Every month through the end of 2026, a different Boston-area chef is stepping into the kitchen at BRED in Cambridge to help cook up more than just a new burger — they're helping raise money for a cause of their choosing. Chef-owner Tambo Barrow calls it the Chef Burger Series, and this October it has teamed his Kendall Square spot with chef Michael Scelfo of The Longfellow Bar for a limited-run creation benefiting a national childhood hunger campaign.
Barrow launched the series in September, inviting a different Boston-area chef into the kitchen each month to co-create an original burger and choose a charitable organization to benefit from its sales, according to BostonChefs.com. As CBS News reports, Barrow is hosting the series featuring other local chefs, with the proceeds raising money for charities across Boston.
October's Burger Backs a National Hunger Campaign
This month's collaboration reimagines The Longfellow's signature burger, topped with shaved ham, charred onion relish, sweet pickle aioli and Muenster cheese, per the same bostonchefs.com report. Twenty percent of sales from the burger will benefit Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign, and it's available throughout October at BRED's Kendall Square location at 730 Main St. in Cambridge.
That 20-percent giveback is the backbone of the whole series — the site notes that every Chef Burger Series collaboration directs a fifth of its sales to a charity chosen by that month's guest chef, not a fixed partner picked by Barrow himself. It's a structure that lets each visiting chef put their own stamp on both the menu and the mission.
September's Edition Fed a Different Need Entirely
The series kicked off in September with chef Ryan Skeen of The Beehive, who joined Barrow and the BRED crew on a limited-edition Croque Monsieur Burger layering bacon, Gruyère, Mornay sauce and a fried egg onto a brioche bun, the bostonchefs.com report states. That burger ran throughout September at BRED's Cambridge location near Central Square, with 20 percent of its sales benefiting The Greater Boston Food Bank.
The pairing of a French bistro classic turned into a smash burger with a hunger-relief charity captured attention beyond Boston's restaurant press — Audacy spoke with Barrow about the new series shortly after it debuted.
A Cambridge Outpost Built on Smoked Burgers
BRED Gourmet was founded by Barrow, according to the restaurant's own site, which describes the brand as Boston's home for hickory- and maple-smoked burgers with Caribbean- and Creole-inspired flavors. The company operates its original location in Boston's Lower Mills neighborhood alongside the newer kitchen, bar and lounge tucked between Cambridge's Central Square and Kendall Square — the same address now hosting the Chef Burger Series.
Accounts differ on exactly when that Lower Mills flagship got its start: Patch reports Barrow founded BRED there in 2015, while Cambridge Day has reported the opening happened in 2014. Either way, the Cambridge location has since become the stage for Barrow's rotating cast of guest chefs and their charitable creations.
With the series slated to run monthly through the end of 2026, Cambridge diners can expect a fresh guest chef, a fresh burger and a fresh cause to land on BRED's menu in the weeks ahead.
