Branch Line, Harker's Watertown Venture, Seeks Management

Andrew Holden and Garrett Harker's "urban rotisserie," Branch Line, is on track for a fall 2015 opening at the Arsenal on the Charles complex, and the team is looking to add on its opening beer/wine manager and sous chef.

Branch Line was approved for a wine and malt license transfer in April, as previously reported, and the person who will be in charge of that program will have the opportunity to make it their own, as Megan Parker-Gray has at Harker's Row 34. The team is looking for someone interested and knowledgeable about beer, wine, or both, and "we can be flexible in crafting this position to the individual," the job listing says.

Branch Line's beverage list will be "classic, yet interesting, approachable, yet innovative," according to the job description.

The kitchen will have a rotisserie focus and also a wood-burning grill, the job descriptions confirm. The sous chef will be someone with "passion for food culture and hospitality," and the listing indicates that person will help lead and mentor other back-of-house teams, including butchery.

Branch Line is the first joint venture for Harker and Holden, general manager at Eastern Standard since 2006 and a Watertown native. Harker opened Eastern Standard in May 2005 and has since followed up with Island Creek Oyster Bar, the Hawthorne, Row 34, and a Row 34 outpost in Portsmouth, N.H. In addition to Branch Line, there's an ICOB in the works for Burlington, too. 

When it opens sometime this fall, Branch Line will offer year-round outdoor dining as well as a seasonal bocce court.