Here Comes a Cuban-Leaning Rum Bar and Restaurant for Allston

Lower Allston is set to get a new spot for rum and pan-Latin American cuisine as restaurant and bar Casa Caña prepares to open.

The newcomer will be housed in the Charles River-adjacent Studio Allston hotel (formerly the Days Hotel) — it effectively takes the place of Chinese restaurant Joyful Garden, which shuttered in 2017. (For the record, Joyful Garden appears to be reopening later this year in the Watertown Mall.)

Casa Caña is billing itself as part-rum bar — a point that’s pushed even in the name, referring to the sugarcane base used in rum-making — but also as a “Latin kitchen.” While the exact offerings aren’t immediately apparent, a job posting for restaurant staff states that it’ll be doing nuevo latino (“new Latin”) cuisine, suggesting a general mix of culinary styles from Central and South America.

On social media, suggestions for possible menu items ranging from Argentine steak and chimichurri to empanadas and Cuban sandwiches have been dropped. Casa Caña is leaning a little more heavily into the Cuban side of things, it seems — beyond the rum and attendant cocktails, it will purportedly offer “a taste of Havana’s high-life,” invoking romanticized imagery of grandiose Havana hotels and such.

Expect it to open soon — the restaurant is in the process of hiring right now.

• Joyful Garden Is Reopening in Watertown [BRT]
• Casa Caña [Official Site]