Now Open on Resy: Contessa, Servia, Backbar, and More

An Italian restaurant worthy of its regal name, all-day Contessa sits atop the swanky Newbury Boston and it comes from the industry veterans responsible for Carbone in NYC. And thanks to its glass enclosure, it’s a rooftop restaurant you can count on enjoying year-round.

Note: Reservations are live for dates beginning on June 22.

The Pearl combines Southern hospitality with New England seafood smack in the middle of the South Bay shopping center. Whether seated within its yachty dining room or outside patio, you can partake in chargrilled oysters or the “Holy Trinity,” a signature dish that collects lobster, mussels, and shrimp in a single bowl with curry or fra diavolo sauce.

Servia serves a modern, region-hopping take on Mediterranean cuisine inside the historic Cunard Building. You might start by sharing meze, including eggplant Napoleon or a lamb-stuffed “meat cigar” borek, before moving onto a broccoli rabe ancient grain pizza or a lamb shoulder tagine.

Barra stands out in a sea of tacos and margaritas by replicating the experience of a contemporary Mexico City bar. So, while there certainly are tacos (filled with fried shrimp or stuffed peppers) and many margaritas, you’ll also encounter clamato cocktails, sotol flights, and a stellar menu of sipping mezcals, alongside grilled cactus salad and sautéed grasshoppers.

Located at the end of a long hallway in a non-descript building in Union Square, backbar is hard to find and harder to leave thanks to the creative cocktail alcove’s ever-changing drink menu. Pro tip: if you’re stumped, leave it up to the bartender and they’ll mix something based on your own preferences.

The Newbury Boston’s ground-level drinking establishment revives the glory days of hotel bars by serving classics like the Singapore Sling and Mamie Taylor alongside a half-dozen martini variants. And its food menu is the stuff of room-service dreams: hand-carved turkey club sandwiches, ruby red shrimp cocktail, and freshly baked pigs in a blanket.

At Picco, pizzas come “well-done” (read: expertly charred). They’re all winners, from the overloaded pepperoni to the sausage-fennel-and-ricotta, although the Alsatian, a tribute to flammekeuche topped by sautéed onions, shallots, garlic, crème fraiche, crispy bacon and melty Gruyère might be considered the house signature.

The Lookout is an all-outdoor dining experience composed of picnic tables spread across a working Natick farm’s spacious acreage. Locally brewed beer and Lookout Farm’s very own hard cider appear on the menu, along with Detroit-style deep-dish pizza, cold mayo lobster rolls, and smashed wagyu burgers topped with porcini bacon jam and Dijonnaise.

The latest addition to the Painted Burro family takes the restaurant’s south-of-the-border specialties to the suburbs, including swordfish al pastor tacos, short rib tortas, and pork carnitas enchiladas. The margarita offerings are appropriately generous, with nine varieties available by the glass and three by the pitcher.

Cook serves the kind of comforting but thoughtfully prepared food that’s perfect for capping off a weeknight or indulging a weekend: Think house-smoked turkey BLTs, wild mushroom pizzas, and steak frites with truffle fries and parmesan-rosemary aioli.