Boston bar heavyweights Ran Duan (Blossom Bar, Baldwin Bar, Birds of Paradise), Jon Rosse (Birds of Paradise), and Brahm Callahan (Grill 23 & Bar) have combined forces at the newly renovated food court inside the CambridgeSide mall in East Cambridge (yes, you read that right). At C-Side Bar, reminisce about your teenage mall years while sipping on ‘90s-era cocktails like the Miami Vice (rum, coconut, and pineapple, topped with a pink-hued salted strawberry daiquiri foam) and an aptly named Fruit Salad Negroni (gin and Campari paired with grape, pear, and Honeydew melon).

Chef Jamie Bissonnette, alongside business partners Babak Bina and Andy Cartin, opened a trio of new spots this spring in Downtown Crossing: Korean restaurant Somaek, subterranean sushi bar Sushi @ Temple Records, and a Japanese-influenced listening bar located above the sushi counter dubbed Temple Records. Here is where you go for a low-key night spent sipping Japanese spirits mixed into highballs and inventive cocktails — start with the Off Minor, a punchy, tart drink with gin, absinthe, yuzu, basil, and a melon liqueur — all set to a soundtrack of vinyl records playing everything from classic rock to pop or jazz. If you’re hungry, there’s a snacky bar menu available with items like karaage fried chicken, jwipo (Korean fish jerky) and peanuts, steak tartare, and mushroom and tofu dumplings, or mandu.

The Seaport’s cocktail scene just got a big ol’ boost in the form of Marcelino’s, a Providence-based bar that was ready for a larger stage in the form of a Boston expansion. Co-owners Marcelino Ali and Basel Badawi have more space to play at this Seaport spot, which is housed in the former waterfront location of the Daily Catch. Bar director Refaat Ghostine (an alum of Central Station, an award-winning Beirut bar) set up a cocktail lab in the back to put time-intensive prep into drinks like the herbaceous Oregano / Tomato with gin, white vermouth, verjus, oregano, tomato cordial, and a salted white balsamic, and the sweet-savory Watermelon / Rhubarb topped with a salty feta cheese foam.

This eye-catching spot on Boylston is the first lesbian bar to open in Boston in decades. Head over to join in celebratory opening festivities, and stay for the excellent, cheekily named cocktails, from the pick-your-own-spice-level Red Flag (tequila, triple sec, lime juice, simple syrup, guava, spiced oil, chamoy and tajin rim) to Dani’s Favorite Caipirinha, punched up with muddled strawberries and blueberries.

“Speakeasy” is a term thrown around loosely these days, but the Blind Duck is still a fun, hidden-ish outing inside the newly opened luxury Back Bay development Raffles. Slip behind the unmarked door (save for a small duck icon) to find a low-lit, bi-level space mixing up inventive cocktails like the Jack, Kack, and Lack, a twist on the Old Fashioned featuring a buttery, duck fat-washed bourbon, and a highbrow take on the Aperol spritz, here made with tart lingonberries and champagne. Chef George Mendes — the acclaimed chef tapped to lead one of the two restaurants on the property, Portuguese fine dining spot Amar — has also kept an eye on the snack menu at the Blind Duck. Don’t miss Mendes’ famous pasteis de nata, or Portuguese egg custard tarts.

Merai is the newest project from the award-winning team behind Thai restaurant Mahaniyom (which is just down the road from Merai). Instead of doubling down on the Thai dishes of their childhoods for their second act, the ownership team sat back and reimagined a classic dive bar with their fun-loving spin on it. A menu of experimental cocktails and house-carbonated highballs is paired with Thai-rooted dive bar fare like hot dogs with fat kra pao sausages tucked into toasty brioche buns, crispy taro fries with a sweet chili peanut sauce, and more.