The Lenox Hotel Restaurants Are Reborn
An Irish pub and a cocktail bar reopen today, with a third restaurant on the way early next year.
Duxbury clams with Portuguese-style chorizo from New Bedford at Sweeney’s on Boylston. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
After a whirlwind 24 hours of remodeling, two of the Lenox Hotel’s restaurants reopen today, refreshed and ready for a new era. The space that’s housed Sólás Irish Pub for over 20 years is now Sweeney’s on Boylston, while City Bar has become the Irving at the Lenox. Much will seem familiar (including lots of longtime staffers): The former remains an Irish pub, and the latter remains a bar, but they’re managed in-house now rather than operating as part of an outside restaurant group. The hotel’s third restaurant, formerly City Table, will also be rebranded and will open early next year. Chef Daniel Kenney, an alum of the Liberty Hotel and Boston Harbor Hotel, will oversee all three new spots.
Sweeney’s on Boylston
At the Lenox’s new take on an Irish pub, New England melds with Ireland in many of the dishes. There’s the charcuterie board, for instance, dubbed the ploughman’s platter; it highlights the Stilton-like Shropshire cheese from the UK, which Kenney and the team tried on a research trip and loved. “It was calling to us to go on the menu across the pond over here,” says Kenney. On the local side of things, the board also contains New England meats and cheeses, as well as a house-made apple jam made with Honeycrisp apples from Western Massachusetts.
Shropshire cheese and house-made apple jam, part of the ploughman’s platter at Sweeney’s on Boylston. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
There’s also a corned beef and cabbage sandwich with Swiss cheese from Boggy Meadow Farm in New Hampshire, and a full Irish breakfast available at lunchtime that includes ham from a local Irish butcher and a locally made anadama bread, a historic New England bread made with molasses. “It’s really similar to a brown bread that you’d get in Ireland,” says Kenney. Another bit of New England in the breakfast? A splash of small-batch maple syrup from Vermont-based company Republic of Vermont on the otherwise traditional rashers (Irish bacon), “which makes it really yummy,” says Kenney.
On Fridays, diners will find a weekly special of pub-style Duxbury clams with Portuguese-style chorizo made in New Bedford, served in a broth of white wine, herbs, garlic, and shallots. “Tying that little bit of local into it is the best part for me,” says Kenney.
A spread of food at Sweeney’s. / Photo courtesy of the Lenox Hotel
In addition to enthusiasm for local sourcing, chef Kenney is particularly excited about doing a Sunday roast. The meat will change seasonally, but the plan is to start with a spatchcocked half chicken, brined on Saturdays and roasted on Sundays with herbs and garlic, alongside mashed potatoes and roasted garlic gravy. “We are going to have famously great Sunday roasts,” asserts Kenney.
The Irving at the Lenox
A seafood platter at the Irving, featuring house-made hot sauce and local shellfish. / Photo courtesy of the Lenox Hotel
The Lenox’s new cocktail bar, the Irving—named for Irving Saunders, the patriarch of the Lenox’s parent company, Saunders Hotel Group—is a blissfully television-free space off the hotel’s lobby. The food continues in a bit of a New England vein—see a seafood platter with Wellfleet oysters, local crab, and Maine lobster—but also draws inspiration from around the globe. It’s a nod back to the original days of the Lenox in the early 1900s, when the hotel served “a lot of interesting cuisine, not just local,” says Kenney. “It was very French, and you would also see a little bit of Asian cuisine, which was unique at the time.”
Think of the Irving as “eclectic, international, and focused on sharing,” Kenney says—more for snacking than a full meal. “This is a very transitional space: diners are off somewhere, or they came from somewhere.” That said, you could certainly make a full meal of it, from the pork belly bao to the braised short rib tacos on house-made masa tortillas. “We are blessed that one of our longtime staff members, Gabby Velasquez, comes from deep in Mexico, and she was making some beautiful handmade tortillas for staff meal,” says Kenney. “They were incredible, and now they’re on the menu.”
An espresso martini at the Irving. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
There’s also pizza “almost in the style of an elevated bar pizza,” says Kenney. The gas-fired pizza oven approximates the effect you’d get from a wood-burning oven: “You’re getting that char, you’re getting the bubbles, the nice crust on the outside.” There’s a duck confit and foie gras pizza, a vegetarian Mexican street corn pizza, a pepperoni with hot honey, and more. Again, it’s a mix of New England ingredients (New Hampshire mozzarella, for example) and well-sourced imports (semolina and San Marzano tomatoes from Italy).
The most local ingredient of all on the menu? Honey from the hotel’s own 20,000 rooftop bees. A 35-pound harvest should provide enough honey for the Irving’s cheese and charcuterie grazing board for the fall, says Kenney.
A spicy take on a Paloma at the Irving, featuring Ghost tequila, Chinola (passionfruit liqueur), and fresh grapefruit juice. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
On the cocktail side, plenty of the drinks are fairly classic: a traditional Boulevardier, an espresso martini (“they’re the pride and joy of the city, so we didn’t reinvent the wheel here,” says beverage director Cory Witt); a spicy play on a Paloma. Bits of showmanship elevate the offerings—attractive glassware, a tableside pour of that Boulevardier. There are seasonal creations, too, like the Sweater Weather, high-proof whiskey with cinnamon, maple syrup, and white crème de cacao. Liquor enthusiasts should also keep an eye out for the Lenox’s custom blends of Knob Creek and Maker’s Mark; the team has a barrel of each and is featuring the Knob Creek in a version of an Old Fashioned, says Witt.
Beverage director Cory Witt pours a Boulevardier at the Irving. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
The as-yet-unnamed third restaurant
The City Table replacement needs a bit more than a 24-hour turnaround for the remodel—including the installation of an 18-foot tree inside the restaurant—so expect a debut around February 2025. The team isn’t sharing much about the venue yet, but it’ll have “a Back Bay focus, a sense of place,” says Dan Donahue, president of Saunders Hotel Group. Industry brunch will be emphasized, and the space sounds attractive, featuring bricks, greenery, cobblestones, and an extended bar.
For now, locals and Lenox Hotel guests alike can check out the first two-thirds of the revamp, from Sunday roast and rugby matches at Sweeney’s to burgers and bourbon at the Irving. Stay tuned for part three next year.
Lenox Hotel, 61 Exeter St., Back Bay, Boston, 617-536-5300, lenoxhotel.com.
