Bloodless Brunch

Live Review

Jan 15

Written By Michael Gutierrez

Ron Savage orders the prix fixe at DX Dunster on Sunday, 12 January 2025.

The drummer is joined by Ron Mahdi (bass) and Consuelo Candelaria (keys) at the soft open for a new jazz brunch offering in Harvard Square.

No Bloody Marys? Maybe no Mimosas? What sort of brunch is this?

Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix

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Hump Nights

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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️ Hump Nights 〰️

Hump Nights

Apr 3

Straight outta the Shenandoah, with a top shelf Maine opener.

Apr 4

The 4th Wall celebrates its 17-month anniversary at the Capitol Theater.

Apr 6

14th Annual Arlington Jazz Festival, featuring Mike Stern Quintet.

Apr 10

FACS / Landowner / Major Stars at Deep Cuts.

Apr 12

A punk rock finale to the Cambridge Day Record Store Walk.

Apr 19

A rock n roll fourstack at Jamaica Plain’s favorite dive.

Apr 26

Slo-Anne returns! or debuts! at Jamaica Plain’s favorite dive.

May 31

Maine backwards at Jamaica Plain’s favorite dive. Don’t miss this!

Hump Nights

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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix

〰️

Hump Nights 〰️ Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️

That’s right. No Bloodys, no Mimosas. That’s basic entry-level brunch stuff, but in defense of the DX Dunster event, they had an even more impressive list of specialty brunch drinks on offer instead. A tasty brunch also seemed on its way. I had other fish to fry that day, though, so I guzzled down a gratis OJ and coffee, snapped a few photos, took a few notes, and skedaddled.

For the rest, I’ll defer to the forthcoming writeup at my Cambridge Day gig.

There’s a new jazz brunch in town, and it’s located at the bottom of the stairwell at 33 Dunster, where the old John Harvard’s Brewery used to be until it went belly up during the pandemic.
DX Dunster rolled out its inaugural jazz brunch last Sunday, the brunchiest day of the week, in the form of a soft opening that catered to friends and family of the club, along with sundry journos who, habitually and with the utmost grace, accept warm invitations to free food, drink, and music.
The Ron Savage Trio performed a business-like set in front of a slightly-distracted crowd. Savage (drums), Ron Mahdi (bass), and Consuelo Candelaria (keys) are all Berklee faculty who can knock out performances like this in their sleep. They’d play a concert to a room full of crash test dummies, if they felt like it, just to stay limber.
“Soft openings” are funny sorts of things. Nobody knows where, when, or how they’re supposed to be. It’s a calculated moment of chaos when you let things go wrong, so you can identify what’s going wrong, and fix it.
Food and drink aside, DX Dunster is already humming along in the music department. An adequate PA pushed clean jazz sounds out into the main hall at just the right volume, loud enough to appreciate while still being able to make small talk at your table.
The venue has ambitions to become a “destination for culture in Cambridge,” which will require a fuller calendar of events than is currently being offered. But many fine establishments were built on the backs of a reliable brunch service. To paraphrase scripture, “Out of jazz and mimosas proceedeth great things.” Amen.