Island Creek Sibling Les Sablons Turns Downstairs Into an Oyster Bar

A Cambridge restaurant is adding a new element to its operation, rebranding part of its space: The Oyster Bar at Les Sablons (2 Bennett St., Cambridge) debuts this weekend with raw bar items, cocktails, beer, and more.

Les Sablons — which is part of the oyster-obsessed restaurant group that includes Island Creek Oyster Bar and Row 34 — spans two levels of the skinny Conductor’s Building in Harvard Square, and when it opened a year ago, the restaurant described its ground floor level as a “neighborhood cocktail party,” while the upstairs was a quieter dining room for a fancy night out. Now Les Sablons is leaning a bit more into that delineation by giving the downstairs its own identity as the Oyster Bar, complete with its own menu (see it below) by chef and co-owner Jeremy Sewall. There are some cosmetic changes as well, including the addition of orange oyster crates meant to evoke the vibe of the Island Creek Oysters farm in Duxbury.

Emily Hagen/Les Sablons

As for the menu, in addition to oysters on the half shell, there are fried oysters, clam chowder, warm lobster rolls with waffle fries, razor clam ceviche, and tinned sardines. (On Sundays, though, both the Oyster Bar and Les Sablons will serve a special breakfast-for-dinner menu, aka “brinner.”)

Keeping the menu development in the family, Row 34’s beer director Suzy Hays selected a lineup of New England IPAs for the Oyster Bar. The cocktail list from Jackson Cannon features items like dirty martinis and Negronis.

The Oyster Bar opens at 4 p.m. on weekdays and 2:30 p.m. on weekends.

• Les Sablons Coverage of Eater [EBOS]