Have you seen what’s new in Lawrence? A tamale restaurant, brewery and board game pub

Headed to Lawrence for a day trip or a KU game?

Of course there are the perennial favorite stops from Free State Brewing Co. to Merchants Pub & Plate. But here are four new places that caught our attention and may make it to your favorites list.

Two of the operations recently opened on the town’s charming Massachusetts Street, a hub for many locally-owned, one-of-a-kind restaurants and retailers.

Stretch, a Food Network celebrity with several Kansas City operations, has revamped his new restaurant and bar on New Hampshire. And a family owned restaurant in a former gas station on Ninth Street offers some singular tamales, empanadas and tacos.

The new eateries and entertainment:

▪ Mama’s Tamale Shop, 602 W. Ninth St. The Cruz family recently opened the restaurant in a freestanding building that was once a gas station.

Customers order at the back counter. The selection includes house-made tamales in meat, veggie or sweet versions, including chicken southwest, beef with red chile sauce, green pork and potato, black bean and corn, and chocolate berry. It also has street tacos and a variety of empanadas. Drinks include Pepino (cucumber and water) and Sandia (watermelon water).

In front is the dining room with garage doors that open up in nicer weather.

“I just wanted to pay tribute to the women who inspired me to cook, the women of the Hispanic community, and bring something new and fresh to Lawrence,” Angelina Cruz said.

▪ Black Stag Brewery & Pub, 623 Massachusetts St.

Partner John Hampton is originally from Osawatomie, Kansas. He moved to Lawrence in 1985, where he met and married Kathryn Myers, another Black Stag partner. Her father, William Myers, also is a partner.

Hampton worked in the bio-pharmaceutical industry in San Francisco, Boston, Scotland, Germany and Italy, before returning to Lawrence with his wife in 2005. He has been a home brewer since 2013.

The family spent a year renovating the building before opening Black Stag in February — pretty much across the street from Mass. Street mainstay Free State Brewery.

The menu includes “sharables” (beer nuts, wings, Korean barbecue pork shanks and more), soups and salads, and entrees, such as a 14-ounce grilled rib eye, Canadian salmon, shrimp and grits, herb-roasted chicken fettuccine, and prime rib.

It has a crab leg special from 4 p.m. to close on Saturdays, along with a brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

The brewery currently produces such beers as Mt. Bleu Belgian Wit, 1865 Black Lager, 1988 Helles Frozen Over (a German lager), 7 Mile IPA, and Nitro Alchemy Coffee Porter.

Black Stag offers several dining areas —the “largest” patio on Massachusetts Street, the main dining and bar areas, and a cozy lounge with fireplace in a back room — just past the brewery.

It also books private events for up to 250 people.

▪ RPG (Restaurant, Pub & Games), 724 Massachusetts St. Two Lawrence couples — Nate and Meghan Morsches, and Matt and Betsy Pool — had full schedules with day jobs and seven children between them.

They wanted a place to unwind that would offer more than just a restaurant and bar.

So they teamed up with Daniel Luckey, who had more than a decade experience in the restaurant industry. The five partners launched a Kickstarter in May for the board game restaurant and bar. Sixty people pledged more than $13,000 on a goal of $10,000.

RPG opened in mid-September with more than 1,000 board games. Drinks include mead, specialty cocktails, wine, and craft beers. The menu has such dishes as vegetarian General Tso’s, American Smashed burger, smoked turkey legs, house-made jerky, waffle fries, and roasted vegetables. It tries to use mostly local vendors for meat and produce.

“We’re making a space that everyone feels comfortable coming together and trying new things, along with something familiar — from the menu to board games,” Luckey said. “Everyone is a nerd about something. We aren’t exclusionary.”

▪ Grinders, 733 New Hampshire St. The Lawrence outpost first opened as Grinders LFK in July 2018.

A year later, owner Stretch, whose legal name is Jeff Rumaner, temporarily shut down the place for some tweaks before reopening in September.

“It’s not geared just to college kids, it’s also geared to professionals and families,” he said.

Now going mostly as Grinders Lawrence, the decor is described as “vintage rock-n-roll.” Customers are greeted by a nearly 17-foot-tall bikini-clad Uniroyal Gal statue — giant martini glass in hand. Vintage tool boxes hold the beer taps (31 different, rotating craft beers). There are several cozy dining room and a larger bar area in the back with a 22-foot ceiling. It also has open kitchen where customers can watch the pizza being prepped.

The menu is almost the same as Grinders in KC’s Crossroads and Lenexa — New York-style pizzas, Philly cheesesteaks, award-winning barbecue, and Death wings. But a new management team for the Lawrence location plans to add some specials to the menu.

Rumaner replaced part of the arcade with a stage for free live music a couple of nights a week.