Savin Bar + Kitchen Craft cocktails and upscale eats in the DOT

Things are always moving along in Dorchester, though that's usually to keep the cops from raiding any one specific place. For a spot that only plans to move your hunger, Savin Bar and Kitchen, opens Monday.

A second offering from the folks behind the suspiciously close (as in right across the street) McKenna's Cafe, SBK's a warmly lit, two-floor, 40-table neighborhood watering hole slinging craft cocktails/New American eats in the shuttered C.F. Donovan's (and one-time gangster hangout, Bulldog Tavern) now decked out with exposed brick, an elegant 16-seat bar built from reclaimed Vermont mill oak, and glass teardrop filament light fixtures that wouldn't be so sad if they'd just look at the bright side...of that filament. As "bar" does appear first in the name, SBK pours a well-heeled lineup of libations including 25+ draught/bottled suds (Berkshire Steel Ale, Harpoon Oyster Stout, etc.), sangrias/margaritas (A Scorpion's Sting, Angel's Passionate Kiss), and locally sourced cocktail/Martinis like a bourbon/ginger number laced with honey from a local JP beekeeper; a Maine vodka/sangria blend called the Cold River Red; and the whiskey, muddled strawberries, syrup Celtic Blush, aka Tommy Heinsohn, all the time. Burly booze-absorbing sustenance includes an Irish Beef Stew w/ Guinness-braised shortribs, buttered potatoes, and Chatenay carrots; a massive corned beef cheek Reuben topped w/ kraut and Gruyere; and a bacon-wrapped korobuta pork loin plated w/ crispy shoulder confit and red cabbage, which has long lobbied for equal distribution on the plate.

There's also a daily raw bar (tuna carpaccio, razor clam ceviche, halibut crudo) to accompany a solid selection of snacks/small plates like skillet mac 'n cheese, sausage/oyster roast, mussels in a sweet garlic broth, and pork belly cracklins -- also what the cops do to heads in the DOT if things don't end up moving along.