Summer Camp is in session at One Kendall Square. Big Dipper Hospitality Group, the group behind State Park and Mamaleh’s Delicatessen, has opened an outdoor patio bar.
“[We’re] serving snow cones, cocktails and food with a summer campy vibe,” said Evan Harrison, co-owner of Big Dipper Hospitality Group.
Those snow cones can come with or without booze, and there are cocktails on tap too: Running with Flowers, which has hibiscus gin, pomegranate, Bruto Americano and sweet vermouth, and a Watermelon margarita made with La Luna Mezcal, Ancho Reyes and lime. The food menu is straightforward and camp-forward, with chips, chicken wings, french fries, a chicken sandwich, a burger and an Impossible burger.
It’s not the only pop-up patio in town. The Charles Hotel reopened its outdoor space this month – the One Reason Garden Bar – with a variety of beers and wines and even a tequila Jell-O shot. This year, it has a new food sponsor, marketing manager Hayley said: Taqueria El Barrio, which has a stall in the Time Out Market Boston and supplies other beer gardens and breweries, is serving four kinds of tacos, chips and dips, tortas and watermelon.
Also returning is the Fresh Pond Beer Garden, which first popped up in the parking lot of the Fresh Pond Mall in summer 2022 from the owners of The Phoenix Landing in Central Square and First House Pub in Winchester. It will again serve beers, ciders, cocktails and wine alongside DJs, games and food trucks. Marc Davis, digital media manager for the Fresh Pond Beer Garden, said it aims to open “around May 22.”
Summer Camp has its own spin on outdoor fun that will be familiar to the former sleepaway kid: For those truly channeling their inner camper, lizard keychain and friendship bracelet kits with instructions and materials are available to buy.
Harrison described the pop-up as “a lighthearted and fun thing to look forward to once the weather is nice.”
The outdoor patio space was home to Bar by the Elevator, a seasonal outdoor offering by Big Dipper. Summer Camp opened May 2 and will be open from 4 p.m. to dusk (weather permitting) Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays until the end of the summer.
It’s the second project for the group this spring, as it follows Mamaleh’s Kibitz Corner, a Mamaleh’s spinoff, which opened in April to fill the space vacated by Vincent’s when it closed in February.
The feature image for this post (seen on the homepage or archives but not on this page) was expanded in size via a digital retouching process using generative “artificial intelligence.” Background was added artificially; the subject of the photo was not changed.
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