What to Eat (and Drink) on Memorial Day Weekend
Central Bottle has a discounted six pack of French roses on Memorial Day weekend. / Photo provided
Rosé All Day
While this weekend does not have the most summery of forecasts, it’s definitely rosé season. Prepare at Central Bottle, which has a “Chemistry Set” of six French rosé this weekend. From Chateau Grande Cassagne Costières de Nîmes, to Terra Santa Sciaccarellu “Il de Beauté,” these wines would be $83 if purchased separately, but the mix pack has a 15 percent discount. Your friends (and wallet) will thank you.
$70, Central Bottle, 196 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-225-0040, centralbottle.com.
The Tremont Street patio at Mida. / Photo provided
On the Mida Patio
Chef Douglass Williams’ six-month-old debut restaurant has some new features these days—among other menu changes, there’s the Della Casa menu. The $45 prix-fixe (with an optional $35 wine pairing add-on) is six to eight chef-selected menu items, like bucatini alle vongole with cockles, sofrito, uni butter, and ocean crumb; and charred octopus salad with pea greens, citron vinaigrette, and shaved carrot. Mida also recently unveiled a 15-seat patio on Tremont Street. Later this summer, more outdoor seating will land on Massachusetts Ave., making Mida the first Boston restaurant to have patio seating on that thoroughfare.
782 Tremont St., Boston, 617-936-3490, midaboston.com.
A Flour BLT with Two Poached Eggs
Believe it or not, you can improve the Flour BLT: Put an egg on it. Actually, two eggs. Make them poached. Genius! That’s among the new brunch menu items soft-launching at Flour in Fort Point this weekend. Joanne Chang also said to expect a patatas bravas home-fry bowl, avocado toast with green chili and cojito, French toast with blueberry compote and whipped cream, New England Charcuterie maple sausage, and more.
Available Saturdays and Sundays beginning May 27, 12 Farnsworth St., Boston, 617-338-4333, flourbakery.com.
Food Truck Fest by SoWa Sundays on Flickr / Creative Commons
A Backyard Barbecue at SoWa
Eat Boston is back with a summer-long block party series at the SoWa Beer Garden and Food Truck Bazaar. Up first, appropriately for Memorial Day, is a backyard barbecue. You favorite food trucks, like Bon Me, North East of the Border, the Bacon Truck, Compliments, Moyzilla, and more will be on site with themed specials—burgers, dogs, chicken, “it’ll get nostalgic,” says Eat Boston’s Aaron Cohen. Smuttynose and Newburyport breweries will be there both days, along with Lila Wines; Lookout Farm Hard Cider will be there Saturday, and Winter Hill Brewing is coming on Sunday. The parties continue through October, with themes like Tacopocalypse, Lobster, and more.
Backyard BBQ at SoWa Beer Garden, Saturday, May 27, and Sunday, May 28, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. both days, 530 Harrison Ave., South End, Boston, wheretoeat.in, Facebook event.
Cans of Castle Island’s Black Ale Project beer will be available at the Norwood brewery Memorial Day weekend. / Photo provided
Black Ale Project Beers
While Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, it’s also a solemn day to remember those who died in service of the United States. Here’s a celebratory way to honor them: Buy a beer. Dave Pappas, a former Marine and non-combat veteran of the Persian Gulf War, launched the Black Ale Project in 2015, an effort with Massachusetts craft brewers to raise money and awareness for U.S. war veterans. The concept is thus: Breweries create a special dark beer for the Black Ale Project, then donate all or part of the proceeds to a veterans’ charity of their choice. So far, the initiative has raised more than $11,000 for organizations like the New England Center and Home for Veterans, Veterans Inc., and the Boston chapter of Pets for Vets. Breweries can participate at any time throughout the year. Currently, a handful of local producers have Black Ale Project beers available: Idle Hands might have a bit of Check (Fund)raise still on draft still, a toasted oak- and orange peel-aged stout; True West Brewery in Acton should have its India Black Ale, Romeo Yankee Echo India Bravo Alpha (RYE IBA); Barrel House Z is pouring Colors Amber Lager aged in tequila barrels; and Castle Island has 6-pack cans available of the dry American stout, the Bravest, at its Norwood brewery. Buy a beer, help a veteran—what could be more patriotic?
Publico Chef Keenan Langlois. / Photo by Brian Samuels
Brunch at Publico
South Boston’s newest street bistro and garden is debuting the best meal of the week on Sunday. Chef Keenan Langlois’ menu is loaded with fun fare like a bag of cinnamon sugar-dusted beignets with mezcal sabayon, savory corn crêpes with guacamole and radishes, an egg-and-cheese sandwich on a duck fat biscuit, and more. The beverage program, led by co-owner Teodora Bakardzhieva, adds brunch-only sippers like the pineapple-habanero Bloody Russian Spy. Check it out in full at the bottom of this post.
Sundays beginning May 28, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 11 Dorchester St., South Boston, 617-622-5700, publicoboston.com.
The City Tap House patio hosts a Shuckfest of Memorial Day. / Photo provided
So Many Oysters
The newest beer bar in Fort Point also has a pretty fine patio. The 60-seat area at the entrance of City Tap House is covered in twinkling lights, lined with granite fire pits (and free-standing heaters, if necessary), and shaded with umbrellas. And of course, there is cornhole. On Memorial Day, enjoy it all, plus seafood specials during the summer kickoff “Shuckfest.” Along with things like $1 oysters on the half-shell, oyster shooters with St George green chili vodka, and a fried oyster po’boy, cold cans of Jack’s Abby, Newburyport, and Cisco will be popping.
Memorial Day “Shuckfest,” free admission, a la carte pricing, Monday, May 29, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., City Tap House, 10 Boston Wharf Rd., Boston, 617-904-2748, boston.citytap.com, Facebook event.
SuperFine Food chef Matthew Gaudet. / Photo provided
A Shrimp Boil
For its first Memorial Day in Manchester-by-the-Sea, chef Matthew Gaudet’s casual, beachside pizza-and-ribs joint is feeling festive. Get your hands dirty with a lowcountry boil of shrimp, clams, sausage, corn, and potatoes; plus soft-shell crabs, hush puppies, black-eyed pea salad, and celeriac remoulade. For dessert, they’re whipping up a peach sheet cake with buttercream frosting. Punch, shandies, and wine will be flowing, and it just sounds like a good time. Happy Memorial Day.
Memorial Day Grand Finale Shrimp Boil, $80 + tax and gratuity, Monday, May 29, 5 p.m. SuperFine Food, 25 Union St., Manchester-by-the-Sea, 978-526-0964, superfinefood.com, Facebook.
Publico brunch menu. / Click to view larger.
