Restaurants

5 restaurant openings we’re excited about in June

Boston-area openings include a new listening bar in Fort Point and a Mediterranean cafe-market concept in Cambridge.

By Jillian Dara

May 31, 2024

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As Boston warms up for summer, so does its restaurant scene as an abundance of openings come to town. This month, a popular ramen chain opens its first location in Massachusetts, a new listening bar with New England style opens in Fort Point and a Mediterranean cafe-market concept debuts in Cambridge. Here are five restaurants we can’t wait to try in June.

Amba

This forthcoming Mediterranean cafe from Chef Will Gilson’s Cambridge Hospitality Group will be part of the new, multi-purpose First Street Market — also featuring a weekly, year-round indoor farmers market, functional demonstration bar and community space. Named after a famed sauce originating in India before evolving through the Middle East, Amba is a celebration of unique flavors following that journey. The signature menu item will be a spiced rotisserie chicken served with a variety of condiments as well as farm-fresh dishes, while in the morning, Chef Brian Mercury is responsible for the daily prepared and rotating pastries that will be served alongside La Colombe coffee. The Market will feature local vendors offering seasonal produce, meat and bread (which will also be featured on the menu at Amba) as well as keepsakes like fresh bouquets of flowers and artisanal crafts. Come the holidays, the space will transform into a festive market where guests can sip and shop — pick up a cocktail at Amba then explore the stalls.

55 First St., Cambridge

Opens: early June

Headroom Hi-Fi 

Perceived as a subset to the coffeehouses, or kissa, of 1950s Tokyo, HiFi listening bars have gained popularity across the globe in recent years. Now, in Boston, on the second floor of Trillium Fort Point, comes Headroom, a space dedicated to curated vinyls and cocktails featuring Trillium’s housemade spirits. The listening room includes a focal point DJ booth with two turntables and a Mcintosh tube amp, which promises its namesake: a high-fidelity sound experience. There will also be New England-inspired cuisine available for a prolonged affair, including scallop crudo ($14), deviled eggs with charred onion ash and chicken cracklings ($8), and a spring lamb with roasted carrots, feta sumac yogurt and a mint chimichurri ($28). Cocktails will feature Trillium’s gin, vodka, rum and amari with a playful take on classic cocktails like the Maraud for Ears, using Trillium’s bergamot-infused gin and Agrumi amaro with cask smoke ($15) as a take on a negroni or the Ohm, mimickng a margarita with agave, orange liqueur and Trillium’s house Pilsner ($15). While Tokyo’s kissa traditionally employ a no talking rule, Headroom is a listening lounge that will encourage group listening but also conversing over cocktails to maintain Trillium’s mission to bring more people together. 

50 Thomson Place, Seaport

Now Open

Kyuramen

This renowned Japanese ramen joint just expanded to Massachusetts at the end of May bringing with it some of its most delicious recipes, including the signature spicy miso ramen, as well as new items – the first location to introduce new dishes for the brand. These include: New Yin-Yang Bowl, with two signature flavors in one bowl; Omurice with fluffy eggs and specialized sauces; and the Honey Comb Platter, inspired by their honeycomb seating with a variety of small bites perfect for sharing with a group. Spread over 1,980-square-feet, there’s plenty of room for guests in the dining room as well as at the 10-seat noodlebar and 26-seat patio. Kyuramen makes the dine-in experience interactive with their “New Bowl Lottery Game,” giving customers the chance to win free items upon finding a red stamp at the bottom of their soup bowl.

1008 A Beacon St., Brookline

Now Open

The Vermilion Club

After opening The Lineup in downtown Boston’s Winthrop Center, John Fraser strikes yet again with a new take that modernizes the classic chophouse experience. The Michelin-starred chef reimagines classics at The Vermilion Club – differing from the more casual offerings at The Lineup food hall. While details are still hushed for the Winthrop’s second floor, we are told the cocktail program will be one to watch. According to the Boston Globe, expect “a 70-plus-drink cocktail menu, an Iberico pork bacon burger with mustard-stewed melted onions, or a large-format porterhouse.”

115 Federal St., Downtown Boston

Opens: June 11

The Red Fox Lounge & Restaurant

Name a better duo than carbs and martinis — that’s what it’s all about at the North End’s soon-to-be newest restaurant, The Red Fox Lounge & Restaurant. The ruby interiors offer a retro, nostalgic twist to the other Italian haunts of the neighborhood but the team behind the opening, The All Day Hospitality Group, assures it will still offer classic flavors. Director of operations Mike Wyatt told Boston.com: “We’re bringing back some of the old school, but done really well.” He teased handmade pastas, specially imported ingredients directly from Italy (lemons from the Amalfi coast and wildflower honey from Tuscany) and perfectly made martinis, both traditional, as well as popular styles like dirty and espresso and even untraditional takes like a cacio e pepe martini. Speaking of martinis, there will be a hidden cocktail lounge tucked off the main dining room that’s dedicated to sipping martinis in style. This exclusive room will be what Farmacia is to Ciao Roma — two of six of All Day Hospitality Group’s other restaurants — its own entity, not necessarily Italian and small bites will be on deck. 

326 Commercial St., North End

Opens: mid-June