Island Creek Oyster Bar, Row 34 Team Announce Cambridge Restaurant

Chef Jeremy Sewall. / Photo by Michael Piazza

Boston proper has a few pearls of oyster bars—B & G Oysters, Island Creek Oyster Bar, Row 34—and it seems likely Cambridge will get its own: Jeremy Sewall, Garrett Harker, Skip Bennett, and Shore Gregory, the quartet behind ICOB and Row 34, have announced plans for a Harvard Square restaurant.

The unnamed, undefined concept is slated for a winter 2016 debut.

Harker, a James Beard-nominated restaurateur, was an original partner in B & G, but Barbara Lynch bought out his stake there and he went on to develop his own growing restaurant empire with Eastern Standard, the Hawthorne, ICOB, Row 34, and Branch Line.

Harker and co. opened a second Row 34 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, last year; and a Burlington location of ICOB is in the works. A representative for the team wouldn’t confirm if the Harvard Square venture is an oyster bar, but with ICO’s founder, Bennett, and executive vice president, Gregory, on board, it’s all but certain. Executive chef Sewall’s blood runs with salt water, too; his restaurants, which also include Lineage, all showcase the bounty of New England seafood, and its purveyors.

The new concept is slated to open winter 2016 at 2 Bennett St., on the corner of Mt. Auburn Street, in the historic Conductor’s Building. New York firm Bentel & Bentel (the Modern, Eleven Madison Park, Gramercy Tavern)  is conceptualizing the design.

The new project doesn’t affect the team’s current collaborations. The suburban ICOB will open late this year.