Cambridge Cocktail Bar Brick & Mortar to Become Italian Aperitivo Bar
Owners Avery Appleton and Gary Strack are revamping the acclaimed 13-year-old spot into Acqua & Bocca, debuting in early 2025.
Acqua & Bocca. / Photo by Humar Miranda
Pour one out for hidden upstairs cocktail haven Brick & Mortar, a Central Square staple with sneakily good food—it’s closing sometime in the coming weeks after 13 years. But it’s not really goodbye, as wife-and-husband owners Avery Appleton and Gary Strack have a new project up their sleeves for the same space: Acqua & Bocca, debuting around January 2025. The intimate Italian bar will pay homage to apericena culture—think aperitivo hour, but with more food.
“The public is looking for aperitivo culture,” says Strack. “A looser, less expensive way to dine that still has style and is chef-focused, with lower-ABV drinks, organic and biodynamic wines.”
But more than that, this is a very personal project for the duo, particularly Appleton, as it draws from her Italian heritage. “She has spent years living in Florence with her aunt Jodi and uncle Sergio, helping with their olive trees and vineyards,” says Strack. Through Sergio, the renowned Harry’s Bar Firenze (Florence) is in Appleton’s blood; Sergio’s father, Enrico Mariotti, opened it in the 1950s, and the family owned it until the late 1990s. While the Florence bar is not a direct offshoot of the celebrity hot spot and Bellini birthplace Harry’s Bar Venice, which opened in 1931, Strack says that Mariotti had worked with Giuseppe Cipriani, owner of the Venetian spot, who “with great affection insisted that Enrico call his bar Harry’s Bar as well.”
Appleton’s family has Mariotti’s original, handwritten notebooks dating back to the 1930s, detailing bar techniques and recipes. “A treasure for cocktail enthusiasts,” says Strack, noting that the familial Harry’s Bar connection “just seemed like an inescapable legacy for us to attack at some point.”
When Appleton’s heritage and modern Italian drinking culture combine at Acqua & Bocca, the beverage program will be more of an evolution of Brick & Mortar’s than a replacement, says Strack. “The bar staff and the dedication to craft will continue, but the actual drinks will lean in this new Italian direction.” The focus: aperitivi, low-ABV spirits, and natural wines, all meant to complement “honest Italian cooking.”
Avery Appleton, an alum of No. 9 Park and Craigie Street Bistrot, in the kitchen at the forthcoming Acqua & Bocca. / Photo by Humar Miranda
“The Italian influence on global cocktail culture cannot be overstated,” says Strack. “Many fundamental cocktail ingredients—vermouth, amari, various liqueurs—and numerous classic cocktail recipes originated in Italy. We are exploring this now through Avery’s family’s central role in the development of this culture at Harry’s Bar Firenze.”
As for the “cena” (dinner) part of apericena, there’ll be plenty of that. Strack describes the contemporary Italian dining trend—popular in urban centers like Milan and Turin—as an extended happy hour that goes heavier on food than a traditional Italian aperitivo hour, with items such as pizzas, pastas, and more. While he’s not ready to share too many menu details yet, Strack mentions his excitement for al taglio pizza, a Roman street food with a high-hydration, long-fermentation dough that yields a light crust and toppings that “vary wildly and are more complicated and nuanced,” he says. “I only know a few places in the US that are making pizza in this style.”
Whatever the menu, don’t expect anything overly fussy. “When we are in Italy, we eat really simply,” says Strack. “A lot of places we go to have been in the family and passed down for generations. It’s unlikely to see more than three or four ingredients on a plate at a time. Although in Central Square we have bounced around with different concepts, as chefs we feel part of this tradition.” (The duo previously owned, among other projects, Central Kitchen, which operated in the same building downstairs from 2000 to 2020, serving farm-to-table bistro fare.)
Look for the debut of Acqua & Bocca around January 2025. Appleton and Strack are currently running a campaign via NuMarket to help fund the project; contributors get back 120% of what they put in in the form of credits that can be used at the business.
There isn’t an exact closing date on the books for Brick & Mortar just yet, but Strack recommends stopping by before the new year “if you want your favorite Brick & Mortar cocktail, or to say goodbye to the old space.”
Acqua & Bocca. / Photo by Humar Miranda
567 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge.
