An Odd Marriage in Boston’s Food Scene: Elderflower Oysters and Dunkin’
For decades praises for Boston’s food scene have tended to be backhanded digs. People pretended to be surprised to learn that Cambridge was once home to Julia Child’s televised kitchen. Or condescended to a bowl of gloppy clam chow-dah. But these gestures were mostly halfhearted. Much of the cruel avenues of the Internet considered Boston a second-rate food city. But in recent years Boston’s food scene has shattered those outdated conceptions.
If you want to test the culinary strength of Boston’s food scene, measure the force of its chefs. A number of Boston-based chefs, bakers, and restaurateurs have been awarded or nominated for a James Beard Award. This includes chefs Barbara Lynch (№9 Park), Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette (Coppa, Toro), and baker Joanne Chang (Flour Bakery + Cafe).
Also Boston’s? Top Chef celebrities Kristen Kish, Tiffani Faison, Carl Dooley, and Michael Schlow. Tony Maws (Craigie on Main) was named one of America’s Best New Chefs by Food & Wine.
Consider, too, the undercurrents of Boston’s food scene. There is nothing forgettable about Loyal Nine’s glorious experiments on Colonial food. Known for its “East Coast Revival” cuisine, the restaurant’s historically inspired menu reimagines Colonial suppers of forgotten crustaceans and salt-pork casseroles.
This guide to Boston’s food scene will nudge you toward all the little shops and restaurant empires you need to know about, whose foods are so delicious, so complex, that their flavors will pull you deep into bliss. You’ll walk away from the experience feeling rattled, exhilarated, lucky-giddy happy. Your first thought will be, can I do it again, will there be more?
How to Eat Your Way Through Boston’s Food Scene
Boston, more than a city, is a universe of offerings. That’s why we’ve mapped out the most fashionable and ambitious neighborhoods of Boston eats — so you can get blissed out in food and avoid getting suckered like a tourist.
North End
The North End is where you’ll find not only the Freedom Trail but also the cannoli trail to sugar-dusted Sicilian pastries filled with ricotta cheese. Be warned that there is a war between Mike’s Pastry, Modern Pastry, and Maria’s Pastry Shop for the title of top cannoli. Please, do go — there is nothing more magnetic than an aproned baker batting a spool of cotton string and tying a bow around a box of pastel-colored sweets. For dinner, there are plenty of Italian restaurants dotting the North End to choose from. Go to the North Square Oyster for its tender rigatoni with a lobster and oxtail bolognese.
Chinatown / Downtown Crossing / Downtown
Boston’s miniature Chinatown offers plenty of bare-bones, faded shops. But you’ll never be on the fence with its restaurants. The food is exquisite, masterfully done, and cheap. Hike up Beach Street, so busy and crowded with noises and scents that you’ll want to stop to peek at the live fish and chickens. Saunter over to Great Taste Bakery & Restaurant for a joyful morning of dim sum. There’s also Gourmet Dumpling House and Taiwan Cafe. As with any good story of overeating, you’ll need a break: stroll the seven minutes to Downtown Crossing and get some hand-pulled Xi’an noodles from Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe. The Sichuan peppercorns will gently numb your lips. For dinner, try Haley.Henry’s Portuguese tinned smoked eels or octopus.
Seaport District
One of the most beautiful spaces in the city is the Seaport District. Once a muddy, water-clogged spot in the Boston Harbor, the place has been turned into a complex development project set with avenues of glass towers. There’s huge cultural value to visiting Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, a glassy Tetris block on the edge of the Boston Harbor. Afterward, head to KO Catering & Pies, where it’s all about savory Australian-style meat pies. Or go to Boston food scene’s acclaimed (but pricy) O Ya for sushi, described by Eater as “an expression of harmony, and [an] elegant redirection of Japanese cuisine.”
Back Bay
Do you find it tough to step out of the shadowy bars where Paul Revere, and other Sons of Liberty, once crawled? Well, get ready to step into the light, into the Back Bay that is. If you’re a novice to the neighborhood, be forewarned that many of the designer shops are for self-replenishing wallets. If you can’t afford a beautifully tailored suit from Newbury Street, you can get realms of pleasure from Ken Oringer’s restaurant Uni for immaculate sushi.
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