Check Out the Food Hall-Inspired Menu at Bar Mercato
The globe-trotting restaurant opens this weekend at the Hyatt Centric Faneuil Hall hotel.
Brick chicken with herb-roasted fingerling potatoes from the Bar Mercato dinner menu.
A world of new flavor is about to be unleashed near Faneuil Hall. Bar Mercato, the European food hall-inspired latest from Trio Restaurant Group, opens Friday, Feb. 22, inside the new Hyatt Centric Faneuil Hall hotel. Check out the menus below for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks at Boston’s latest all-day dining destination.
Teodora Bakardzhieva, Jairo Dominguez, and Theo Bougas are the trio behind Bar Mercato, which joins Allston’s new Casa Caña Latin kitchen and rum bar in Trio’s restaurant portfolio. (The group also helped to open Publico Street Bistro and Backyard Betty’s, but it is no longer involved in either South Boston restaurant.) The concept for the Faneuil Hall food hall stems from married couple Bakardzhieva and Dominguez’s globe-trotting travels. From Bakardzhieva’s native Bulgaria, to Greece, to Spain, and elsewhere, the couple enjoys scoping out the local markets “because it’s a way to try so many different things,” Bakardzhieva previously told Boston.
Former Post 390 executive sous chef Casey J. Lovell is at the helm of the new kitchen. The Vermont native and New England Culinary Institute grad offers a modern interpretation of the fare found in food stalls and farmers’ markets around Europe. That means a range of snacks, small plates, and entrées for Bar Mercato, executed with classic technique and quality ingredients. In addition to full-service breakfast and weekend brunch, weekday lunch and nightly dinner, Bar Mercato also has a grab-and-go café counter adjacent to the restaurant (in the hotel lobby) with pastries, snacks, and a full Fazenda Coffee menu. From 7 p.m. until close each night, the coffee counter will also serve wine, beer, and vermouth.
Bakardzhieva is the drinksmith of the restaurant group. Her newest beverage program curates a selection of wine and beer from Europe and the U.S., plus Euro-tripping, original cocktails such as Lady of Versailles, with Bombay Gin, St. Germain, cardamom, lemon, and bubbly; and Greece Lighting, with Grey Goose Vodka, fernet, espresso, mint, and the Greek liqueur mastiha. There is a strong selection of vermouths and Italian spirits for apertif-style libations, as well.
Bar Mercato has an open floor plan designed by local architecture firm Arrowstreet, with eclectic and Old World-charming yet contemporary design details. An 18-seat bar bends through the entire restaurant, and weathered-looking tables in the 48-seat dining room are meant to invoke the warmly worn look of furniture that’s hosted countless meals with family and friends. The rich ochre, burgundy, and emerald green color scheme is a subtle homage to an Irish pub; and plaid banquettes recall vintage suitcase lining. Distressed paneling, copper and mixed metal accents, and worldly curios fill the space.
Hyatt Centric Faneuil Hall is now booking stays beginning March 3. Starting Friday, Feb. 22, Bar Mercato will serve breakfast daily from 7-11 a.m., then lunch until 3 p.m.; merienda (snacks) at the bar between 3-5 p.m., then dinner until 10:30 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends. Café counter-service is available daily from 6:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Weekend brunch service will start in the coming weeks. Dining reservations are now available—no passport required.
54 Devonshire St., Boston, 617-720-4900, barmercato.com.
Pickled herring BLT on sourdough from the Bar Mercato dinner menu. / Photos provided
Bacon-wrapped dates with bleu cheese and orange glaze from the Bar Mercato dinner menu. / Photos provided
Bar Mercato’s married co-owners, Teodora Bakardzhieva and Jairo Dominguez, at their Allston restaurant Casa Cana. / Portrait by Jenna Skutnik for “Obsessions“
