The 10 Restaurants That Defined Boston Dining in 2024
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We asked our contributors to the Resy Hit List to share their top dining experiences in their cities this year — to choose 10 restaurants that define the state of great dining right now. Welcome back our Best of The Hit List for 2024.
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With Boston — and, OK, the rest of the earth — about to clock another lap around the sun, it’s as good a time as any to take stock of the restaurants new and old that left the greatest impression on the year that was. From the audible splash that was Somaek (and Temple Records) making landfall Downtown, to newcomer Baleia seamlessly cementing its place in the South End dining canon and Lehrhaus redefining the very idea of what a restaurant can be, we’ve collected our thoughts below.
Here are the 10 restaurants that defined dining for us in Boston in 2024.
1. Baleia South End
Portuguese food, if you’ll pardon our use of the following expression, is so hot right now. And with the opening of Baleia in the South End, The Coda Group — whose existing restaurants, The Salty Pig, SRV and Gufo offer differing shades of Italian — proved it can play with the flavors of that other Mediterranean peninsula, too … and do so in an airy, light-filled space that at once recalls a fishing village on Portugal’s Atlantic coast. The impression is further cemented by coastal-influenced cooking like pork-and-seafood cataplana stews, grilled sardines smothered with a turmeric chermoula, and impossibly fluffy salt cod bolinhos that may make you question whether you’ve ever really had a proper cod fritter. This was just the restaurant we needed not only to remind us of our pride of place on the Atlantic coast, but also of Massachusetts’ strong ties to a certain coastal country across the sea.
2. Somaek Boston
The discussion around Somaek — which by no coincidence, may have been the most-discussed Boston restaurant over the last year — can be approached in any number of ways. One is that the down-home style Korean restaurant represents what’s been a historically overlooked cuisine in the Boston area. Another is that it’s the first true solo act from Jamie Bissonnette, who’s been a local fixture since opening Toro nearly 20 years ago alongside Ken Oringer, founding a partnership that continued until 2023. Yet another is that it — and its associated sister establishments, Temple Records and Sushi @ Temple Records — together deliver a much-needed shot in the arm to a Downtown dining scene that’s languished since the COVID doldrums. To which we answer: Yes, all of these narratives check out. But most importantly, Somaek’s just a damn good place to eat and drink.
3. La Padrona Back Bay
The opening of the Raffles Hotel overlooking historic Back Bay serves as a 35-story reminder that what was once derided as a regional city is increasingly a global one. It’s an evolution that stokes both excitement and anxiety — assuaged ever-so-slightly by the return of a familiar, local face in the form of Jody Adams and her new restaurant within the hotel. Yes, the opulent two-story restaurant and its villa-inspired décor are certainly a match for the jet-set clientele that makes Raffles their (temporary) home, but it’s every bit as enticing for the locals that have been dining out at Adams’ restaurants for decades, starting with the much-loved Rialto in Harvard Square. At La Padrona, it’s Italian on the menu once more, albeit in the rarified form of lobster and uni risotto and 36-ounce dry-aged bisteccas, accompanied by a stacked cocktail menu specializing with martinis and Negronis galore.
4. Temple Records Boston
Temple Records, as we’ve already established above, is a part of the Jamie Bissonnette triple threat that also includes Somaek and Sushi @ Temple Records. But it’s worth giving a further shout-out as it serves as the local harbinger of a trend that originated in 1950s Tokyo and has in the last few years been taking U.S. cities from Seattle to Nashville by storm: the listening bar. Temple Records stays true to the mid-century originals by serving Japanese whiskies, sake, and beer — but not shaken cocktails, whose noisy making would count as sound pollution — as clients enjoy the mellow vibes of vinyl records pulled from Bissonnette’s own collection.
5. Wa Shin Boston
Boston seems to be undergoing something of an omakase renaissance — and why shouldn’t it, considering its extremely close proximity to some of the freshest seafood the Atlantic has to offer? This advantage, and the bountiful harvest of Massachusetts farmers on dry land, have been capitalized on by Wa Shin, an intimate Bay Village omakase restaurant opened earlier this year by chef Sky Zheng. Zheng, a protégé of Jiro Ono — yes, the “Dreams of Sushi” guy — presides over an 18-course experience that may be typically Japanese in its aesthetic and traditions but is unmistakably local in its ingredients.
6. Rubato Quincy
As Boston’s Chinatown continues to be hollowed out by boba chains, there’s an increasing awareness that Quincy is becoming a real mecca for authentic Asian cooking. And its crown jewel might just be Rubato — a “modern Hong Kong café” complete with green tile-covered countertops and steaming bowls of congee. Those lucky enough to score one of the counter-service location’s nine seats can avail themselves to fresh and fluffy bao encased with beef brisket or Sichuan vegetables, though the restaurant’s most viral star is certainly its fried chicken bolo, which sandwiches an ultra-flaky piece of chicken thigh between baked, buttery bao. All in all, it’s a sign that Quincy’s very own Chinatown is finally getting the recognition it deserves, with good reason.
Walk-ins only. Find more info here.
7. Lehrhaus Somerville
All restaurants would like to be described as a “community hub,” but Lehrhaus is the real deal. The not-for-profit “Jewish tavern and house of learning” nourishes through both its extensive member classes and events — a sampling of recent and upcoming programming includes “An Introduction to Beer in Judaism” and “Engaging with Endangered Jewish Languages Today” — and through the food menu, a pescatarian take on Jewish diasporic cooking that includes everything from mushroom gravy poutine to beet reubens to kugel mac ‘n’ cheese. It’s a testament to the millennia-old power of food to foster dialogue, friendship and a place of belonging.
8. Yume Ga Arukara Downtown
At a time when many restaurants are trying to be all things to all people, Yume Ga Arukara stands apart as a counter-service shop that does exactly one: udon noodles, hot or cold. Its hyper-specialization has a paid off, with the original ensconced in the Porter Exchange Building soon trading out its food court position for a plum street side space in the same location, and a second outpost with a (slightly) larger menu that opened in the Seaport earlier this year. Sometimes — or all the time, in the case of Yume Ga Arukara — pillowy, freshly handmade noodles are all you really need.
Walk-ins only. Find more info here.
9. Spoke Wine Bar Davis Square
Naturally, most restaurant coverage falls on newcomers. What’s lost in the steady beat of opening announcements and coming attractions are the stories of restaurants that have quietly found ways of making their magic work for years. Case in point: Spoke, which opened in its corner of Davis Square back in 2013, back when both a locally sourced small-plates menu and a curated by-the-glass wine list were novelties in town. In the years since, the restaurant — which closed at the end of 2016 only to be quickly revived by a former employee — has continued that mission, while adding, say, a cocktail menu that makes use of lesser-known spirits and fascinating housemade ingredients and infusions. If anything, take this as a reminder that your local independent restaurant that’s stood the test of time deserves a return visit … especially if it’s Spoke.
10. Si Cara Cambridge
Few corners of the Greater Boston Area have been affected by recent flux more intensely than Central Square. Whereas pizza options were formerly limited to slice shops catering to nocturnal college students or post-concert attendees, chef Michael Lombardi of SRV created something decidedly different with Si Cara. With a focus on canetto-style pies — a close cousin of Neapolitan, similarly light but with an ultra-puffy crust that borders on pastry — and less-expected toppings like kimchi, hot honey chicken thighs, or even roasted grapes and tahini, Si Cara’s proven that there’s plenty of appetite in the Boston pizza scene for something more.
