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| Clio Eliot Suite Hotel 370 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, Massachusetts Phone: (617) 536-7200 |
Despite the orchids blooming all the way to the ceiling, the leopard spots on the carpet, and the intimate supper club atmosphere, chic Clio is more than just a pretty face. Everyone within earshot is talking about the food, and there is plenty to say. Kenneth Oringer is a driven, fiercely ambitious chef who aims for intense clarity of flavors in subtly (and brilliantly) Asian-inflected dishes, and he succeeds more often than not. Tempura-fried rings of preserved lemon are the spark for spot prawns seared a mere second or two. A sauté of silvery elvers, hokigai clams, and hot red pepper in olive oil fuses Maine, Japan, and Spain. No one doubts the waiters' assertion that the halibut — transformed into a flowerlike ceviche sparkling with citrus juice, mints, and a yellow bell pepper emulsion — was "caught the same day." There are no Asian references in an assiette of lamb rib chops, brisket, and shoulder with morels and green garlic, but it may be one of the best lamb dishes you've ever tasted. Finish with lime gelée, accompanied by coconut water and mangoes, and conversation takes a poetic turn. | ||||||||||||||||
| Kingfish Faneuil Hall South Marketplace Boston, MA Phone: (617) 523-8862 |
Bostonians rejoiced when owner Todd English (most famously of Olives) unveiled his latest culinary mecca. English now helms KingFish, designed by David Rockwell (Nobu, Vong), and located in the historic Faneuil Hall. It opened just this past July, and Julia Child has already dropped by to sample its comprehensive seafood menu. And the enormous lobster pot at the end of the bar? It's for the New England lobster bake. | ||||||||||||||||
| Jasper White's Summer Shack 149 Alewife Brook Parkway Boston, MA Phone: (617) 520-9500 |
Food is fun at the Summer Shack, where you pick your lobster from a 1,200-gallon tank and eat on picnic tables covered with butcher paper. The latest venue for heralded restaurateur Jasper White, the Shack was welcomed by locals when it opened last May. Dine on New England favorites like creamy clam chowder ($4) and baked yellow-eye beans ($4)?and don't miss the deep-fried Summer Shack corn dog ($3.50). | ||||||||||||||||
| Radius 8 High St. Boston, MA Phone: (617) 426-1234 |
The room, a stunning minimalist semicircle with illuminated wall niches each displaying a single flower, is a far cry from downtown Boston's Brahmin strongholds. Radius is a new sort of club, with smart, thoughtful service and intelligently inventive food. Michael Schlow is not the only chef around who does soupe de poisson, but his fresh, saffrony seafood essence poured from a Japanese teapot is the only one in Boston that matters. He likes to startle with pure, focused tastes in unexpected pairings — pea shoots, snow peas, and a purée of English peas under a pork tenderloin. The classically trained Schlow does the Asian thing as though he'd grown up slicing raw hamachi into sashimi and creating colorful compositions with flying fish roe and avocado emulsions. Pastry chef Paul Connors, tuned to the same high key, brings dinner full circle with a crunchy brown sugar cake with grapefruit and ginger, one of Boston's best desserts. Kevin Spacey and Christina Ricci have dined at the minimalist Radius, where chef and co-owner Michael Schlow is giving French cuisine a modern twist. This stylishly urban space (a former bank) has a playfully sophisticated menu: seared foie gras with bing cherries and balsamic vinegar ($22) and spice crusted skate with tabbouleh, currants and cilantro ($27) are two examples. Order the restaurant's most popular drink, a sidecar ($8). Reservations recommended. | ||||||||||||||||
| Oleana 134 Hampshire St. , Cambridge MA Phone: (617) 661-0505 |
The backyard patio of Oleana puts chef Ana Sortun’s superb North African– and Mediterranean-inspired cuisine into context. Visually, the area is stunning. A weave of red brick is the canvas for umbrella-covered tables scattered just far enough apart to balance privacy and sociability. Large, multilevel beds of colorful flowers, herbs, garlic, and a thriving fig tree create the convincing illusion of the far-away Mediterranean. Chef Sortun and her kitchen staff put the garden’s gifts to good use, often cutting fresh lemon verbena for ice cream, infusing the prolific lovage into a rich tomato spread that goes atop grilled flatbread, or adding summer savory to a pickled vegetable mix. On Tuesdays, when local Turkish musicians play their traditional lutes, tefs, and zurnas, you’d swear you were in an exotic café in Bodrum. |
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| The Oak Room, Sidecar Fairmont Copley Plaza, 138 St. James Avenue, Boston MA Phone:617-267-5300 |
The real meat of a truly great steakhouse is just that: its meat. And while the opulent Oak Room may look too delicate to deliver on such a carnivorous front, this year it left the competition begging for scraps. Witness the splendidly marbled bone-in rib-eye, juicy to its sweet core. And the pliant slab of aged New York strip under a voluptuous horseradish sauce. Sides and seafood, too, are much more than standard: thick spears of tender asparagus, chilled artichokes with thick and fresh lobster tail, and sharp-flavored calamari salad. Service is thoughtful, informed, and perfectly timed, and the epic wine list is packed with impressive (mostly French and American) choices. Why haven’t we mentioned the room’s flat-out stunning décor by now? Because with credentials like this, it shouldn’t matter. Saying the Oak Room isn’t a real steakhouse is as silly as saying a beautiful woman can’t be smart. | ||||||||||||||||
| Midwest Grill 1124 Cambridge Street , Cambridge MA Phone: 617-354-7536 |
In Brazil, restaurants like Midwest Grill are everywhere, which helps to explain why Brazilians traditionally consume their largest meals at lunch: Feasts like those served up by this Inman Square establishment take time to digest. The format is all-you-can-eat, and the fare centers on grilled meat: skewers of sausages, pork loin, lamb, chicken hearts, and sirloin, carved by hand at your table until you finally beg the friendly servers to bring you no more. The accompanying buffet features salad fixings, fluffy mashed potatoes, tasty casseroles, and what might be the best rice and beans outside of Rio. It does not include dessert, but you won’t mind—you’ll be too full anyway. |
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| Sel de la Terre 255 State St. , Boston MA Phone: 617-720-1300 |
French culture hasn’t had any easy go of it this year in America, but that hasn’t softened the draw of Sel de la Terre. In fact, chef Geoff Gardner’s food just gets better and better in the face of Francophobia. With great attention to ingredients and detail, Gardner offers a Provençal-focused menu of affordable first courses ($9 each) that includes a smoky bacon tart with Swiss chard and earthy oyster mushrooms, and a cream of fennel soup with grilled shrimp, spinach, and fig- and anise-flecked croutons. Entrées are just as ambrosial: local cod with a sweet and crunchy hazelnut coating, served with green beans and roasted potatoes. Even the bar snacks are above par: Gardner’s rosemary-scented pommes frites are, quite simply, required eating. | ||||||||||||||||
| L'Espalier 30 Gloucester St. , Boston MA Phone: 617-262-3023 |
The maitre d’ at L’Espalier is so accustomed to proposals among his customers, he’ll happily dispense advice about where to conceal the ring. It’s all part of the superb and attentive service at this Back Bay institution, which just so happens to serve equally superb food. Chef Frank McClelland’s delectable courses, which start with a dainty amuse bouche, are cosseted with luxury ingredients and inevitably end with tiered trays of precious petits fours—the fabled backdrop to more than a few passion plays. And if all that doesn’t whet your appetite for love, consider the surroundings: a dimly lit and tastefully sumptuous townhouse that even includes one chamber known as the Seduction Room. | ||||||||||||||||
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