What to Eat (and Drink) This Weekend
Free Coffee!
Pemberton Farms will have free drip coffee on Friday, September 29, joining the likes of Longfellows, Coppersmith Café, and more in celebrating #NationalCoffeeDay. Sure, it’s a made-up holiday, but who can say no to free joe?
Pemberton Farms Marketplace, 2225 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-491-2244, pembertonmarketplace.com.
A selection of doughnuts, Green Eggs + Ham Benedict at Trade brunch. / Photos provided
Baklava Pop Tarts, Green Eggs and Ham Benedict, and a Tomatillo Bloody Mary
For the first time in its six years on the Greenway, Trade is offering brunch. Chef Cory Seeker’s new menu has flatbreads, raw bar offerings, and other things you’d expect from Jody Adams’ downtown hotspot, along with an array of house-made baked goods and other breakfasty-lunchy pleasures. Start sweet with a baklava “pop tart,” or maybe one of the doughnuts of the day. Updated classics in the entrée realm include brown butter lobster roll sliders with aleppo pepper, sweet potato latkes, and “poached eggs in Purgatory,” with cherry tomatoes, Calabrian chili, toasted brioche, and Parmesan. The full bar is on, of course, and there are a few new brunch drinks, like a bloody Mary riff with roasted tomatillos, and Chaider in the Rye, with local apple cider, chai spices, and rye whiskey. Brunch continues every weekend, and reservations are accepted.
Saturday and Sunday beginning September 30, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 540 Atlantic Ave., Boston, 617-451-1234, trade-boston.com.
The Bee’s Knees
Without pesky little pollinators, we would not have the deliciously simple Barr Hill Gin from Caledonia Spirits. There is so much more in our agricultural landscape that bees help protect, from coffee to apples to late summer dahlias, yet the buzzing species is threatened in many ways. Barr Hill relies on bees for the raw honey that is the basis of its decorated gin, which in turn is the Vermont company’s “ode to the hardworking bees of the Northeast.” This week, bars around the country are taking part in Bee’s Knees Week, a Barr Hill and Liquor.com effort to save the bees. Find riffs on the Prohibition-era classic Bee’s Knees cocktail (gin, honey, lemon), like the Bee’s Needs at Toro, Son of a Bee Sting at Backbar, Funny Honey at Spoke Wine Bar, and more around the state—every bar is donating to Barr Hill’s pollinator partners. The sweet fundraiser ends Sunday, October 1.
Photo by Emily Sotomayor for “At ReelHouse, a View to Dine For“
Bratwurst, Apple Strudel, and Beers with a View
Oktoberfest season continues this weekend at Five Horses Tavern, Bronwyn, and even the Urban Grape bottle shop. Plus, a new restaurant hosts its first ever Volksfest on Saturday—and it comes with a view. ReelHouse in East Boston will have an inflatable pub (!) pop-up care of Cisco Brewers, plus beer samples from Mystic, Castle Island, Night Shift, and Magic Hat, as well as Downeast Cider. Chef Marc Orfaly is making a menu of festive bites, including pretzels and beer cheese, grilled brats and grainy mustard, braised pork shanks and potato salad, and apple and walnut strudel a la mode.
$10, Saturday, September 30, 1-5 p.m., ReelHouse, 6 New St., East Boston, 617-895-4075, reelhouseboston.com, Eventbrite.
Spent Grain Crackers, and the Beer That Made Them
Chef Kyle Fiasconaro makes addictively delicious crackers using grains leftover from the beer-making process. On Sunday, he’s making a mean menu to pair with them at Lamplighter Brewing Co., one of the companies that shares their spent grain with him. Find specials like carrot salami, smoked bluefish pâté, Cutty’s pimento cheese, and more.
Sunday, October 1, 5-9 p.m., Lamplighter Brewing Co., 284 Broadway, Cambridge, lamplighterbrewing.com, brewerscrackers.com.
