New restaurant and jazz venue Grace by Nia
opens May 11 in Boston’s Seaport District.
The venue will feature
premiere jazz, soul and R&B artists.
The innovative menu includes
Bourbon Peach Spare Ribs.
Owners Nia Grace and Ed Kane.
Roxbury native’s venue will feature live jazz
Nia Grace, owner of Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen in Roxbury, opens a vibrant, glamorous jazz club and restaurant in the Seaport this week in collaboration with Big Night. Adorned with glittering gold chandeliers, leather armchairs and a stage for nightly music sets, Grace by Nia harkens back to stylish jazz clubs of the past and brings much needed diversity to the Seaport district.
“When [guests] come to Grace by Nia they’re going to be able to dine, be entertained, have a craft bar experience, as well as even party afterwards,” says Grace. “Something that might take you to three or four different venues before and take many, many hours, you can now get in an action-packed two-to-three hour hit.”
The menu is like Darryl’s in that diners will find Southern comfort food influences such as fried chicken with carrot cake waffles, and Cajun flavors like jambalaya with crawfish. But the menu will have a distinctly New England twist, a nod to the Boston waterfront just steps from the restaurant. Charred grilled oysters and other local seafood bites will be given a Southern Gulf twist.
Grace will continue the commitment to local artists that Darryl’s is known for, though the space allows for a broader spectrum of entertainment as well. She plans to
have regular events locals can look forward to, like open-mic nights,
and more of a lounge vibe on weekends with a live DJ. Darryl’s features
artwork by Black artists like Robert Freeman, who spent much of his
career working in Massachusetts. Grace hopes to build out the Seaport
space with works by local artists like street art legend Rob Gibbs of
Roxbury, also known as ProBlak.
“Being
able to say how do we take this quaint neighborhood spot and broadcast
it to the city, to the state, to the world … it’s the next phase of this
dream,” says Grace.
The
roots of that dream trace back more than 50 years. Before Grace took
over Darryl’s in 2018, the soul food destination already had a rich
history in Roxbury.
Original
owners Bob and Dottie Morgan moved there, to 604 Columbus Ave., in 1968
and served fried chicken and collard greens at Bob the Chef ’s for
decades. Darryl Settles purchased the restaurant in 1990, rebranding it
as Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen but retaining the Southern comfort
food customers craved.
Grace
has carried on a significant legacy of Black cuisine in Roxbury, and
now she’s bringing that legacy to the shiny new Seaport district.
Prior
to 2022, there were only two Black-owned businesses in the
neighborhood, Seaport Barbers and Larry J’s BBQ Café. Last year Seaport
Barbers expanded to a second location in the
neighborhood and Tambo Barrow opened the gourmet burger joint Bred. The
numbers are growing, but there are fewer than 10 Blackowned businesses
in a highly trafficked neighborhood whose residents are overwhelmingly
white.
“This is more
than just a story of another restaurant opening,” says Grace, who noted
the lack of Black ownership in the neighborhood’s businesses. “Our goal
is to bring diversity to the Seaport.”
That
diversity doesn’t end with ownership. Behind the bar, Grace
intentionally stocks spirits by BIPOC- and woman-owned businesses,
notably Uncle Nearest Whiskey, a Black- and woman-owned brand named for
Nathan “Nearest” Green, a formerly enslaved person who was the first
recorded African American master distiller. Craft cocktail lovers will
find a menu of innovative concoctions based on classic drinks, as well
as cocktails on tap and large-format beverages for groups.
Grace
by Nia represents a long history of Black cuisine, music and business
ownership in Boston. Grace hopes that guests of all kinds will find joy
in a night out there, a few hours away from the hustle and bustle of
normality.
“In the
name itself we talk about grace and exhibiting it, and allowing people
to get together, remove the barriers and the stress of the day, and
really be able to connect,” says Grace. “We’re allowing ourselves that
grace to just enjoy the moment.”
Grace by Nia opens May 11 at 60 Seaport Blvd.