Idle Hour Opens This Week in Quincy Center

The retro cocktail bar's menu is familiar but funky, with global riffs on drinks-friendly food.

By Jacqueline Cain· 8/20/2018, 4:07 p.m.

The bar at Idle Hour was full during a recent friends-and-family service. / Photos by Kerry Byrne

By the time the weekend rolls around again, Quincy Center will have a cool new bar to while away the time. Idle Hour opens this week with imaginative cocktails, a casual vibe, and drinks-friendly food like wings, mozzarella sticks, sliders, and more with a twist.

Idle Hour is the ownership debut from Mathew Freid, formerly of Boston restaurants the Beehive, Capo, and JM Curley. He’s signed on chef Ashley Gaboriault, a Drink alum who aspires to open the world’s first three-star Michelin dive bar; and Jackie Wells, previously of the Beehive, Foundry on Elm, and Brass Union, as bar director.

Situated on Hancock Street in between the relatively new Zef Cicchetti and Raw Bar and the second location of Vietnamese favorite Pho Pasteur, Idle Hour is only the latest exciting restaurant opening for the quickly changing Quincy Center.

The exposed brick walls seem right at home in the historic neighborhood. But design details like the teak bar and shelving, bold tropical wallpaper, and metallic starburst lights give it retro, mid-century flair.

The fare also reads familiar but funky. Gaboriault introduces just more than a dozen snacks and sandwiches, such as pimento cheese and house-made bacon crackers; a grilled peach summer salad; an arancini-mozzarella stick hybrid made of spicy Cajun risotto; house-made pasta with summer corn and red pepper pesto; griddled burgers; duck wings; and an imposing fried chicken sandwich piled into a cornbread biscuit with collard greens slaw. But the plan is to keep things seasonal, with new, globally inspired items rotating in and out regularly.

The opening drink list has something for every spirit lover, but the libations are original. The Tawny Drop is a spirit forward sipper of bourbon, Cheery Heering, yellow chartreuse, and apricot brandy; while the Tiffed Librarian sweetens vodka with grilled peach marmalade, orange liqueur, and lemon. There are 12 wines by the glass running the style gamut, and six local craft beers on draft, including, to start, a milkshake IPA—a trendy style with loaded with lactose and hops— from nearby Widowmaker Brewing. Idle Hour will get some cans of the next batch of the Braintree brewery’s new City of Presidents American Pale Ale, too.

Check out the opening food and drink menus online. Beginning Thursday, Aug. 23, the bar opens nightly at 4 p.m., with dinner on until 10:30 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, and 12:30 a.m. Thursday-Saturday. Sunday brunch is in the plans down the line.

1464 Hancock St., Quincy, 617-845-5711, idlehourquincy.com.