Red Heat Tavern Has a Bedford Location in the Works

A restaurant in Wilmington known for its unique charcoal broiler oven has a second location in the works. Red Heat Tavern will open up at the redeveloped Bedford Marketplace, the Boston Globe reported. The restaurant is headed for an early November opening, marketing manager Kara Donahue Harron told Eater.

Chef Alan Frati, who opened up Red Heat Tavern with the Burtons Grill Restaurant Group about a year ago, will be splitting his time between the two locations. The second outpost will get its own Josper charcoal broiler oven, Donahue Harron said. The machine, by Wood Stone, acts like an outdoor grill, but contains the flame and ash, according to its website. "The oven gives off more of a barbecue smoking to the cooking," Donahue Harron added.

Red Heat in Bedford will have a similar, family-friendly, tavern feel as the original. It will have an open kitchen and a large bar. The menu will be the same at both restaurants. Donahue Harron said that the company is introducing a new menu this fall, which will be the opening menu in Bedford, with enhanced vegetarian options as well as gluten-free versions of most every menu item.

Red Heat Tavern has items like mesquite-smoked wings; Josper-grilled corn with ancho mayo, cotija cheese, mesquite, and grilled lime; ribs slow-cooked in a chipotle and Dr. Pepper glaze and fired in the oven; Fenway Mac with grilled Italian sausage, peppers, onions, tavern mustard and crispy onion strings; and more.

The strip mall where the new restaurant will open is on Great Road is currently undergoing an update. Anchor stores Whole Foods and Marshalls are getting new facades, a walkway has been redesigned, landscaping and parking will be improved, and bike racks will be installed. Two buildings on the campus will be demolished this fall and replaced by February, with new tenants coming in at that time, the Globe reports.