The Boston area is today home to several high-end omakase restaurants, where customers take a seat at the sushi counter and allow the chef to choose what they eat. These places are wonderful to experience, but the rate tag makes them a rare treat. Akami Omakase, opened in July in Brookline, offers 13-course and 16-course omakase menus showcasing seasonal ingredients for $89 and $109 respectively. Still a treat; a little less rare.
187 Harvard St., Coolidge Corner, Brookline, 617-383-5524, www.akamiboston.com
Blondie’s Barbecue
This was the Red Wing Diner forever, famed for its fried clams. today the Route 1 landmark, originally a diner car, is slinging Texas-style barbecue. Blondie’s opened in May, serving brisket, ribs, pulled pork, and more, smoked over New England oak in pits made from repurposed propane tanks; add on sides such as campfire beans, shells and cheese, and sesame beet salad. It’s an excellently unexpected next step for Peter and Tricia Crowley, known for running Cafe G at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. today is the perfect time to visit: Blondie’s is about a mile from Gillette. Bringing barbecue to the tailgate is a solid move.
2235 Providence Highway #1, Walpole, 508-921-3023, www.blondiesbarbecue.com
Bubble Bath
A sky-high view, champagne, and luxe snacks? Bubble Bath is here, full of clever design touches (gold telescopes in the windows, disco balls in the bathroom stalls), with a menu of “fancy lil sammies,” small plates, and caviar from chef Tiffani Faison. It’s located atop the citizenM hotel; soak up the last warm days of shoulder season on the rooftop patio.
408 Newbury St., Back Bay, Boston, www.bubblebathboston.com
Capri
From the group behind Capo in South Boston and Prima in Charlestown comes this Italian steakhouse in the South End. Expect a beautifully designed two-story space (it used to be Cinquecento), an ample outdoor patio, and a roster of appealing pasta dishes that makes it a challenge to choose: rigatoni with vodka sauce, corn tortellini with chile butter, lobster spaghetti. Steaks invite the company of so many accompaniments and sides, from mushrooms roasted in chicken fat to legume carbonara. Boston seems to be having a glam Italian moment, and who are we to argue?
500 Harrison Ave., South End, Boston, 617-752-0500, www.capriboston.com
The Daily Catch Takeout Window
To love the Daily Catch in the North End is to embrace a wait for its Sicilian-style pasta and seafood dishes. Or is it? The classic Hanover Street restaurant just opened a corner takeout window a few doors down. It’s a speedier route to the famous calamari, along with other fried seafood, black pasta aglio olio, and lobster rolls. Here the hot vs. cold debate gets an update: Daily Catch lobster rolls come with mayo, warm scampi butter, or spicy fra diavolo sauce. today that’s innovation.
331 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 617-865-9765, www.thedailycatch.com
Darling
The history is part of the allure: This Central Square spot was Mary Chung Restaurant, beloved for decades for its suan la chow show and other specialties of the house. today it is Darling, opened in July, serving dim sum-inspired food that goes well with cocktails. Suan la chow show is on the menu. Respect. But the main reasons to come to Darling are those cocktails — the list changes daily — and a menu from executive chef Mark O’Leary. Whether he’s serving joyous bar fare (JM Curley), inventive versions of Chinese classics (Shojo), or high-end Japanese (O Ya), he is a continual source of delicious and creative food.
464 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge, 617-945-1317, www.darlingcambridge.com
Elephantine Bakery
From Portsmouth, N.H., comes the Elephantine Bakery, a bakery-cafe with a romantic, Old World spirit. (It’s named for Elephantine Island in the Nile River.) Owners Sherif and Nadine Farag have created a jewel of a space for their just-opened second location (open exclusive hours in September as it gets up to speed). A pretty cafe serving Mediterranean-inflected French pastries, bread, and breakfast and lunch fare sounds like just the ticket for Fort Point.
332 Congress St., Fort Point, Boston, www.elephantinebakery.com
FiDo Pizza
It’s a pizza rave, thanks to the team behind Bar Mezzana, Black Lamb, and other South End favorites. today they’re in Allston, too, at the Labworks building. FiDo serves up baked clams, chopped salads, fusilli with pesto, and of course the pies, with charred crusts and all the toppings (tomato sauce, soppressata, garlic honey, and whipped ricotta; braised greens, Parmesan cream, anchovies, and mozzarella; and so on). This also might be the only place in town where you can get a Pepperoni Pizza Negroni.
250 Western Ave., Allston, 617-420-3436, www.fidopizza.com
Lou’s
More live track, yes, we could use it. Thanks to Lou’s — and to executive chef Jason Bond (Bondir) — the jazz, Afropop, R&B, and Brazilian sounds come with oysters; gorgonzola with beets, candied almonds, and rye berries; Caesar-style schnitzel with anchovy, capers, lemon, Parmesan and endive; and a griddled burger with cheddar on a potato roll. From martini service to zero-proof cocktails, the drinks menu has something for all.
13 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge, 857-706-1100, www.wearelous.com
Mai
From the Notoro Group (Matsunori Handroll Bar) comes this French-inspired Japanese restaurant in a vibe-y Seaport setting. The hand rolls are here, in more elegant iterations: eel with foie gras and strawberry yuzu kosho, beet-cured salmon with wasabi whipped cream, A5 Wagyu beef. Complement them with dishes such as uni toast, aged duck risotto, and Wagyu steak frites. For dessert: macaron service. Cocktails include a Matchatini, because you can get an espresso martini anywhere.
31 Northern Ave., Seaport, Boston, www.mai.boston
Nine
Meet the new kid, not so different from the old kid that fans of the old kid will be sad. In other words: No. 9 Park closed, but Nine is filling its shoes with tasting menus from chef de cuisine Andrew Simonich that include a few familiar dishes. (No prune-stuffed gnocchi, however.) What is decidedly new and refreshing: the bar’s focus on gin. Restaurateur Allan Rodriguez is also behind El Centro, La Neta, and Sabina Mezcaleria.
9 Park St. Place, Beacon Hill, Boston, 617-936-3440, www.ninerg.com
Nine Winters Bakery
Marissa Ferola began serving Korean-American baked goods at Bow Market and Honeycomb Creamery. today she has a brick-and-mortar bakery in Cambridge. Come for gochujang-citrus sticky buns, Korean garlic bread, inspired cookies (peanut butter chile crisp, doenjang apple blondies), and slices of chocolate layer cake spiked with Korean rice wine. For lunch: milk bread sandwiches and galbi pot au feu. Drinks are special, too: cold brew coffee with orange ginger beer; beef fat-washed chai with cucumber and apple milk punch. Nine Winters also hosts occasional dinners, such as a recent one by Mango Tao, chef Ashley Lujares’s modern Filipino pop-up.
292 Concord Ave., Huron Village, Cambridge, www.ninewinters.com
Row 34
Meet the Boston restaurant scene, eternally eating its own tail, enmeshed in a cycle of reincarnation with a side of lobster rolls. Can’t complain. This Kenmore Square spot was seafood restaurant Great Bay, then seafood restaurant Island Creek Oyster Bar, followed by seafood restaurant Pescador, and today seafood restaurant Row 34. It’s the fifth branch of the local mini-chain operated by Shore Gregory and chef Jeremy Sewall, who were long affiliated with Island Creek; Sewall was the opening executive chef at Great Bay. Anyway! Here we are, and glad of it. I’ll have all the local oysters, some smoked bluefish pate, house-made bucatini with crab and heirloom tomato sauce, and a beer from Row 34’s always excellent list, please.
498 Commonwealth Ave., Kenmore Square, Boston, 617-213-7750, www.row34.com
Salt Marsh Winery
Chef-owner Douglas Rodrigues has worked everywhere from Clio to Osteria Vivo in Pembroke. He returns to his roots with Salt Marsh Winery; his grandfather had a farm in Scituate. The menu makes the most of New England ingredients with dishes such as candy-striped beets with macerated blackberries, Sichuan lobster bisque, striped bass with corn chowder, and lobster and oxtail Stroganoff. Dishes are creative and beautifully presented. Think: tuna noodle casserole, but make it confit yellowfin over house-made egg noodles with matsutake cream and foie gras. Desserts come from pastry chef Kate Holowchik, who specializes in sophisticated spins on childhood favorites (s’mores chocolate cremeux with birch beer ice cream and morello cherry compote, for example).
17 New Driftway, Scituate, 781-378-3814, www.thesaltmarshwinery.com
SJ’s
Chef Sarah Wade (Stillwater, Sloane’s) is behind a new restaurant serving creative comfort food near South Station. On the menu: prawn toast, butternut squash and celeriac agnolotti with rosemary chile-lime brown butter, steak frites, and more. Wade will also serve her own private-label caviar, with house-made chips, blini, and other fixings. SJ’s is slated to open in October.
745 Atlantic Ave., Leather District, Boston, Instagram @bostonsjs
TooHot
I’m happy for Harvard Square, which today has an ambitious Sichuan restaurant from Noah Jiang of Noah’s Kitchen in Brookline. The name makes me laugh; the dishes make me sweat. From Yibin fiery noodles to Secret Sizzling Squid Tentacles to seared duck breast with young ginger jus, every dish on TooHot’s gargantuan menu sounds delicious. Thursday nights are for fermentation-focused tasting menus, with seatings at 5 and 7 p.m.
18 Eliot St., Harvard Square, Cambridge, 617-945-1206, toohot.kitchen
Devra First can be reached at devra.first@globe.com. Follow her on Instagram @devrafirst.
About the Author
