While Burton’s Grill continues to heat things up all up and down the East Coast, many customers have apparently been asking them to turn up the heat a bit more.
The result is the two-venue trial balloon of Red Heat Tavern (http://redheattavern.com).
Focused around a rare cooking contraction known as a Jopser Oven (which is elsewhere used in venues run by such kitchen kings as Danny Meyer), Red Heat combines downtown flavors with suburban charm and comfort. The ceilings are high, the chairs comfy and the times are good. With special discounts for loyal customers and service men and women and weekly running groups and other special events, Red Heat is a cool place to hang with the neighbors and friends and also to make new ones as well.
If you want to belly up to the wide open bar to catch a game on one of the handful of high defs, you can enjoy one of a slew of rotating and regular drafts that range from Bud and Clown Shoes to Sam and Stella, as well as a categorized can collection that includes Angry Orchard, Bantam, and Harpoon ciders, lagers and stouts by Abita Guinness, and Mayflower, and Yuengling, and IPAs from BBC, Long Trail, Victory Garden and more. In addition to adeptly guiding guests through the extensive menu (see below), the friendly bar staff is also happy to recommend one of the Tavern’s many well-described wine selections (all of which are available by glass or bottle) or one (or more) of their special cocktails, including the Bacardi-based Lowell Street Punch, Cantinaritas made with fresh-pressed juices, or a Watermelon Cosmo made with real Jolly Ranchers!
The menu lights up with Firestarters such as the signature RHT nachos with house-fired white Mayan corn tortilla chips, house-fried pickles with Sriracha aioli, pretzel bites with a warm five-cheese sauce, and locally-sourced calamari cooked ”RI style.” For those into Big Greens, the Tavern picks fresh local produce and tops it with coal-fired beef tips, smoked turkey, Mesquite chicken or other savory salad supplies. If you are in the mood for something hand-y, the Between Bread spread includes a raft of half-pound Angus burgers with pretty much any fixin’s you may desire, as well as a buttermilk-friend chicken sandwich, German bologna with chili and cheese, or a Reuben with Angus corned beef. If you cannot decide (or just need a little bit of all of it), the Ultimate Cure prescribes an Angus patty topped with fried chicken and egg, applewood-smoked bacon, cheese, AND horseradish mayo on sourdough, served with a side of Southern-style white gravy (of course!). However, if you are really that hungry, you can also try the freshly-stoked wood-fired wares of the Josper, among which are beef and turkey tips and stuffed peppers. He mains menu also offers fish tacos, fire-roasted meatloaf, salmon with soba, pulled pork mac and cheese, and other settings that are sure to satisfy. And if each one were not enough, any can be enhanced by the Tavern’s signature BBQ ribs and/or by such succulent sides as the jumbo tots, cilantro or lemon rice, or cornbread.
For the little smokers, the Tavern offers a special menu that includes games and puzzles that are sure to please while they wait for their own mix-and-match combo of chicken fingers, hot dog and cheese, burger, grilled cheese, mac and cheese or quesadilla, sided by three servings of veggies, fruit kabobs, chips, or frozen yogurt, topped by one of five little “dipper” sauces (including Ranch, honey mustard, salsa, and BBQ sauce) and washed down with juice, soda, or white or chocolate milk.
In order to give the locals (and their further-flung neighbors) reasons to return again and again, the Tavern also hosts special events each week. Among these are Mac Your Mondays (which feature top-your-own mac and cheese creations), trivia, tacos, and Tequila Triple Threat Thursdays, and a weekly running club that begins and (thankfully!) ends at the bar. For those who need to run in and out, they also offer take out and catering. So the next time you want to bring the heat to your next family of business event or to bring them to a great new place, try the Tavern.
Tell ‘em Burton sent ya!