Restaurant File: Boston
Nevermind the chowder. Beantown's dining scene is boiling over. Creative chefs and sophisticated cuisine have established the city as a destination for gastronomes far and wide.
Mistral
After highly successful stints as chef to the U.S. ambassador to Spain, and in Four Seasons Hotels in Washington DC, Seattle, Chicago and Boston, Jamie Mammano decided it was time to open his own restaurant in 1997 and has been wowing the Boston dining scene ever since. (So much so that he has gone on to form a restaurant group and open four more restaurants—Teatro, Sorellina, Mooo, and L'Andana.) It's a playground for the city's well-heeled power crowd on a nightly basis and the glammy Provençe-style décor—high ceilings and arched floor-to-ceiling windows—set the tone for contemporary French cuisine. Roast sirloin au poivre with potato-leek gratin, cognac and peppercorns is delicious. The wine list is commendable and includes some moderately priced gems. The food fetches top dollar, but think how much you're saving on the airfare to France.
223 Columbus Avenue | Boston, MA 02116 United States
Sel de la Terre
Chef Geoff Gardner spent nine years honing his craft as sous chef to Frank McClelland at L'Espalier. He takes the French fine dining sensibility that's the lingua franca at L'Espalier and grounds it in a more country inn sensibility at Sel de la Terre. The latest outpost opened this fall adjacent to the long-anticipated Mandarin Oriental in the tony Back Bay. If you're up for being amid the action in a stylish setting, make a reservation at the downtown location for one of the three "Kitchen Tables," which are like box seats overlooking the kitchen. The flagship restaurant is on the
waterfront (next to the New England Aquarium) and features a boulangerie for gourmet on the go and hearty breads that may have well been baked in Paris. The second is in the
Natick Collection, a designer collection mall just outside of the city. But no matter which location you visit, you'll find a kitchen specializing in rustic French fare that has a distinctly New England accent, thanks to the use of regional produce and ingredients. The atmosphere at this flagship location is warm and comfortable—dark mahogany tables, tall windows, stone floors, ceiling beams, an antique wood bar and a seasonal patio—permeated with the aroma of just-baked specialty breads that are on display and for sale in the boulangerie. They make a welcomed appearance in the addictive bread basket that lands on your table accompanied by a sublime eggplant spread. The service is efficient, the wine list extensive.
255 State Street | Boston, MA 02109 United States
Hamersley's
A Boston classic in the city's trendy South End, Hamersley's has done nothing but grow in the past two decades—in size, stature and reputation. At the same time, it's maintained a familiar neighborhood bistro atmosphere. Chef/owner Gordon Hamersley can often be slicing, seasoning and sauteeing in the open kitchen (it can get noisy if you're seated close by), turning out signature dishes like roast chicken with garlic, lemon and parsley, and working with intriguing couplings like peaches and mint. The restaurant is always packed with a sundry mix of locals and out-of-towners. Jeans are as commonplace as little back dresses. It's a great spot for an end-of-the-week wind-down. Or nab one of the tables in the front of the dining room overlooking the pavilion of the nearby Boston Center for the Arts for a romantic dinner a deux.
553 Tremont Street | Boston, MA 02116 United States
East Coast Grill and Raw Bar
As Chef Chris Schlesinger openly admits, East Coast Grill is the culmination of a misspent youth chasing waves in the tropics. Good thing for us. The result is an off-the-beaten-path seafood grill and raw bar that's part backyard barbecue blowout, part Asian street food marketplace, part island food showcase, and entirely fun. Ocean-fresh seafood, exotic spices, and a hotter-than-Hades grill send BBQ aromas wafting across the restaurant—and across the street—making this a magnet for locals. Mix in a raw bar, great cocktails, and a lively and conscientious waitstaff, and you have the sort of New England restaurant that rarely fails to deliver.
1269 Cambridge Street | Cambridge, MA 02139 United States
Eastern Standard
I love this French-style brasserie that has helped transform the Kenmore Square end of Commonwealth Avenue from a once-seedy neighborhood into one of Boston's go-to quarter—and not only on the nights when there's a Red Sox game down the street at the legendary Fenway Park. From the street-front covered patio to the long marble bar, where a steady stream of vintage-fabulous cocktails are shaken up under the watch of bar manager and one of America's top mixologists, Jackson Cannon, to the lively dining room, Eastern Standard offers contemporary European and New England cuisine in style. The signature veal schnitzel, beef Wellington, and steak frites keep the crowds coming back. And the cocktail list keeps people put long into the night. Whiskey enthusiasts, take note: this is one of a handful of restaurants in the country to sell bourbon hand-selected at a Kentucky distillery by its bar manager.
528 Commonwealth Avenue | Boston, MA 02215 United States
Pigalle
Chef Marc Orfaly scored a nomination in the 2007 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the northeast, a fitting testament to the fantastic job he does at Pigalle, an innovative French bistro in the heart of Boston's Theater District. The Parisian-style décor is a pastiche of rich woody hues, from the banquettes and rugs to the sconces and architechtural flourishes. Settle in at a table for one of Orfaly's mouth-watering dishes. His seasonal cassoulet is one of the best in Boston. Think classic French with a twist of the Middle East and Asia, backed by a sharp floor staff and good French-American wine list. Yes, it's ideal for a pre- or post-theater supper, but it's also a dramatic act in and of itself.
75 Charles Street | Boston, MA 02114 United States
Blue Ginger
I'm not a big fan of celebrity restaurants since the star draw tends shine so bright as to make people blind to the quality of the food, but Blue Ginger is an exception. Owned by chef Ming Tsai, a television fixture, and his wife Polly, they're celebrating the restaurant's tenth anniversary in 2008. After a decade, it continues to keep the loyal clientele coming at a steady clip. You'll have to drive to Wellesley (about 20 minutes west of Boston) but it's worth the journey for Ming's tongue-tingling neo-Asian creations. The food is a little overpriced for what it is, but a few bites of an entree like his mom's famous three vinegar sauteed organic shrimp and glazed crispy skin salmon with yuzu-chile sauce will have you understanding how the chef came to be so well known. You can dine by the open kitchen and watch the balletic chefs' performance, but those looking to keep the conversation flowing with the Asian-inspired cocktails should ask for a table in the more serene back room.
583 Washington Street | Wellesley, MA 02482 United States
Sorellina
Sorellina serves Italian cuisine with a modern twist and a wonderful, inspired wine list. Gnocchi with handmade ricotta, braised wild boar, apricots and Pecorino is a light way to get a meal underway. The popular maccheroncelli, kobe beef meatballs, roll out of the kitchen at a steady pace all night. Pasta dishes can all be ordered in half portions. The sweeping dining room, with its imposing columns and black and white somewhat gothic motif, is dramatic in a classic Roman kind of way. With white leather banquettes and alcoves for gathering in the bar area, it's a fitting setting for the power-broker clientèle and designer handbag-toting shoppers who stop there after a day on nearby Newbury Street. The service is polite and unimposing.
1 Huntington Avenue | Boston, MA 02115 United States
KO Prime
Nine Zero Hotel
KO Prime strikes a balance between sleek and rugged and between masculine and feminine. Every straight-from-the-rodeo design touch (cow print rugs, portraits of bulls) is balanced by something slick and urban, like the marble bar that would fit well in a Parisian bistro and the prairie-chic chandeliers of intertwined, lacquered antlers. Conceived by uber-chef Ken Oringer and helmed by Jamie Bissonette, who can work wonders with meat the way Van Gogh did with paint, this is just as fine a spot for snacking on charcuterie and offal with a date as it is for a seal-the-deal dinner of rib-eye. I'm not a cowgirl, but I loved the skirt steak with Moroccan spices. It was tasty and perfectly cooked. The sides could be better, but for carnivores I'd say KO is a prime choice in Boston.
90 Tremont Street | Boston, MA 02108 United States
Metropolitan Club
This retro-cool steakhouse serves fantastic classic American dishes like dry-aged cuts of sirloin, plated with colorful spears of carrots or turnips and squiggles of beet alioli. There's a notable wine list with choices that will pair each course. It's a pretty bustling spot for lunch, too, not least because of the luxe design-your-own-salad options that owner Kathy Sidell Trustman conceived. Choose everything from the protein to the crunch factor sprinkled on top. The atmosphere is cool and classy with an unobtrusive waitstaff, so it's a prime choice for a romantic tryst or a business dinner. If you're staying in town, take note that it's located just ouside Boston in Newton, but accessible by public transportation.
Phone: +1 617 731 0600
1210 Boylston Street | Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 United States
O Ya
Sushi lovers with an expense account or those looking to wow a date must make a reservation here. (Take note, however, reservations must be made several weeks in advance.) Boston's newest and, by all accounts best, nouveau Japanese restaurant is helmed by a talented American husband and wife team. Chef Tim Cushman, who's cooked all around the world, holds down the fort in the kitchen, turning out mind-boggling fusion jewels, such as diver scallops with sage tempura, olive oil bubbles and meyer lemon, venison tataki with porcini crema, and beet sashimi. He raises the bar for raw fish artistry, which could explain why Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto was spotted there recently. Nancy Cushman is so knowledgeable about sake that she's informally referred to as a "sake sommelier." Once you find the speakeasy-esque door of a former brick firehouse in downtown's Leather District, you'll find a long sushi counter and about 10 tables in the dark, narrow, sparsely decorated restaurant. Only one quibble: the innovative desserts are sushi-size, so don't bother sharing!
9 East Street | Boston, MA 02111 USA
Lineage
242 Harvard Street
Lineage is an excellent place for modern accessible interpretations of seafood dishes and classic American favorites. Chef-owner Jeremy Sewall named his restaurant as a nod to his heritage, which stretches far back into Brookline's history. He's a veteran of some of Boston's finest kitchens, opened his place in Brookline, just outisde of Boston, and named it as a tribute to his heritage, which stretches back centuries into Boston's history. Family plays a central role in how Sewall runs his kitchen, from the lobsters he buys from his cousin Mark to his making sure there's always something on the regularly changing menu to please the kids. In a city with no shortage of seafood restaurants, Sewall manages infuse his dishes with character that sets it apart from your standard oceanic fare. Signature dishes range from brioche-stuffed lobster to oven-fired pizzas. The décor is simple and the atmosphere cozy and unpretentious, allowing you to keep your attention focused on the food.
Brookline, MA
Jay on May. 15, 2008
Just one person's perspective ....
michelled on May. 27, 2008