Zurito, a Love Letter to Pintxo Bars, Debuts on Beacon Hill

Pintxos and drinks at Zurito, including pimientos rellenos de bacalao (salt cod-stuffed piquillo peppers) in the left foreground and sobrassada con miel (spicy spreadable sausage with tomato honey on baguette) on the right. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Jamie Bissonnette is really pumped about anchovies. White and black anchovies on toast. Cantabrian anchovies skewered with peppers and olives. Plates of boquerones—marinated white anchovies. All the salty, savory, umami-packed anchovies you’ll find at Beacon Hill’s Zurito, the Basque-inspired restaurant the chef and restaurateur recently opened with his partners Andy Cartin and Babak Bina—collectively BCB3 Restaurant Group, also behind Somaek, Temple Records, and Sushi @ Temple Records. Bissonnette’s no stranger to Spanish restaurants—he’s the cofounder and former co-owner of storied South End tapas bar Toro—but now, in his BCB3 era, he’s penning a love letter to the pintxo bars of Spanish Basque Country.

The bar, with high tables for standing, at Zurito. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

“I’ve wanted to open a Basque pintxo bar for about fucking forever,” says Bissonnette, referring to venues that serve tiny snacks that pair well with drinks, often a little open-faced sandwich or something on a skewer or toothpick. He fell in love with the region, especially San Sebastián, on a trip over a decade ago—particularly the pintxo-bar-hopping culture—and has returned quite a few times since then. “When I got to the Basque [for the first time], I was like, ‘Holy shit, this is where I want to live,’” says Bissonnette. “I was just blown away by it.”

Two anchovy preparations at Zurito: tosta matrimonio in the foreground (white and black anchovies with egg butter and parsley) and gildas, “the OG” pintxo, in the background (Cantabrian anchovies with guindillas pepper and manzanilla olive). / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Then, the right restaurant space became available. Zurito is located in the Charles Street nook that housed Bin 26 Enoteca for nearly 20 years, a restaurant Bina owned with his sister, Azita Bina-Seibel. She was ready to retire, so Bina posed the idea to Bissonnette and Cartin of doing something else with the space. Bissonnette felt that the neighborhood reminded him of Europe “more than most neighborhoods in Boston,” with plenty of foot traffic—ideal conditions for a pintxo bar. “It’s got that same kind of vibe [as the Basque], people walking on the street; they can hop in and hop out.” The team embarked on a research trip, and Bina and Cartin were easily sold on the idea.

Mini croissants with jamón Ibérico paleta at Zurito. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Generally, the menu is fluid: Bissonnette and the team are excited to embrace the pintxo bar spirit, changing things up frequently and coming up with specials on the fly. “For me, a pintxo bar means you can change shit however you want,” says Jamie. But there are a few things you’re likely to find on the Zurito menu all the time—anchovies, of course; a selection of interesting hams; some bigger dishes called raciones, similar in size to what you’d see in tapas bars elsewhere in Spain; and a big steak (Txuleton).

Zurito’s back dining room. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

About those hams: There’ll always be something on the approachable end, like a serrano, says Bissonnette. But for those ready to explore the world of funkier hams, work your way up to, say, acorn-fed jamón known as bellota.

Spicy Spanish sausage and pimientos rellenos de bacalao (salt cod-stuffed piquillo peppers) at Zurito. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

As for the Txuleton, that’s a hallmark of the region. At restaurants there, you’ll often see “some sort of big steak, usually cooked on the plancha or the grill with just salt, usually pretty rare,” says Bissonnette. (At Zurito, diners can choose the doneness—“I don’t want to force people to eat things they don’t want to eat”—but lean on the rarer side if you want the full San Sebastián vibe.) Zurito’s Txuleton is a 32-ounce bone-in ribeye, but there’s also the Txuleta for daintier appetites, a 12-ounce boneless version. Each comes with fries, and the bigger one also comes with kimchi—“pretty much the only culture collaboration that we have on the menu,” says Bissonnette, noting that on his most recent trip to Spain, he tried so much steak that he craved something acidic and spicy to cut the richness.

Zurito’s back dining room. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Aside from the kimchi, the menu is quite traditional and “pretty straightforward,” says Bissonnette. “The same way that we did with [the group’s Korean restaurant] Somaek, I want to pay homage and respect the culture and the food.”

Zurito’s gin and tonic with herbs and spices. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Like Somaek, named for a Korean soju-and-beer cocktail, Zurito is a drinking reference—in this case, it’s the name for the bar-hopping-friendly small pour of beer you might order in a pintxo bar. So, it’s unsurprising that Zurito’s team pays a lot of attention to the beverage selection, which includes a big wine-by-the-bottle list of 400 international selections under general manager and director wine Nader Asgari-Tari, who also worked at Bin 26.

Jamón on the zinc bar at Zurito. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

There are plenty of Spanish selections on the wine list, particularly by the glass, from Spanish Basque Country’s famous txakoli, a lightly sparkling dry white wine, to southern Spanish reds, to Valdespino sherry from Andalusia. But it’s not meant to be a hyper-regional list; it globe-trots, especially in the bottle selection. “That’s what’s cool about San Sebastián,” says Bissonnette. “You go into a place and look at the wine menu, and you’re like, ‘Where are you hiding all of these gems?’ You just see that they celebrate awesomeness, so that’s what we want to do.”

Zurito, with a wall painted to look like stonework by local artist Mark Grundig. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

There’s just a bit of beer—and, naturally, diners can order the draft selection (currently Good Two Shoes Kölsch from Massachusetts-based Exhibit ‘A’ Brewing) via zurito. For those in the mood for liquor, BCB3’s spirits director Oscar Simoza oversees a cocktail list that emphasizes low-ABV drinks inspired by northern Spain, such as 50/Cincuenta, olive oil vodka with red pepper shrub and Iberico oil, and Rojo, Eso Sí Que Es, gin with ginger liqueur, lemon, bitters, egg white, and a red wine float.

Zurito’s Campapi cocktail: Empirical Plum, orange wine, strawberry-infused Campari, and basil oil. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Zurito’s long, narrow space, with a zinc bar as the centerpiece of the front dining room, feels conducive to lively evenings. Bina and local architecture firm Bergmeyer collaborated on the design, which has lots of “nuanced details from Basque Country and San Sebastián specifically,” says Bissonnette, including red and green touches as a nod to the Basque flag. Some of Bina’s own photographs from the region decorate a wall of the back dining room, and they’re for sale, with proceeds going towards charity. “When a Basque person comes in here, I want them to be like, ‘Fuck yeah!’” says Bissonnette. (Indeed, several stopped to check out the space during staff training and said that it “feels right, looks right,” he says.)

Pulpo plantxa, a ración at Zurito: griddled octopus with fingerling potato and pimentón de la vera. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Anything else diners should know before heading over? “I’m still excited for the anchovies,” says Bissonnette, with a laugh.

Garbanzo con chorizo, a ración at Zurito: chickpea and chorizo stew with boiled egg and green onion. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Zurito (styled ZURiTO) is currently open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday, with reservations available via Resy. 26 Charles St., Beacon Hill, Boston, zuritoboston.com.

Ham and porrones in front of the ikurrina flag of the Basque Country Autonomous Community of Spain. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal