Summer’s big hits
The calendar has it otherwise, but Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start to summer — the season of frozen cocktails, lobster rolls, and burgers and hot dogs fresh off the grill. It is also fleeting, though, especially in New England, so make the most of it by saving this bucket list of refreshing new dishes and drinks around Boston that will spice up your summer nights or cool you down when the sidewalks steam.
IKEA veggie dog at Boston Calling
Come for the music, stay for the debut of the popular furniture store’s vegetarian hot dog topped with pickled red cabbage and onions. Besides offerings from excellent local restaurants such as Tiger Mama and Puritan & Company, Boston Calling — a Memorial Day weekend music festival packed with acts like the Killers, Eminem and Tyler, the Creator — will host an “IKEA Food Lab” installation, offering sneak peeks at the future culinary endeavors of a brand known nearly as much for its Swedish meatballs as its build-your-own credenzas. If you snooze, you’ll lose; the dog won’t hit IKEA stores until August 2019. Harvard Athletic Complex, Allston; bostoncalling.com.
Wood-grilled nachos at Backyard Betty’s
This retro-cool South Boston newcomer, which opened Friday, focuses on chef-spun takes on classic American cookout favorites. The 1970s auto-garage-inspired restaurant features as its centerpiece a custombuilt, 6-foot-long woodburning grill imbuing smoky flavor to pizzas and other plates, such as nosh-worthy (and gluten-free!) nachos topped with fixings like pulled pork. No cooking-out required. 170 W. Broadway, South Boston; backyard bettys.com.
“Luau Libations” at Tiki Rock
If a summer vacation to Polynesia isn’t in your budget, hit the Financial District’s transportive Tiki Rock bar, opened in January, where after-work crowds de-stress over tropical tipples like the potent, oneper-customer Rum Barrel and the communal, fourstraw Ohana Punch, filled with vodka, Aperol and passion fruit. It’s a kicky, slightly kitschy new watering hole. 2 Broad St.; tikirock.com
Crispy buffalo oysters at Rebel’s Guild
Sure, you could slurp down the fresh-shucked oysters you’ll find at every raw bar. But spice up your summer with the fried Buffalo-style versions, bedecked with blue cheese and seaweed, found at this just-opened nouveau-New England restaurant inside Revere Hotel Boston. Afterward, hit the rooftop pool scene for frose and dollar oysters (Mondays 5-7 p.m.). 200 Stuart St.; reverehotel. com.
“Wiener Wednesdays” at Lincoln Tavern and Restaurant
Nothing beats a simple Fenway Frank during a summer night at the stadium. Southie’s buzzy Lincoln, though, throws out plenty of welcome curveballs for its hump-day specials. Every week sees a Wagyu beef dog spun in inventive directions — from a “Gyro Dog,” topped with tahini aioli, feta and roasted garlic hummus, to a “Brunch Dog” loaded with bacon, fried egg and crispy hash browns. 425 W. Broadway, South Boston; lincolnsouth boston.com. Ceviche at Celeste
Since opening in March, this intimate Peruvian operation in Somerville, which started life as a pop-up dinner series at its owners’ home, has become a wordof-mouth hit among in-theknow diners. There’s a lot to love, from steamed fish to stir-fried beef entrees, but the standout ceviche — blue cod dressed with leche de tigre — is particularly perfect for summer: light, fresh and flavorful. 21 Bow St., Somerville; celeste unionsquare.com
Lobster roll at Cusser’s Roast Beef & Seafood
You’ve got to be multifaceted to make it in today’s restaurant landscape. Witness: Mooncusser Fish House, which opened last summer as a fine dining restaurant. It quickly spawned Moon Bar, a more casual, complementary space. And this month, along came Cusser’s, a walkup takeout window for lunch options inspired by seafood shack classics. Chef Carolyn Johnson still delivers highquality iterations, though, like a succulent lobster roll served hot with beurre rouge or cold with tarragon mayo. 304 Stuart St.; mooncusserfishhouse.com Nori tacos at Hojoko Summer peeve: seaweed strewn on beaches. Summer perk: seaweed used for crispy nori taco shells, filled with superfresh tuna, yuzu pickled onion, avocado and an aji amarillo vinaigrette at Hojoko, a colorful and quirky izakaya at the rock ’n’ rollthemed Verb Hotel. They’re available in limited quantities daily, so order up before you take them out to laze by the hotel’s (seaweedfree) swimming pool. 1271 Boylston St.; hojokoboston.com.
Baked stuff lobster at Pier 6 and New Englandstyle clambake at ReelHouse
What beats grazing your way through a summer block party? Applying that progressivedining principle to these sibling spots, sited on either side of Boston Harbor but linked by a free water shuttle service that ushers guests between Charlestown’s Pier 6 — where baked lobster is stuffed with scallops, shrimp and spinach — and Eastie’s ReelHouse, where you’ll find a clambake overflowing with mussels, chorizo and more in a lobster broth. 1 Eighth St., Charlestown; pier6boston. com; 6 New St., East Boston; reelhouseboston.com. Crudo at Eventide Fenway This counterservice spinoff of the James Beard awardwinning original restaurant in Portland, Maine, may have switched up the format, but the food is still wowworthy. Besides a signature oyster bar with accouterments like kimchi ice, the crudo is killer — especially Hamachi with salted cherry blossom and shallot, a light surfcentric alternative to the heavy beerbar grub found on Fenway turf. 1321 Boylston St.; eventideoysterco.com.
“Boozeshakes” at Best Burger Bar
When you need a break from manning the grill, snap up dryaged, quarterpound beef patties at this Brookline joint, where they’re topped with nomnom notions like black truffle foie gras mousse. Wash them down with adult milkshakes like the Pink Cadillac: strawberry ice cream spiked with creme de rose, white creme de cacao and rose syrup. You won’t find that at a barbecue in the ’burbs. 195 Washington St., Brookline; bestburger bar.com.
Fried chicken at Highland Fried
For years, fried chicken was a famous Monday night special at Somerville’s Southernstyle Highland Kitchen. In December, its fans’ prayers were answered when Highland Fried opened in Cambridge’s Inman Square, offering buildyourown buckets — choose from drumsticks, thighs, breasts and more — along with sides like gumbo, barbecue platters, and a tropical tiki cocktail list in quirky digs with a jukebox and pool table. 1271 Cambridge St., Cambridge; highlandfried.com. Seafood boils at Bootleg Special
Cajunstyle seafood boils — spicy broth bowls of crab legs, crawfish, headon shrimp and more, cracked and eaten by hand — have been a marvelous (if messy) trend of late. For a hip iteration of the idea, hit this industrialchic South End spot, offering them with multiple sauces (we love the bourbon and white wine “Moonshine” style), plus po’ boys and beignets in a streetartfilled space that feels like New Orleans meets New York. 400 Tremont St., South End; bootleg special.com.
“RoofTOP Chefs” at the Colonnade Hotel
The Back Bay hotel’s 12thstory rooftop pool reopens to guests on Friday, but mark your calendar for June 12: That’s when it revives its “roofTOP Chefs” series, ticketed events where the public can crash parties catered with cookoutstyle eats by favorite local toques like nosetotail guru Matt Jennings of Townsman (July 10) and gardenfare gourmand Mary Dumont of Cultivar (Sept. 11). 120 Huntington Ave., Back Bay; colonnadehotel.com.