Yay, Cambridge Has a Swanky New Restaurant and Bar with Live Music
Lou's in Harvard Square seats nearly 300 and pairs genre-hopping musicians and DJs with a nostalgic, comforting menu from acclaimed chef Jason Bond.
Lou’s. / Photo by Alyssa Blumstein
Despite Greater Boston being home to multiple highly respected music schools, and its one-time reputation as, arguably, a rock ’n’ roll capital, there’s been a common refrain over the past decade-plus: The region’s live music scene is dwindling. So, any new music venue debut is cause for celebration—and even better when it puts care into the food, too. Lou’s, seating nearly 300, is now open in the former Beat Brew Hall space in Harvard Square. At first glance, the subterranean spot is poised to join the ranks of such illustrious dinner-and-a-show venues as Grace by Nia, McCarthy’s/Toad, and the Beehive.
It helps that Lou’s team snapped up Jason Bond as executive chef. The James Beard semifinalist was chef-owner of the now-closed but fondly remembered Bondir in Cambridge and Concord, elegantly celebrating farm-to-table fare. He’s also a food history buff and musician. (“Retired,” he tells us about the latter, joking that they “kicked me out of the music scene because I don’t smoke, so I went into cooking instead.”)
Lou’s. / Photo by Alyssa Blumstein
His background is a boon here. Music “has a lot to do with how I look at food,” he says. “Just like with music, food can be purely an exercise in math, contrasts, and textures, but it can also be a way to talk about a subject or set a stage,” says Bond. “Also from music, the idea of ‘gesamtkunstwerk,’ where every aspect of the experience makes the whole, is very important in building a lasting restaurant.” (It’s not Bond’s first foray into mixing food and music: In his Bondir days, he collaborated with Berklee professor Ben Houge on several “food opera” events, pairing meals with music.)
As far as his interest in food history, Bond is digging into culinary traditions from Boston and, more broadly, New England. “I took quite a bit of inspiration from places like the Somerset Club and the Club of Odd Volumes for the atmosphere [both on Beacon Hill]. Lots of menu vibes from the old Locke-Ober and an old cookbook I have from Mystic, Connecticut, very seafood-focused. Some ideas I took from my heroes at Al Forno in Providence.” He and the Lou’s team filtered all that inspiration through a Harvard Square lens, he says, and tried to make a menu with a broad range of prices, “generally priced for daily visits, with some fancy dishes as well.”
Chef Jason Bond. / Photo by Cormac Hurley
There’s plenty of focus on local sourcing, too; about 10 whole versions of the intimate locavore gem Bondir could fit inside Lou’s vast space, Bond jokes, but “I am still me. I like the idea of someone from wherever coming in and having a real experience of being in Cambridge. The ocean is right over there; we have farms 15 miles to the north.”
It all comes together to result in a comforting menu that feels nostalgic, perfect for cozying up in a luxurious U-shaped booth and listening to live music, whether blues or reggae or brassy New Orleans-style trad jazz. Think: linguine with clams in white wine sauce; roasted swordfish alla norma; steak frites with madeira butter sauce; or grain salad niçoise.
Steak frites and a cocktail at Lou’s. / Photo by Alyssa Blumstein
Bond is particularly excited for diners to try the roasted chicken, an air-chilled heritage breed bird from a Ferndale, New York farm with barns designed by Dr. Temple Grandin, a James Beard Award-winning animal scientist and animal rights activist. “I make a Hu-Kwa tea salt—a nod to historic Beacon Hill—and salt the whole birds and air-dry for several days. We roast the chicken breasts whole, rest, and carve to order, and I think it’s coming out perfectly cooked. Being from Kansas, I have a strong memory of my grandmother’s home-raised chickens and her cooking, so we serve it with mashed potatoes, green beans, and, most importantly, just a regular chicken gravy. Very classic and delicious.”
Whatever you order, don’t miss the house-made breads—currently sourdough pita and focaccia with New England grains, with more to come. They’re made with Bond’s decades-old starter, Schmutzy. “Schmutzy came into my life when I was at Beacon Hill Hotel and Bistro 20 years ago,” he says. “I don’t know his history before that, he doesn’t like to talk about it, but I’ve been working ever since to help him take over the world. He’s in more kitchens than I can remember, from Harvard and MIT to Europe. He’s a champ.”
Lou’s has a variety of seating options, including couches, the bar, and traditional tables and booths. / Photo by Alyssa Blumstein
The drink menu takes a cue from Bond’s love of all things seasonal and local and incorporates ingredients such as blueberry-rhubarb syrup or fresh carrot juice into cocktails. One drink, the Bam Bam, complements vodka, Aperol, and lime with cantaloupe elderflower cordial, while the Smashed screams summer with roasted corn cob, mint, lemon, and bourbon. There are five martinis ranging from traditional to a fat-washed, salt-and-pepper-and-parm-rind concoction to espresso (made with a house coffee liqueur), and there are plenty of beers, wines, and zero-proof options, too.
In addition to Bond, a number of restaurant-industry vets—and music, too—make up the management team. General manager Allison Finney, who is also managing the music program in consultation with Jeremy Cohen, founder of the New England Jazz Collaborative, worked at Best of Boston music venue Roadrunner; assistant general manager Bree-Anne Zeek is an alum of excellent local restaurants Pammy’s and Faccia a Faccia (formerly known as Faccia Brutta). John DiGiovanni, who owns quite a bit of commercial Harvard Square real estate, is behind the venture and named it for his late father, Harvard Square entrepreneur Louis “Lou” DiGiovanni. John teamed up with his friends Tom Keane and Harry DiLeo, owners of American Flatbread, to create Lou’s.
Lou’s linguine with clams in white wine sauce. / Photo by Alyssa Blumstein
All in all, it’s a team with a variety of experiences in the food, music, and hospitality spaces, and about a week into operation, they seem to be hitting the right notes. “I’m excited for this to be a space to come to and be taken care of, relax, and let yourself get into the music,” says Bond.
Live music and DJs nightly. No cover, but everyone is required to order food or drink. Free parking is offered (while spaces are available) at the parking garage at 20 Eliot St. Lou’s, 13 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge, 857-706-1100, wearelous.com.
Lou’s. / Photo by Alyssa Blumstein
