"We want to be the place that you go for dinner every week, maybe even twice a week." Deirdre Auld, partner at Celine and CEO of Coda Restaurant Group, used those words to describe the French-Canadian restaurant that opened Monday, September 28, at 324 A St. Three weeks earlier and a short walk away, Hawksmoor opened at 15 Necco St. Its menu includes a 34-ounce dry-aged rib chop priced at $238.
Both restaurants opened in Fort Point within the same month, and they were designed for very different nights. Celine is built around how often a neighbor might come back. Hawksmoor is set up for anniversaries, client lunches and long Sundays. As October begins, Fort Point has both, while the other new openings nearby along Seaport Boulevard are mostly cafés, a tea bar and seasonal pop-ups.
Celine was designed around a price ceiling
Auld's stated goal is that diners can have a full meal and a cocktail or a glass of wine for $50 or less. That one target explains most of the restaurant. It has 80 seats, and Auld led the interior design in collaboration with Coda founder Jim Cochener, who also served as general contractor. The room has exposed brick, wood, turmeric banquettes, and three bathrooms with three different themes. One of them is filled with Céline Dion memorabilia.
The executive chef is Joe Cooke, a Medford native who previously cooked at Viale in Cambridge. He drew on Montreal restaurants including Joe Beef, Liverpool House and Rôtisserie La Lune. The opening menu has:
- Starters: chicken liver mousse with green beans and schmaltz toast; confit tomatoes with boquerones; a Lyonnaise salad made with a jammy eight-minute egg; and a breakfast-for-dinner sandwich with foie gras, bacon blueberry jam and maple syrup on a drop biscuit.
- Mains: a Gruyère burger with pickled dilly beans, duck confit cassoulet, steak frites, rotisserie chicken with chanterelles and beef tallow fries, and rotisserie duck.
- The poutine: beef tallow fries and cheese curds with chicken- and duck-dripping gravy, with an extra gravy boat on the side.
The hours also suit a weeknight. Dinner starts at 4 p.m. every day. It runs until 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and the bar stays open until 11. Thursday through Saturday, dinner runs until 11 p.m. and the bar until midnight. Celine's Resy page says the restaurant holds space for walk-ins. Parties of six or more need a card on file, cancellations within 24 hours cost $15 per person, and reservations have a 15-minute grace period. Before opening, the team said Celine would start with dinner only and add lunch and brunch later, as reported by Caught in Southie.
The location matters too. Celine fills the long-vacant former Blue Dragon space, the Ming Tsai restaurant that opened at 324 A St. in 2013. In its fall preview, the Boston Globe noted that a restaurant had not used that space in some time. It also said Celine may be the first restaurant in the Boston area to pay explicit homage to Canadian cooking since Café du Pays in Cambridge, which closed during the pandemic.
Hawksmoor is set up for the occasion
Hawksmoor began in London in 2006, founded by Will Beckett and Huw Gott. Boston is its 15th location, after restaurants in the UK, Ireland and New York City. The restaurant is inside the Eli Lilly research and development center on Necco Street, with views across the Fort Point Channel and a large outdoor terrace. The terrace has built-in banquet tables under large umbrellas that seat groups of 16 to 36, and a half-terrace setup holds 50 people for a standing reception.
The Globe's review, published September 16, puts the prices in context. Appetizers run $14 to $41, entrées $28 to $95 and steaks $55 to $115, with some cuts at market price. Cocktails are $16 to $24. By Celine's $50 standard, that is a special-occasion check. Lunch is priced closer to everyday: lunch dishes run $24 to $45, and there is a set menu at $45 to $55. The reviewer mentioned that midday menu as an option for anyone hosting clients.
The executive chef is Thomas Park, who previously cooked at Saltie Girl and Ruka. Several of the most-discussed dishes nod to New England.
The lobster crumpet comes topped with lobster, with Vermont butter poured over it at the table. The dessert list includes a Fluffernutter sundae and pastry chef Carla Henriques's tribute to the Sky Bar, the candy Necco first made just down the street.
Guests who aren't drinking alcohol have Steady Pete's Ginger Brew, the zero-proof version of the house Shaky Pete's. The Sunday roast is a striploin with roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and bone marrow gravy. It costs $48 per person and is served from 11:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations can be made online or by phone at 781-208-8300, and private events go through a separate inquiry form. Published sources so far confirm lunch, dinner and the Sunday roast, but not exact weekday hours or whether brunch is planned. Check before planning a weekend morning around it.
Why dinner now happens on the Fort Point side
Put the summer's changes together and these two rooms carry more weight. Chickadee served its last dinner on July 18, ending an eight-year run at 21 Drydock Ave. in the Innovation and Design Building. As of late September, no replacement had been announced for that space.
Most other recent openings are daytime or quick-service:
- Life Alive opened its 14th Massachusetts café on July 21 at 200 Seaport Blvd., Suite 104, inside Commonwealth Pier. Its hours at opening were 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Ralph's Coffee opened the same day at 70 Pier 4 Blvd., next to a new Ralph Lauren store, open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Happy Rice Sushi replaced Yoki Express at 53 Boston Wharf Road, and its website now says it is open and taking online orders.
- MYKA, a Madrid-founded shop selling Greek frozen yogurt made with goat's milk kefir, opened September 25 as one of the pop-ups at The Current.
- Bloom plans to open October 6 on the street level of the atrium at 60 Seaport Blvd. It will serve tea-based cocktails and mocktails, plus tea, matcha and espresso during the day. In the weeks after opening, it plans to add Japanese curry and sandwiches at lunch and small Japanese comfort-food plates in the evening.
Each of these adds something useful to a resident's day. Of all the recent openings, though, Hawksmoor and Celine are the only new full-service dinner restaurants. Both are on the Fort Point side of the channel.
Building a fall week around both
The Seaport's fall calendar fits around these two restaurants. Fireside at The Current opened September 25 on Seaport Common with nine pop-ups, including Elli Parr, For Now, NOBULL, The Sweetish Fish and Union Square Donuts, and it runs through January 31, 2027. The press release put the kickoff party on September 25, but the Seaport events page now lists a grand opening on Friday, October 2, from 4 to 6 p.m., with s'mores and a hot cocoa bar.
| Date | Nearby event | Dinner that fits the timing |
|---|---|---|
| Fri., Oct. 2 | Fireside grand opening, Seaport Common, 4 to 6 p.m. | Celine's 4 p.m. seating, open later on Fridays |
| Sat., Oct. 10 | Seaport Book Fair, 111 Harbor Way, noon to 5 p.m. | Hawksmoor terrace, while the weather holds |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | ICA Halloween party | Celine's bar, open until midnight Saturdays |
| Sundays, Nov. 8 to Dec. 27 | Snowport Holiday Market, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. | Hawksmoor Sunday roast, 11:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Weeknights, Nov. 6 to Dec. 4 | Snowport, Monday to Thursday, 3 to 8 p.m. | Celine, dinner from 4 p.m. |
The Snowport Holiday Market opens November 6 at 100 Seaport Blvd. and runs seven days a week through December 27, with more than 125 makers. Starting December 7, weekday hours begin at 11 a.m. The market is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas and closes at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve. A Saturday book fair followed by a steak on the terrace fits the Hawksmoor side of the week. A weeknight Snowport stop followed by poutine at A Street fits the Celine side.
New openings in Fort Point and the Seaport also shape what a home here offers day to day. If you own in either neighborhood and are thinking about how this fall's changes fit into your home's story for buyers, Cheryl Zarella and our team would be glad to talk it through. Request a complimentary home valuation and we will start with your address and the streets around it.
