wink & Nod with the pop-up concept, Hush, is creating a menu for the rooftop bar with global influences: Think creative crudo, raw bar options and caviar service, and a selection of panini. BNV and Daniels are also developing food and beverage for the hotel’s lobby-level dining option, which will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That will include an Intelligentsia Coffee program, and bagels from Lynn’s One Mighty Mills; and dishes like Kurabota (Berkshire) pork bao, short rib tacos, and ahi tuna flatbread. The Cambria Hotel is now booking rooms for late August.

The Cambria Hotel, 6 West Broadway, South Boston, 617-752-6681, cambriaboston.com.

The Charlestown Navy Yard will soon be home to a floating restaurant, located inside a tall ship moored in the harbor. / Charlestown Navy Yard by Sarah Nichols on Flickr / Creative Commons

Sailor’s Oyster Bar

Opening late this summer in the Charlestown Navy Yard

Get ready to dine on a seaworthy vessel: A 245-foot, 1947 Cooks and Welton Caledonia tall ship is moored in the harbor at the Charlestown Navy Yard, being worked on to become a floating restaurant. Dubbed Sailor’s Oyster Bar, the project is the latest from Charlie Larner of Navy Yard Hospitality, who also owns Charlestown’s Pier 6, Mija Cantina at Faneuil Hall, and two locations of ReelHouse. Early plans call for raw bar options and other fare, plus a full bar. Guests will also be able to walk around the ship and learn about its history. The tall ship restaurant is licensed to be open seasonally through October, and will hopefully debut late this summer to have a month or so of business this year.

Dry Dock 2, 114 16th St., Charlestown.