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South End bar Wink & Nod’s culinary incubator program is set to welcome its next long-term pop-up on April 1, this time with David Daniels at the helm. Daniels has cooked all over Massachusetts, including stints at Topper’s at Wauwinet in Nantucket, Aragosta at the Fairmont Battery Wharf, Oak Long Bar & Kitchen at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, and Saltie Girl.
Daniels’ iteration of the culinary incubator will be called Hush, and his menu will feature dishes like foie gras popsicles, caviar panini, ahi tuna flatbreads, black truffle chicken nuggets, and tempura soft shell crab bao. Italian flavors and spirits will feature heavily on the cocktail menu.
Hush will be the eleventh iteration of Wink & Nod’s culinary incubator program; many past residents of the program have gone on to open their own restaurants, such as Whisk by Jeremy Kean and Philip Kruta, who opened Brassica Kitchen & Cafe in Jamaica Plain, and Bread & Salt by Josh Lewin and Katrina Jazayeri, who opened Juliet in Somerville and will soon open Peregrine on Beacon Hill. Wink & Nod hands the reins over to a new chef approximately every six months.
Boston Nightlife Ventures (BNV) — which operates Wink & Nod — has been busy lately. For starters, the group plans to open a rooftop restaurant called Six West later this year, atop a soon-to-be-open hotel called the Cambria near the Broadway T stop in South Boston. BNV also plans to expand Southern Kin Cookhouse from Somerville to a space next to Wink & Nod in the South End. Plus, BNV eventually plans to open something new in the group’s shuttered Certified Meatball Company space in South Boston. Leading up to this growth spurt, the group closed several restaurants in recent years, in addition to the aforementioned meatball joint: Both locations of burger spot Griddler’s are now closed, as is the Tap Trailhouse near Faneuil Hall.
• A Rooftop Restaurant Is Coming to a South Boston Hotel This Summer [EBOS]