Boston’s Essential Cozy Locales

Cafe du Pays gives Boston the winter-combatting playbook adopted by our northern neighbors: a menu composed of soul-warming food. The Kendall Square restaurant has all the fixings of an elegant cabin, and when you add rich cuisine (the poutine or tourtière should do the trick), and a Cognac-heavy drinking list, it’ll be hard to leave feeling anything but warm.

Charming and buzzy, Parla is a jewel box of a place in the ever-bustling North End. Locals in-the-know flock here for Italian plates with a touch of nostalgia (read: meatballs atop rich marinara, plump lobster ravioli), but most importantly, for the drinks: Parla boasts one of the best cocktail lists in town, with boozy libations that’ll breathe fire back into anyone.

Whisk yourself out of the cold at this dazzling Porter Square restaurant. Baraka deals in Middle Eastern cuisine with a dash of French gastronomy, and the décor follows suit: you’ll be dining amongst ornate Moroccan drapes and gleaming brass lamps. Spring for the lamb tagine or the Marseillaise bouillabaisse, either dish arrives steaming hot and brimming with spices.

Nothing warms the soul better than a piping hot bowl of pasta, and Karen Akunowicz does it best at her charming enoteca. The Top Chef alum proffers shiny tagliatelle Bolognese and twirly mafaldine laced with duck; it’s enough to make you believe she grew up with an Italian nonna, especially after a few too many sips of the excellent amaro selection on offer.

Comfort food doesn’t belong to Italian nonnas only, as this colorful Jewish eatery proves. Our Fathers mixes deli staples with Israeli meze and ties it all up with a neighborhood bistro feel. That means you can order something close to your bubbe’s matzo ball soup with a bubbling order of shakshuka, and, pro-tip: according to Boston Magazine critic Jolyon Heltherman, the pastrami sandwich could rival that of Katz’s in New York.

Plant-lined and wood-accented, there’s something instantly calming about Field & Vine. The neighborhood favorite is very much in tune with the New England seasons, meaning there’s still time for bone-warming fare. We’re talking sauerkraut grilled cheese, roasted mushrooms, and cast-iron cheddar cornbread.

Nostalgia is a powerful tool, and Davis Square’s Rosebud knows this all too well. This retro diner looks like something straight out of a 1950s postcard, and doles out the kind of food our twelve-year-old selves–and present-day beings, too—would go cuckoo for: bourbon apple pie milkshakes, oven-roasted potato skins, and bbq bacon meatloaf are but some of the electric menu highlights.