National Geographic Traveller

At the tongue-in-cheek

upscale diner, jambalaya

happily shares a menu with

Korean barbecue sliders and

Thai sticky ribs

Somerville
Huge brewing tanks reach up for the roof,
a projection of Super Mario Bros blazes
against the back wall, one table turns
out to be a vintage Ms Pacman arcade
game, and art is displayed above a fridge
stocked with four-packs of beer. AERONAUT
BREWING COMPANY is a microbrewery, a
bar and a whole lot more. Located inside
a hangar-sized former envelope factory,
the brewing operation has expanded to
be what the barman calls “an incubator
for lots of food-based businesses”. So also
thrown in are chocolate-makers, a coffee-
roaster and a tiny restaurant with just 20
stools surrounding a central bar area. That
TASTING COUNTER — a ticket-only tasting-
menu dining experience — happens to be
the hottest meal in town right now speaks
volumes for how Somerville has come on.
Once dubbed ‘Slummerville’, the area
(also, technically, an independent city) has
one of the youngest populations in the States
and seems to be hogging all the big new
restaurant openings in the Boston area.
The renaissance started when the Red
Line of ‘The T’ subway system extended to
Davis Square in 1984. Now the square has
thoroughly gentrified, but with an impish

twist. The DAVIS SQUARE THEATRE advertises

‘shit-faced Shakespeare’ and ‘dirty Disney’,

while the speakeasy-style SALOON bar next

to it is drowning in sumptuous wood-

panelling, old-style gentlemanly class and

inventive cocktails.

Slightly further down Elm Street, amid

a sea of globe-spanning eateries, there’s

ROSEBUD AMERICAN KITCHEN & BAR. It

has a vintage rail car out front that’s been

converted into a tongue-in-cheek upscale

diner where jambalaya (Cajun rice and meat

dish) happily shares a menu with Korean

barbecue sliders and Thai sticky ribs.

But Davis Square is no longer an island.

Clusters of top eating and drinking spots

are now found all over Somerville, with

UNION SQUARE the uppity young challenger

for the crown.

Here, on a Saturday afternoon, a farmers’

market sets up out front and restaurant-bar

BRONWYN serves up hefty doses of pork, to

be washed down with an extensive list of

Central European beers. In the beer garden,

there doesn’t appear to be a single person

over the age of 35. But no one’s here because

they want to be part of a scene — it’s just

an enjoyable place to hang out. And that’s

Somerville through and through.

BRITISH AIRWAYS HOLIDAYS offers seven nights

at the Royal Sonesta Boston, in Cambridge, including

return flights from London, from £754 per person.

ba.com

CLOCKWISE: Aeronaut Brewing

Company founders Dan Rassi,

Ronn Friedlander and Ben

Holmes; meat platter with

sauerkraut and potatoes plus

a giant pretzel, roasted apple

mustard and beer, Bronwyn;

Rosebud American Kitchen & Bar

November 2016 59

NEIGHBOURHOOD