A lot of people dream of traveling to Europe. There’s great food, great drinks, great people, berets, baguettes and cigarettes— and that’s just France! Well hold on to your baseball caps, because you can travel to Europe by hopping on the Orange Line to Bar Mercato, a European-inspired food hall, which recently opened its doors inside the new Hyatt Centric Hotel.
Euro-centric food hall, Bar Mercato, opens in Boston
The new restaurant is the brain child of the Trio Restaurant Group’s Teodora Bakardzhieva, Jairo Dominguez and Theo Bougas. Bar Mercato is not the only restaurant on their resume; the restaurant joins Allston’s new Casa Caña Latin kitchen and rum bar, Publico Street Bistro and Backyard Betty’s.
Married couple Bakardzhieva and Dominguez are quite the team, basing their latest venture on public markets and food halls from their European travels. The restaurant follows a familiar theme of trendy food halls that have sprouted in Boston as of late. In European culture, visiting a food hall or open air market is a social event. The owners hope to mimic this feeling with Bar Mercato.
The restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner with classic European flair. Former Post 390 executive sous chef, Casey J. Lovell is commanding the kitchen, offering a modern interpretation of cuisine found in food halls and farmers’ markets. This means a range of snacks, small plates and entrees, all with quality ingredients.
The breakfast menu includes scotch eggs, Eggs Benedict, frittatas, omelettes and more. The lunch menu includes a lamb gyro, a porchetta sandwich, a herring BLT and house-made fettuccine, while the dinner menu boasts blue fish gravlax, a steak tartare, a Fig & Pig flatbread and many more options.
Bar Mercato also has a grab-and-go café counter in the hotel lobby with pastries, snacks and a full coffee menu. In classic European style, the coffee counter will also serve wine, beer and vermouth. Why have only coffee or booze when you could have both?
Speaking of booze, Bakardzhieva is also the mastermind behind the drink menu of the restaurant. Her beverages include a selection of wine and beer across Europe and the United States. She also includes a large selection of original cocktails such as Lady of Versailles (Bombay Gin), St. Germain (cardamom, lemon, bubbly) and Greece Lightning (Grey Goose Vodka, fernet, espresso, mint, and a Greek liqueur, mastiha). The drink menu features a selection of vermouths and Italian spirits as well, if you’re feeling fancy.
Bar Mercato has an open floor plan, with an 18-seat bar through the restaurant. The 48-seat dining room is adorned with worn furniture invoking a homey feeling. The owners clearly put great thought and care into transporting guests across the sea without ever leaving Boston.
The Hyatt Centric Hotel will begin booking on Mar. 3. Currently, Bar Mercato serves breakfast daily from 7 a.m.-11 a.m.; lunch until 3 p.m.; snacks at the bars between 3 p.m.- 5p.m.; and dinner until 10:30 p.m. on week days and 11 p.m. on weekends. The coffee counter is open daily from 6:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
If you go: 54 Devonshire St., Boston, barmercato.com
