
Where to Southern Kin Cookhouse at Assembly Row. It’s the latest from Boston Nightlife Ventures, the team behind the Tap Trailhouse, Griddler’s Burgers + Dogs, and Wink & Nod.
What for Ribs, fried chicken, and a blaring classic rock soundtrack.
The scene Busy — Green Line at rush hour busy. Loud — Boston Calling loud. A gaggle of people in short-shorts and baseball hats crowd the host stand. Windows open onto the sidewalk, and many bewildered people just circumvent the entrance and step right on in. Overhead fans send paper menus billowing into the wind. A dapper host, clearly sensing that things are just a teensy bit wild on the first week in business, makes a point of stopping by each table to check on things. Just nod, smile, and let John Mellencamp do the talking.
What you’re eating Southern food that will put pounds on you. At lunch, there are biscuits (buttermilk fried chicken, whiskey-glazed pork belly with fried green tomatoes) and sandwiches (shrimp po’boy, a burger topped with more pork belly and a fried egg). At supper, choose from a big roster of small plates like redneck nachos (spiced pork rinds with white cheddar grits), bayou tacos (braised gator tail in flour tortillas), or pimento cheese fritters. Entrees like chicken and waffles and smothered pork chops (topped with a fried egg) are shareable. Modest appetites could easily make a meal of the “daily fixins,’’ or side dishes: tomato pudding, macaroni and cheese, collard greens.
Care for a drink? Peruse a bright orange “Liquid Ledger’’ for proper fortification, peppered with handwritten tips. There’s a vast roster of 100-plus whiskeys and beer — “served up cold as a frog’s behind’’— plus house-bourbon infusions to shoot or sip, in flavors like pecan pie or peach cobbler. Some cocktails are accented with pork rinds.
Overheard Fashion statements about France; anxiety about alligator. “In Paris, people literally wear shorts so short you can see everyone’s butt,’’ declares a Cyndi Lauper lookalike to a table of dudes, who clink glasses at the sentiment. “Layla’ was written by Eric Clapton for George Harrison’s wife, and that’s creepy!’’ a beer-swilling buck bellows to nobody in particular. “I’m so sorry, but we need to ID everyone,’’ a server in cut-offs and a plaid shirt tells an older man, who seems giddy at the notion. “Mom, if you’re scared of alligator tacos, we can always go to Legal Sea Foods,’’ a woman huffs at her mother.
500 Assembly Row, Somerville, 617-764-5966, www.southernkincookhouse.com
Kara Baskin can be reached at kcbaskin@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @kcbaskin.