The Resy Hit List: Where In Boston You’ll Want to Eat Right Now

Goodbye Mary Chung — and hello Darling. Taking up residence in what had been the aforementioned restaurant’s space for four decades, the cocktail lounge pays tribute to its predecessor with a menu of Chinese-inspired cocktails and dim sum. Helmed by longtime local bartender Brian Callahan, the bar delivers with original creations like the Hope I Packed a Parachute, a clarified milk punch prepared with ceremonial-grade matcha, crème de cacao, and taro foam. Meanwhile, chef Mark O’Leary — formerly of Shōjō and O Ya — delivers dim sum from traditional to playful (the “Filet o Fish Bao” places salt cod inside a homemade bao bun with American cheese, pickled mustard, and tartare sauce). We’d like to think that Ms. Chung would approve.

Mai is a new, French-inspired Japanese izakaya in the Seaport… got that? What that means in more practical terms is a high-ceilinged space decorated with strings of neon lights and Labubu, where you might be treated to soy-brushed Hokkaido uni toast, wagyu fat fries, and cod brandade on the same evening. Hand rolls are also a big factor here: the menu features over a dozen, from salmon gravlax to duck foie gras to 72-hour marinated miso butter cod. In between, you might help yourself to a Tokyo 75 made by adding yuzu sake and plum brandy to bubbles or opt for the Matchatini that comes with cheese foam and the option to add a Lactaid pill for one dollar.

Walk-ins only. Find more info here.

Named after the roadside inns that dot the Andes, Tambo 22 is chef Jose Duarte’s ode to the flavors of his native land. Peruvian specialties like ceviche, lomo saltado (stir-fried beef), and slow-cooked chicken stew in a creamy pepper sauce dot the menu, complemented by an organic wine list and a playful cocktail menu that makes liberal use of pisco (example: the Nikkei 22 Sour that also includes matcha, yuzu, egg white, and Angostura bitters). And those nostalgic for Taranta, the Italian-Peruvian restaurant Duarte once helmed in the North End, will find that its signature saffron butter-grilled trout lives on at Tambo 22.

Jadu — meaning “magic,” in Hindi — is a coffee shop by day, dispensing flat whites, espresso tonics, and masala chai teas alongside labneh parfaits and Indian instant noodles for hearty sustenance. But by evening time, Thursday through Sunday, the airy little shop transitions to a wine bar (it did, after all, start as a wine pop-up in 2023) with a list of nearly two dozen vintages available by the bottle or glass, plus a strong showing of sherry, vermouth, and amari. Complementing the above is a snacky menu of small plates like miso tahini mushroom toast, tuna crudo, and mortadella sandwiches, with coconut-lime pie for a sweet conclusion. 

A police station is typically the last place you’d wish to spend your evening — unless that happens to be D16, a hidden bar secreted away in the basement of a former Back Bay police precinct (the top floor just happens to be the longtime gastropub Dillon’s, its sister establishment). With a snacky, cocktail party-inspired menu of duck fat fries, baby beef Wellingtons, and bite-sized lobster rolls, you’ll be eating far better than the space’s former occupants while also helping yourself to a Kid’s Got Moxie (bourbon, Campari, amaro) or Right to Remain Silent (reposado Tequila, yuzu, blood orange).

Crystal Spoons sounds like an unreleased GZA album, but is a newcomer Indian restaurant on the South End/Roxbury border. While specializing in aromatic Mughlai cuisine — known for its Central Asian influences — the menu represents a broad cross-section of Subcontinental favorites, running from tandoori chicken to goan shrimp curry to lamb shank masala, plus chile garlic naan for all of your sauce-mopping needs.

Not that it isn’t a delight in every season, but (gradually) falling temperatures put one in the mood for a juicy steak seared just-so. Serving such fare is roughly the entire purpose of Boston Chops, whose South End location is situated in a historic, former bank building that happens to make a marvelous setting for tucking into wagyu bavette steak frites or a 14-ounce prime rib crowned by roasted bone marrow or truffle butter. We say “roughly,” as non-steak offerings like a beurre rouge pork Milanese or fan-favorite pappardelle Bolognese are hardly an afterthought.

First opened in 2014, Parla has been the North End’s go-to speakeasy for over a decade, a mission it’s served via a cocktail list that’s heavy on pre-Prohibition classics and housemade shrubs and a food menu that satisfies with chicken Parmesan and Maine lobster ravioli. But it may be best known for what’s not on the menu: a “Dungeon Master” program, a collection of 20 original drinks that can only be experienced by rolling a 20-sided die, with each number granting access to a particular libation.

Not to be a bummer, but summer is finite. And among the best possible places to while away its fleeting days is on the patio of Saltie Girl, preferably with a warm-buttered lobster roll or a plate of fried Ipswich clams at arm’s reach. Also, a reminder that Saltie Girl was into tinned fish way before it was a trend. To this day, you’ll find dozens of varieties on its menu, ranging from Danish cockles in brine to smoked Spanish mussels to Alaskan rockfish with sumac and dill. 

Newtonville may be a long way from Naples, but chef Mario LaPosta is helping to bridge that gap with his eponymous restaurant specializing in naturally leavened, wood-fired pies and high-end takes on Southern Italian street food. Imagine: delicately fried calamari and housemade ricotta accompanied by hot honey, followed by pizza crowned with fresh figs and lardo or grilled ramps, ‘nduja, and mozzarella. Add in an enviable selection of wines sourced from the Boot’s lower half, and you’ve got yourself a stamp-free passport to Italy.

The farm-to-table Union Square standby’s whole M.O. is making the most of seasonal ingredients from local farmers and producers. As you might have heard, it’s summer, and that means a fresh menu with the likes of spicy king oyster mushroom salad, Wellfleet clams in green crab curry with housemade focaccia, and a bavette steak with a brown butter parsnip puree and kale salsa verde.  

There’s a delightfully choose-your-own adventure aspect to Zuma’s Boston outpost ensconced in the Four Seasons at One Dalton Street, where multiple avenues for pursuing dinner present no bad options. To wit: you might dabble in the sushi bar with a torched salmon belly roll with fresh truffles or the chef’s omakase; alternatively, you could go the wagyu route with a 10–ounce Australian skirt steak served with shiso chimichurri; or angle for one of its signature dishes like a barley miso-marinated baby chicken roasted on cedar wood or the miso-marinated black cod served in a hoba leaf. Like we said, no bad options.

Amid a time of TikTok trends and “viral” dishes, little Asta in the Back Bay has quietly continued to do the same thing since first opening its doors in 2013: serve daily changing, eight–course tasting menus that make the most of local ingredients and can be ordered vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, or “omnivore.” Whatever your direction (and depending on your own restrictions), there’s always the option to plump for extras like caviar with French macarons and white cream fraiche, or foie gras ganache with cocoa nib granola. Pro tip: On the first Saturday of each month, from noon to 2 p.m., they serve fried chicken on a biscuit. Can’t forget about that.

Thistle & Leek transports the London gastropub experience to the streets of Newton, a feat it’s pulled off with a menu of seasonally specific small plates like rye rigatoni with brown butter and pumpkin, broiled oysters in green chile butter, or lamb meatballs on a garlic flatbread. The potable side of the menu, meanwhile, is represented by a wine list that’s unapologetically Old World.

After soft-opening for take-out last fall, Mimi’s Chuka Diner — to recap, that’s Chinese cuisine as cooked in Japan — is firing on all cylinders (and accepting reservations) at its space inside Aeronaut Brewing Co. Expect crunchy kombu-brined chicken karaage, fried pork gyoza, and extra-garlicky garlic noodles, plus more surprising fare like a wagyu burger with yaki-barbecue sauce and Kewpie mayo.

Occupying one of the South End’s more charming — yet quiet — corners, Shawmut Inn trades on its comely environs with a well-positioned patio, but more importantly, delivers when it comes to local seafood and housemade pastas. The small, thoughtful menu promises the likes of torched tuna crudo or black garlic-glazed tempura shrimp to start, and pastas like porcini angel hair with yuzu white miso butter or sweet pepper mafaldine in a lobster fra diavolo sauce. Entrees — if you should make it that far — take the form of brick chicken with mustard cream sauce or an eponymous burger with truffle barbecue sauce and shaved shallots.