The Resy Hit List: Where In Boston You’ll Want to Eat Right Now
There’s no question we hear more often: Where should I go eat? And while we at Resy know it’s an honor to be the friend who everyone asks for restaurant advice, we also know it’s a complicated task. That’s where the Resy Hit List comes in.
We’ve designed it to be your essential resource for dining in Boston: a monthly-updated (and now expanded!) guide to the restaurants that you won’t want to miss — tonight or any night.
Five Things In Boston Not to Miss This Month
- Suit Up: Koji Club founder Alyssa Mikiko DiPasquale has just returned from her travels in Japan — which presumably, involved a fair amount of sake tasting — and is keen to share what she’s learned. You’ll have the opportunity to soak up some of her recent wisdom via the Koji Club’s 1-hour “Suitcase Series” tastings, which run on July 7, July 14 and July 28.
- Mucha Ado: Burro Bar South End. Mondays. All-you-can-eat-tacos. $21. Need we say anything more?
- The Great Outdoors: It’s high time that you got outside — to eat, that is. Make the most of high summer’s al fresco opportunities with our guide to Boston’s most notable patios.
- Crust Cause: Ain’t no party like a Pagu pizza party. On Thursdays (excepting the 4th) throughout the summer, the restaurant will hold a series of ticketed pop-ups. Guests will be treated to a buffet of innovative pizzas (example: squid ink dough, fried calamari, corn amino sauce, maitake, piparra peppers), apps like Thai spiced wings and spritzes. Tickets here for July 11th. July 18th. and July 25th.
- Use Your Noodle: On Thursday, July 18th, City Winery Boston Restaurant & Wine Bar will hold a pasta-making class with Seven Hills Pasta to instruct attendees on the fine art of Sardinian pasta-making — complemented by Sardinian wine. Now this is the kind of summer school we can get behind. Tickets here.
New to the Hit List (July 2024)
Folio, Sushi by Bosso, The Vermilion Club.
1. Sarma Winter Hill
There’s something to be said — actually, a lot to be said — about the sort of restaurant in an otherwise sleepy neighborhood that still books up weeks in advance, more than 10 years after opening. Sarma is that. You could chalk up its sticking power to its bevy of awards, but that would shortchange the constant creativity of chef Cassie Piuma, whose Turkish meyhane concept still resonates a decade in. It has become a laboratory for Mediterranean flavors, pumping out playful mezze like lentil nachos, brussels sprouts bravas and harissa barbecue duck, while still keeping diners on their toes for whenever the Turkish fried chicken — which can only be ordered direct from the tray — comes out of the kitchen.
2. Somaek Boston
Jamie Bissonnette’s first new restaurant since going solo is an ode to simple, traditional Korean cooking inspired by none other than his mother-in-law, who is officially credited as a consulting chef. The menu — which reads in both English and Korean — pairs dishes like seafood and green onion pancakes, steamed pork and kimchi dumplings, or steak tartare with pickled mustard and egg yolks to a robust assortment of banchan, including four types of kimchi. The bar program, meanwhile, serves its namesake drink made by blending soju and beer, alongside a bevy of other low-ABV cocktails. Bonus: the concept is in fact a three-in-one, as Somaek also hosts listening bar Temple Records (see below) and its associated act, Sushi @ Temple Records.
3. Contessa Boston Back Bay
As it enters its fourth year of business, Contessa remains a hot ticket — one of the hottest in town. Which is why it’s a smart idea to take care of the usual post-holiday lull to try and snap up a table for two (or more) and either get reacquainted with, or finally experience, all the rigatoni carbonara and veal Milanese-related hubbub, of the sort that made Major Food Group restaurants like Carbone into modern dining legends. Even if you don’t have dinner on the mind, its glitzy bar helmed by bow tie-clad staff remains the chicest spot in town for a Negroni, rooftop views included.
4. Baleia South End
For years, the Coda Restaurant Group has been content to play in the Italian sandbox. First it was wood-fired pies and housemade pastas at The Salty Pig, then Venetian-style small plates via SRV, and most recently the restaurant-cum-café Gufo. But the group’s last venture eschews the boot in favor of flavors from another peninsular nation, Portugal. Baleia bets big on Portuguese seafood with oysters spiced by piri piri, steamed baby clams in Vinho Verde, and an entire roasted fish with ham and anchovy xo. Meanwhile, landlubbers can still be contented by a lamb shank served with spicy pickles or a sucking pig complete with crispy ears.
5. Saltie Girl Boston Back Bay
Saltie Girl began as a restaurant-within-a-restaurant, taking over an underutilized room within owner Kathy Sidell’s MET Back Bay in 2016. The timing was impeccable: Saltie Girl made a focus out of tinned fish, well ahead of its time. Gradually, the restaurant has expanded to take over the entire townhouse that once housed MET. And its blend of tinned fish restaurant, raw bar and New England seafood shack still feels unique — perhaps thanks to house signatures like a decadent fried lobster and waffles.
6. La Padrona Boston
Jody Adams has added another jewel to her Italian restaurant crown with the opening of La Padrona inside the Raffles Hotel. In an opulent, bi-level space that features a bar on each floor, patrons will have their pick of regional specialties from across the boot, including spring vegetable fritto misto with lobster bottarga, lobster and uni risotto with chive blossoms, and a 36-ounce, dry-aged bistecca alla Fiorentina accompanied by bone marrow and grilled focaccia. Meanwhile, the cocktail program affords drinks like the excellently named Sophia Loren On the Beach made with rum, Batavia arrack, falernum, and vanilla, plus an entire martini-centric menu that includes an espresso martini infused with Parmesan.
7. Woods Hill Pier 4 – Seaport Seaport
An outgrowth of Concord’s Woods Hill Table, Pier 4 is an ingredients-focused breath of fresh air in a glossy neighborhood otherwise crowded out by steakhouse chains and margarita joints. Like its suburban sibling, the Seaport location sources much of its ingredients from the Farm at Woods Hill in Bath, N.H., with others drawn from similarly minded local purveyors. The result is simple, classic fare, served in a starkly modern dining room with sweeping views of Boston Harbor. And while seasonal dishes come and go, you can always count on the popovers (don’t miss them).
8. Myers + Chang South End
“Asian-ish” flavors abound at Joanne Chang’s longstanding South End restaurant, whose small plates incorporate the culinary traditions of Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, China and beyond. The charm rests not only in its airy diner-like space, but also to an openness to accommodating allergies and dietary restrictions that goes above and beyond. The entire menu, from Mama Chang’s pork and chive dumplings to the wok-roasted lemongrass mussels, is carefully coded to alert diners to vegan or vegetarian status and the presence of any potential allergens. And distinct gluten-free, shellfish-free or nut-free menus are available.
9. Toro Boston South End
Ken Oringer’s Toro arguably introduced tapas to Boston — and supercharged the South End’s nascent dining scene — when it opened on an otherwise snoozy stretch of Washington Street in 2005. Ever since, Toro has been anything but quiet, with small crowds packing around the Barcelona-style restaurant’s entrance. While the menu rotates regularly, a number of house signatures have emerged: most notably, its ultra-saucy patatas bravas (which can be fortified with sausage crumbles), the Valencian-style paella and a decadent uni bocadillo that spreads fresh uni, miso butter and pickled mustard seeds between two slices of well-toasted bread.
10. Field & Vine Union Square
The arrival of pizza-focused sibling June Bug (see above) is a good reason to check back into Field & Vine. Given its emphasis on local, seasonal ingredients, the menu is rarely static, currently with dishes like steak tartare with nuoc cham aioli, smoked beets with raspberry vinaigrette and almond coffee cream, and a grilled swordfish swimming in guajillo broth with hominy. If that sort of tweaking of what otherwise might go under the category of “New American” feels especially novel, well, that’s why F&V’s customers are a loyal bunch.
11. Sushi by Bosso Ramen Tavern Back Bay
The ownership of Harvard Square’s Bosso Ramen Tavern has crossed the Charles to open Sushi by Bosso on Newbury Street. The lower-level space shakes up the otherwise staid Back Bay sushi status quo with fresh fish sourced directly from the Seaport, plus pressed sushi, decadent wagyu skewers and snacky bites included fried tuna karaage and clam chowder croquettes.
12. The Vermilion Club Downtown
Who says that Downtown is dead? Certainly not John Fraser, who’s countering the downer narrative by opening The Vermilion Club, a new steakhouse concept with no shortage of swank, sex appeal, and most importantly, dry-aged tomahawks. The menu is indulgence up-and-down, from a foie gras Boston cream pie to mozzarella-smothered veal chop pizzaiola, and a genuinely scorched Baked Alaska made with honey ice cream for dessert. In case that weren’t enticing enough, the glitzy rectangular bar at the center of the space maintains a 70-strong cocktail list.
13. Pagu Central Square
Chef Tracy Chang won plaudits for starting volunteer-run organizations to address food insecurity during the pandemic. But she’s also garnered a James Beard nomination for her work at this unclassifiable Central Square restaurant, which serves classic Spanish tapas alongside Japanese and other Asian dishes. In the mood for jamón Ibérico, but also braised pork belly bao? Pagu has you covered. Craving miso black cod but also vegetarian paella? Ditto. And depending on the size of your party, you might even plump for the scene-stealing suckling pig, which can satisfy up to six.
14. SRV South End
SRV — as in “Serene Republic of Venice” has brought the cooking of the City of Canals to Columbus Avenue. The emphasis is cicchetti, bite-sized morsels you might enjoy in a Venetian wine bar, or bacaro. Within SRV’s brick-walled dining room, dinner might start with a Venetian Spritz or the vermouth of the day, followed by such cicchetti as its baccala mantecato — salt cod spread on a piece of black bread with herbs — or the evergreen pork-and-beef meatballs. Dinners gradually progress to small or main-sized plates; don’t miss the seasonally changing risotto.
15. Brick Street Bagels South End
Over the last year, Brick Street Bagels has gone from selling its chewy, crispy wares in parks, restaurants, or cafés via pop-ups to dispensing bagels from its own, dedicated space inside the South End Buttery’s Shawmut Avenue location. For now, “drops” are announced via the indie baker’s website, and tend to happen four days a week: Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Just make sure to check the schedule yourself — and prepare to queue in line.
16. Temple Records Boston
In the 1950s, “listening bars” sprouted in Japan, where audio nerds could bring in their vinyl to be played in a laid-back atmosphere with a cold drink in hand. Why is this history lesson important? Because it provides the context to Jamie Bissonnette’s other new downtown concept. Connected to his new Somaek, Temple Records serves as a listening library for the chef-owner’s impressive collection of LPs, and offers a cocktail menu split between simple, fizzy highballs and more creative drinks like the Off Minor made with Japanese gin, Midori, basil, yuzu, and absinthe. Just no shaken cocktails, as that would disturb the music—an essential rule of listening bars everywhere.
17. Chickadee Seaport
Out-of-the-way doesn’t begin to describe this spot nestled on the first floor of the Boston Design Center, beside a tile showroom and the Reebok headquarters. As it turns out, it’s as fine a place as any to open a loosely Mediterranean restaurant built around New England ingredients, which has resulted in now-classic dishes like thick-cut chickpea fries with Calabrian chile aioli and harissa-spiced cheddar biscuits, plus an always-changing assortment of housemade pastas. Just don’t sleep on the fried chicken, which really is as good as everyone makes it out to be.
18. KAVA neo-taverna South End
If there’s one thing you must know about the tiny, perpetually in-demand taverna at the intersection of Shawmut and Union Park, it’s this: The restaurant only takes reservations a day in advance, starting at 10 a.m.. Now that you’ve set your alarm, we can fill you in on what’s made Kava a hot ticket. There’s the matter of its undeniable good looks. But most of the credit goes to the menu, which is rustic, simple and sized to share, with dishes like keftedes (lamb meatballs) bouyiourdi (baked feta with tomatoes) and grilled octopus among the perpetual favorites.
19. Lê Madeline Quincy
Quincy is making a serious play at being a bona fide dining destination, helped along by creative newcomers like Lê Madeline. Formerly the long-running noodle shop Pho Linh, Lê Madeline represents a more contemporary take on Vietnamese cooking that seamlessly blends unexpected ingredients into classic preparations, resulting in dishes like a creamy bo kho (beef stew) made with hanger steak au poivre, or a dish of sliced duck and banana flowers with fish sauce-laced Dijonnaise.
20. Folio Downtown
A new outgrowth of the Boston Athenaeum, a historic member’s library on Beacon Hill, Folio is a wine bar and bistro open to the public at large. It’s expectedly bookish interior — yes, that’s a wallpaper pattern marked with the spines of fictional titles — serves as a respite between marathon reading sessions for shareable bites of potato and smoked paprika cannelloni or guava and cheese empanadas and one of the literary inspired cocktails like an Alice’s Wonderland made with milk-washed gin, hibiscus, caramelized banana and lime.
