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Tavern Road Is Closing in Fort Point

August 26 is the final day

Tavern Road interior
Tavern Road
Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Tavern Road will close later this month, the Fort Point restaurant announced today. Located at 343 Congress St., Tavern Road opened in early 2013 and has been an important part of the neighborhood’s growth over the past four years, from its well-loved bar scene to its approachable menu, spanning charcuterie and “nose-to-tail” cooking, global small plates, and more.

After four years in business, Tavern Road will close for good on 8/26. Tavern Road has been a family operation since day one. It began with myself & Michael, and evolved into a tight knit team. We’ve had incredible highs, devastating lows & a whole lot of laughter. Most of all, we’ve stuck together and worked hard everyday to bring inventive cuisine, creative cocktails & a sense of community to the Fort Point neighborhood. We’d like to thank Fort Point for embracing us. Our local suppliers whose products allowed our dishes and drinks to shine. The artists who transformed our space into one that truly connected with the roots of the artists community. We’d like to thank the late, great, Ryan McGrale for laying the groundwork for one of Boston’s most celebrated bar programs, and Tenzin Samdo for honoring Ryan’s legacy and breathing new life into our bar. We’d like to thank every bartender who followed in their footsteps -- pushing the boundaries of their craft and delighting our customers. We’d like to thank our team of managers, servers, and hosts for taking great care of every customer who walked through the door and keeping our little operation moving along each day. From Grazielle to Jon Rogers & Carlos Duarte we were very lucky to have such dedicated, caring, thoughtful and driven people working along side us. We’d like to thank our kitchen crew, who took our philosophy of “globally inspired, locally sourced” to heart. Our kitchen was a place to teach & learn. It was about long standing relationships with Rudi, Marcello & Adam that started at Sel de la Terre many years ago. Ken Rogers grew his own company out of here. We turned Derek White, an accountant of all things, into a sous chef. It was always about allowing cooks to discover who they were & what they could become. Thank you for giving me your best everyday. And finally, we’d like to thank our guests. It’s been our pleasure to serve you and to share this journey with you. We’ll be throwing a few parties before we close for good & we’ll announce more details soon. We hope to see you all one last time. Thank you for an amazing four years. ❤️ Louis, Michael & the TR family

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Brothers Louis and Michael DiBiccari, both alums of Sel de la Terre, are behind the restaurant, serving as chef and general manager respectively. Tavern Road pays tribute in a number of ways to the brothers’ uncle Adio, whose sculpting studio was located on Boston’s Tavern Road. The restaurant is also decorated with artistic homages to Adio, particularly the dining room’s 30-foot mural, inspired by Adio’s body of work. It was painted by Josh Falk, Dana Woulfe, and Kenji Nakayama, members of Fort Point-based art collective Project Super Friends.

The restaurant underwent some conceptual changes throughout its four years. For the first few years, for example, it had a lunchtime takeout offshoot called TR Street Foods located in a small adjacent space, serving street foods with inspiration from around the globe. But TR Street Foods closed in late 2015, and Tavern Road itself started serving a more street food-oriented menu.

One constant was Tavern Road’s beloved bar scene. The late Ryan McGrale, an alum of No. 9 Park, was beverage director from the opening until his death in November 2015. His cocktail program included local sourcing, cocktail flights, and “cocktails from friends,” recipes from bartenders around the country. Boston-based wine start-up Second Glass collaborated on Tavern Road’s opening wine list, and the craft beer selection was limited to bottles, no taps. Trade alum Tenzin Samdo stepped into the beverage director role in mid-2016; he is currently transitioning into his new role as beverage director at Cafe ArtScience in Cambridge.

While saying goodbye to Tavern Road, Louis DiBiccari is also gearing up for his sixth annual CREATE Boston event, which has been growing by the year. This year, it’s at the Boston Innovation and Design Center on September 10. CREATE Boston began as an event where six chefs collaborated to create a dish inspired by the work of six local artists, and year by year, it has evolved with the addition of bartenders, musicians, and more.

Tavern Road Coverage on Eater [EBOS]

Tavern Road

343 Congress St, Boston, MA 02210 617 790 0808