It takes one look outside to confirm that it’s fried-chicken weather.

And shuffleboard weather.

And bottles of High Life spiked with rye weather.

Funny. We know just the place.

And it goes by the name State Park, a neon-lit love letter to dive bars and Southern cooking from the folks who brought you Hungry Mother, now open in Kendall Square.

It’s the kind of spot with, let’s call it... character. Beat-up booths from an old Somerville joint. Pool tables. The amber glow of beer signage. A real magnificent bastard of a dive. A place you’d expect to find 1989 Patrick Swayze patrolling. But instead of bar fighting, everyone’s just playing shuffleboard and drinking.

Probably The State Park Cocktail. It’s a bottle of High Life graced with a shot of rye and a dash of bitters. Exactly the kind of comfort you and your group require when you come in from the cold and hit the wrestling-action-figure-lined bar.

Soon, you’re all in a booth and pitchers of Pimm’s Cups and plates of fried chicken start piling up. Make that chicken “Nashville Hot” and ask for a glass of buttermilk to cut the heat.

Bonus: “cut the heat” is just kind of fun to say.