The Resy Guide to the New Classic Dishes of Boston

The dish: Maíz asado

Long before “street corn” became a 50-states obsession, it was championed by Toro in the form of their maíz asado. Whereas many contemporary versions are content just to slather some mayo on a cob and call it a day, Toro garnishes each with creamy aioli, Espelette peppers, lime, and aged cheese, and vitally, grills each so that the kernels are tender but remain firm enough to snap with each satisfying bite.

The dish: Baked Alaska

Oleana swerves from its Turkish focus to serve that grandest of grand-old desserts: baked Alaska. Oleana’s always-available iteration delivers with coconut ice cream and passion fruit caramel, and a meringue topper that’s perfectly toasted to caramelized perfection.

The dish: Focaccia

Of all the dishes from Karen Akunowicz’s first restaurant that could appear on this list — the post-salad broccoli alla griglia “Caesar,” the wild boar Bolognese with housemade tagliatelle — ultimately, we settled on the focaccia. Why? Because it’s a glorious top-down reinvention of a dish that might normally be served as a filler beside olive oil. In Fox & The Knife’s case, it comes as a warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven miniature pie that’s topped with aromatic rosemary and stuffed with pull-apart melty taleggio cheese, making it a hearty appetizer in its own right.

The dish: World-famous buttermilk biscuits

The buttermilk biscuits at Sweet Cheeks, recently rechristened as “world-famous,” are wholly deserving of the honorific. They’ve been a must-order at Tiffani Faison’s Texas-style barbecue joint since its opening day, thanks to their cloud-like fluffiness and rich, flaky crust that could make a croissant baker weep. Naturally, they’re only improved by a healthy swath of honey butter.

The dish: Spaghetti carbonara

An early indication that Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer’s long-standing corner trattoria would not be your nonna’s Italian may have been its spaghetti carbonara. Curiously, the dish’s menu title leaves out its most vital ingredient — a helping of Maine uni that adds a dash of umami to the rich melding of egg yolk, Parmesan, and pancetta.

The dish: Cold niku udon

After well over a decade of ramen excess, Yume Ga Arukara’s cold niku udon is a master class in restraint. Each bowl is filled with the light touches of nori, daikon radishes, scallions, grated ginger, tempura flakes, and a simple lemon wedge, allowing its prime ingredients — thin sliced beef and soft-but-elastic housemade udon noodles in a concentrated savory broth — to shine.

The dish: Gloucester lobster roll

Of course, there’s going to be a lobster roll, but rather than stick to well-trod territory, we nominate a crustacean-on-a-bun creation from one of the seafood scene’s most rewarding newcomers. Saltie Girl’s Gloucester lobster roll is made, like the name implies, with local lobster and is available hot with rich drizzled butter or cold with mayo and a sprinkling of chives. Aside from getting the most crucial element — the lobster — right, Saltie Girl nails the accoutrements with a buttery griddled split-top bun and their own housemade sea salt and vinegar potato chips.

The dish: Mama’s Chang’s pork + chive dumplings

Change is a constant at Joanne Chang’s pan-Asian diner, save for one dish in particular: Mama Chang’s pork + chive dumplings. And it’s not hard to see why: with parchment-thin but expertly crispy skins and a flavorful filling of meat and greens, they’re everything you want from a dumpling — even before you get to the black pepper scallion dipping sauce.

The dish: Sliced fish Szechuan style soup

Gourmet Dumpling House may have a manifesto-length menu, but in fact we’re not here for the dumplings. Indeed, there’s reason why half of the shared tables at this Chinatown favorite are graced by a large bowl of soup tinged angry-red. That’d be the sliced fish Szechuan-style soup (more commonly ordered as “spicy Szechuan fish soup,”) which fills a soup bowl with spicy cabbage, melt-in-your-mouth pieces of fried whitefish, and a palate-numbing quantity of Szechuan peppercorns. And should you add scallion pancakes or pork-and-leek dumplings to your order, know that the soup doubles as an excellent dipping receptacle for either.

The dish: Classic hanger steak frites

Now in its third decade of service, The Franklin Café predates the South End’s restaurant renaissance and still packs in a crowd. For much of that time, the neighborhood standby has been known for its steak frites, sauced by a darkly sweet port demi-glace and crowned with a melty hunk of Roquefort butter, all over a bed of extra-crispy frites. It’s everything a plate of steak frites should be, decadent and meat-and-potatoes satisfying all at once.

The drink: State Park cocktail

Boston’s contribution to the classic cocktail canon is the Ward 8, a blend of rye whiskey, citrus juices and grenadine that has been more or less forgotten (notwithstanding the excellent version served today at Yvonne’s). But if the cocktail world were to ever accept another entry from the Greater Boston Area, we’d submit the eponymous house cocktail from State Park. A standard from the bar’s first day in business, it’s made by pouring out the first few ounces of a Miller High Life and replacing them with 100 proof rye, Braulio amaro, and a lemon twist. The boozy-but-refreshing result is a perfectly weird blend of high and low, much like the bar itself.