Restaurant Opening: The Sinclair in Harvard Square, Cambridge

Photo by Emily Knudsen

Since competing on the Food Network show Chopped, Marcellus Coleman has decamped from New York to head up the kitchen at the Sinclair, a live-music venue/eatery in Harvard Square. The restaurant side of the space, which was developed in conjunction with the local chef Michael Schlow, offers a smart mix of preconcert grub and more sophisticated fare (not to mention a killer cocktail list) in an industrial-chic atmosphere. On the appetizer menu, “Disco fries” ($7, pictured above)—waffle fries dotted with chorizo and poblanos and smothered in cheese sauce—mingle with a refined spinach-and-ricotta gnudi in brown butter ($9). Entrées, meanwhile, range from branzino with bacon and white beans ($18) and steak frites ($21) to a pork sandwich ($12) and a burger dressed up with basil aioli and fried onions ($12). It’s a mix that promises to be a great fit for the Harvard Square crowd—students, professors, visiting parents, hipster twentysomethings, and everyone in between.

52 Church St., Cambridge, 617-547-5200, sinclaircambridge.com.