Kendall Square Booze Crawl: There Will Be Shuffleboard, and There Will Be Science

Welcome back to Food Crawls, a series in which Eater Boston staffers guide you (virtually) on various food (and booze) crawls in the Boston area.

When we go out, we often find ourselves wanting to try more than one restaurant or bar at a time — a drink and a snack here, another drink and perhaps a dessert there — and want to share our favorite multi-stop combinations with you. These crawls are meant to be relatively walkable, and the amount of food and drink is meant to correspond roughly to a couple of average appetites (so bring a friend), although your mileage may vary. Email us if there’s a particular theme, specific dish or drink, or neighborhood you’d like to see covered in a future installment.

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Despite all the space occupied by the Googles and the Hubspots and the Genzymes and the Hüuglekrims (not a real company...yet), Kendall Square is more than just a menagerie of tech bros and evil Big Pharma types. (Though to be fair: There are a lot of tech bros and evil Big Pharma types.)

No, Kendall Square has some soul left yet, and much of that soul can be found within the walls of its many excellent food and drink establishments. For these purposes, we’ll be talking about the latter.

Start the night (or day — no one’s judging) off with some games at State Park, find time for a science experiment (or art project?) at the venue formerly known as Café ArtScience and now known as ArtScience Culture Lab & Café, and more.

Stats for this booze crawl:

• Boards thusly shuffled: Just the one, sorry
• Tech bros spotted: So, so many. We’re very sorry.
• Laboratories founded in Paris but now based in Cambridge visited: One
• Pounds of poutine eaten: At least one, but up to three

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Beer, or a Pitcher of Cocktails, at State Park

One Kendall Sq., Building 300, Lower Level, Cambridge, MA 02139

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Make State Park stop number one on this crawl, otherwise it will get too packed and playing shuffleboard (or pool) will become an impossibility. Play some sad kid music on the jukebox, order a Jack’s Abby house lager or a pitcher of Pimm’s cup, and challenge a friend to a slightly-too-competitive bar game.

A Shot and a Can at The Automatic

50 Hampshire St., Cambridge, MA 02139

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Attention, thirsty but broke folks who like the trappings of hip mid-century design but who cannot afford the luxury tax that often comes tacked onto the bills at hip, mid-century-inspired bars: Y’all can get a shot of tequila and a Tecate at the Automatic for less than six dollars. Also, it’s inarguably one of the most aesthetically pleasing spaces in Greater Boston. Also on the booze menu: frozen blue margaritas and mudslides.

Titi Monkey at ArtScience Culture Lab & Café

650 E Kendall St., Cambridge, MA 02142

Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

It’s on our essential restaurants list for a reason. The name may have changed (slightly), but the drinks are still as exquisite as ever, courtesy of bar director and partner Tenzin Conechok Samdo. Get any cocktail, but especially the Titi Monkey, which consists of pisco, matcha, orange peel, sandalwood, citrus, egg whites, and sugarcane. And try whatever’s currently in Le Whaf, whether it’s a cloud of Negroni or a cloud of tacos. Yes, tacos.

Beer (and Poutine) at Café du Pays

233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave., Cambridge, MA 02141

Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

The bar at Café du Pays is shockingly good-looking. Like, unfairly good-looking. (It’s no secret that we love this place.) Unlike the dining room, it’s first come, first served. And after the dining room closes, the bar remains open — from 10 p.m. ‘til midnight — and there is poutine. Stop in after all the other drinking is done, grab an IPA brewed just a few blocks from the bar, and order enough poutine to offset all that delicious alcohol.

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Café du Pays

233 Cardinal Medeiros Avenue, , MA 02141 (617) 314-7297 Visit Website

The Automatic

50 Hampshire Street, , MA 02139 (617) 714-5226 Visit Website

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State Park

15 Hampshire Street, , MA 02139 (617) 848-4355 Visit Website

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Cafe ArtScience

650 East Kendall Street, , MA 02142 (857) 999-2193 Visit Website