This past week has been full of birthday celebrations and dinners with friends and family. Times like this are usually fogged by food comas and muddled with so many different flavors, it’s hard to remember what we even ate. However, this last week we visited a special establishment serving up sangria out of drink dispensers with full bottles of wine sticking out the top and sharing plates with pink/white or blue/white china patterns.

Ever since visiting Atlanta five years ago, we have been scouring New England looking for collards or chicken and waffles that tasted half as good as the food we consumed all week. Located at Assembly Row in Somerville, MA, Southern Kin Cookhouse serves authentic Southern concepts with modern twists in an amazing ambiance. The restaurant is on a corner in between the outlet storefronts and a parking lot. They have outdoor seating for warm New England nights, an amazing high-top bar area and full dining seating to satisfy that family-supper craving. The staff is amazingly polite and helpful, and bring southern hospitality to Somerville.

bostonmagazine.com

After being shown to our seats, we perused both the brunch and lunch menus as we arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon. The brunch menu had delicious brunch options all with a southern flare about them – there is a side of cheddar grits or biscuits served with every large plate option and the way they spelled ‘and’ on their menu is appropriately spelled ‘n’ if you can imagine. The lunch menu was broken down into five main sections, which would make anyone chuckle to themselves while reading it for the first time (‘Granny Slappin’ Good Biscuits’ and ‘Mess of Greens’ for example). There was also an entire yellow booklet filled with dozens and dozens of mixed drink options and at least three pages dedicated to whiskys. Needless to say, we may have been a little over-zealous in ordering, but we knew full well that we would be eating our leftovers for dinner.

The rest of our time at Southern Kin was spent laughing, watching college football on the big screens, and quietly humming the country tunes playing over the speakers. We devoured our meals and didn’t take one bite without muttering a ‘yum’ or ‘so good’ after.

What are your favorite places to eat? Which meal would you most want to share with a loved one? We’d love to hear!

Food Choices

Small Plates/Granny Slappin’ Good Biscuits: Farmhouse Buttermilk Biscuits with honey butter and strawberry jam (seasonal varieties of jam served)

Mess of Greens: Watermelon, a salad served as one large watermelon piece with fresh arugula piled on top and pecans, grapes, blue cheese as garnishes tossed with balsamic and pomegranate yogurt dressing.

Main Dishes: Chicken N’ Waffles is served with juicy, crispy fried chicken over a cheddar-chive waffle completed with two dipping sauces (maple syrup infused with pepper and louisiana honey-pepper sauce.

Your Daily Fixins’: Macaroni n’ cheese skillet style and braised collards with bacon

Drink Choices: Hobo Life (Session IPA) and Honey Bourbon Lemonade