Tune in at The Sinclair, Harvard Square’s new food and music venue

With all the new restaurant openings, my list of places to check out seems endless. Every time I get to check one off my list, another seems to pop up. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this, in fact, I love the recent dynamic of our restaurant scene.

On Monday evening, I joined a group of food enthusiasts at one such spot on my list of places to visit; a new restaurant/live music venue in Harvard Square,  The Sinclair.  Located in a niche on Church street, their kitchen’s concept was developed as a joint project between Michael Schlow and head chef Marcellus Coleman.  It is probably best described as a take on traditional bar food, however, one taste of anything on this menu, whether it is their pastrami pork belly’d  sliders or their deviled eggs, is far from your average pub grub.

I arrived a little late…due to the still lingering effects of Nemo.  However, as soon as I was seated, I was quickly caught up with a flight of delicious cocktails, gin based or smokey mezcal and the much anticipation pastrami pork belly’d slider.  With a wilted slaw, russian dressing with a kick and the thickly sliced, succulent pork belly, the stress of my hectic cab ride melted away.

Amid an impressive array of starters, you really cannot go wrong.  Favorites at our table, were the sliders and the duck fat chips, which make for a great nibbling option.  The fried oysters were also served on their shells and topped with a pickle to give it an interesting tang.

I am not usually a fan of deviled eggs, but the trio of options you have at The Sinclair are all worth a try, from smoked salmon with roe, truffle mushroom or bacon crumble, it is difficult to pick a favorite…so order all three;)

We were then given a tasting of some of their entrees.  Their local beet salad was topped with a goat cheese mousse, giving the whole dish a much creamier texture when put together.  It makes for a nice light option amid some of the heartier options.

We also tried their raviolo (a large ravioli stuffed with mushroom ragout and a poached egg) and their grilled prawns with creamy grits.  The fun and challenging side of Chef Marcellus really shines in his poached egg with bacon and brussel sprouts dish.  This was hands down my favorite item of the evening.  It was different, interesting and all the flavors and textures melded together perfectly. Disclaimer, you will want a piece of bread to sop up every last  bit of this!

After all of this food, dessert may seem redundant, but I always beg to differ.  They brought out four different types of cookies (peanut butter, nutella, lemon and classic chocolate chip), an interesting take on carrot cake (a sponge cake with thick cream cheese frosting) and tiramisu.  All were notable in their preparation and execution, however it was the panna cotta with strawberry and rhubarb compote that blew me away.  Even after all of this eating, I somehow managed to finish off pretty much an entire one on my own…:)

Once we had finished with the meal, the crew took us on a tour through the live music space that adjoins The Sinclair.

It is a great size, not too big and not too small, with a capacity of just over 500 people.  It is very like House of Blues and has three full service bars.

You cannot order food from the restaurant, but the convenience of having a great restaurant/bar connected to the music venue is fairly obvious.  Think pre or post snacks, dinner and drinks….or perhaps a quick bite during intermission:)

The team at Sinclair is fun, friendly and knowleadgable and together they bring a different dining option with a little something extra on top. Check out their show calendar and purchase your tickets here.