Let’s face it: Boston is a polarizing city. Beloved are its countless colleges, universities and places of higher learning, its leafy brownstone neighborhoods and charming cobblestone alleys. Catch the Boston Pops or Salsa Night at the Hatch Shell, where you can gaze sailboats lazily lapping the Charles River. Walk the Freedom Trail where our nation was born, stopping at the Boston Gardens to pedal swan boats around the flower-rimmed pond. Catch a night game at Fenway, when the sunset frames the neon Citgo sign with radiating oranges and reds. Walk through the Harvard and MIT campuses, wondering what new marvel is being imagined in the halls within. There are so many iconic moments to experience in The Hub—aka “The Hub of the Universe”—as Oliver Wendell Holmes gushed of Boston in 1858.
Of course playing the flip side of the Boston coin is that infamous pride bordering on arrogance, and why so many sneer at the city’s mere mention. Especially sports fans, many who’ve been vanquished by the City Of Champions at some point this century. As a Boston-to-Los Angeles transplant, I can personally testify to the generous ire the city raises in many a passionate sports aficionado. Regardless, there’s one thing undeniable about Beantown: the city’s culinary scene is exploding, filling in a city famed for its lobster-cage adorned seafood restaurants and checkered tablecloth bistros with a multi-chromatic variety of cosmopolitan treasures—a gastronomic achievement rubber-stamped last year by the Michelin Guide visiting the city for the first time ever.
With the FIFA World Cup this summer, and its amicable invasion of tartan-dressed Scots, the arrival of the Tall Ships for this year’s Sail Boston, Boston Calling Music Festival, MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, and the historic Boston Marathon happening annually, there are no shortage of marquee events attracting folks from across the world to the dirty waters of Boston Harbor—British tea not included. So we figured it’s time to highlight the very best culinary hotspots gaining attention in the city, fueling both hard-to-please locals and eager tourists alike.
BOSTON: WHERE TO EAT
Willie’s
From the heart of one of Boston’s most iconic villages, Willie’s reimagines the former Upper Crust Pizzeria space as a charming neighborhood trattoria. Only opened this March, Willie’s welcomes guests to Beacon Hill with wood-topped tables, cozy banquettes, a light-filled ambiance and a bar facing the open kitchen and wood-fired oven. But don’t believe the red bricks, unpretentious design and seemingly traditional Italian menu—they all belie something truly special that co-owner Chef Jamie Bissonnette cooks up here daily.
Tapping his wife’s Korean ethnicity, her mom’s recipes, and the time he’s spent in South Korea, the James Beard Award winning chef—also the first recipient of Food & Wine’s People’s Best New Chef award and author of the acclaimed The New Charcuterie Cookbook—layers some highly unexpected Asian twists to an on-the-surface Italian menu. For instance on the spinach pizza, Chef Jamie employs a sesame and garlic-soaked spinach found in Korean banchan. The results are subtle but wild: it’s not incongruous to find either sesame or garlic on Italian food, but somehow the Korean spinach tastes revolutionary on the slow-fermented dough. Meanwhile the Caesar salad chops napa cabbage into the mix, and the moist, plump ball of burrata comes served on a bed of buchu muchim (a Korean garlic chive salad) along with a huge splattering of gochujang chili sauce. The spaghetti carbonara arrives laced with bottarga and yuzu kosho. There’s also a sneaky Spanish influence, found in ingredients like Cinco Jotas Ibérico ham and an umami vermouth dry gin and tonic.
With only 28 seats and no waiting area, Willie’s fills up fast—reservations open exactly two weeks out and vanish within minutes, so an off-peak weekday lunch or walk-in seats at the bar (where you can watch Chef Jamie man the ovens) are the more realistic play. Willie’s embodies Boston perfectly: totally unpretentious, surprisingly cosmopolitan, and confidently flips surface expectations on their head.
Mahaniyom
We discovered Mahaniyom years ago utterly by accident, which is always the most rewarding. While cued in an hour-long wait for a highly hyped Chinese restaurant nearby, we took a walk around the quaint Brookline Village—where I spent many a weekend with my dad who lived nearby—and came across this unassuming Thai outpost. Looking to kill half an hour with a cocktail or three, we stepped inside and instantly knew we’d found something special. Let’s just say the tenders behind the bar were…enjoying themselves freely, as was the hostess, who sat us at the wood bar. There they brought us free oysters for the hell of it, a gift from the owners in the back cooking—not sure if both founders Smuch Saikamthorn and Chompon Boonnak were there—and we rewarded them by ordering several exceptional cocktails (a chrysanthemum-infused G&T, a Thai spin on the El Diablo, the Kin Na Ree—a boozy swirl of Jamaican and Thai rum, Campari and pandan, etc.). We did not eat other than the couple experimentations they brought out, instead wasted a meal at the over-hyped place nearby.
We knew we’d stumbled across something worthy of a deeper dive, however, so we returned with friends the following evening. Here we fully discovered the magic of Mahaniyom—a Thai restaurant so inventive, so superb in its witch’s brew of South Pacific imaginations that it would could easily go blow-for-blow with the very best of LA Thai. Which if you know the City of Angels, is saying a lot. Growing up childhood friends in Thailand, Saikamthorn and Boonnak specialize in the cuisine of their native lower north province of Phetchabun, but really are both fearless and joyous in their approach. Nothing on the menu is out of pocket or unnecessarily complicated, with each dish served exactly one way, spice level included, at the chef’s discretion. But what they do is always executed superbly and usually with a small spin: green papaya salad with crispy soft shell crab and Thai chili; chicken quartered and batter-fried to such a delicate crispy perfection we sometimes find ourselves dreaming, late at night, of dunking it in their sweet chili sauce; wok-sautéed garlic morning glory; razor clam with rhizome and baby peppercorn; Thai eggplant curry—I’m making myself hungry just remembering these gems.
Opened just three weeks before the pandemic shutdown in early 2020, Mahaniyom had every reason to fail—instead, it’s evolved into one of Greater Boston’s most acclaimed kitchens: a five-star Boston Globe review, a spot on the New York Times’ Boston Best-Of list, and in 2025, both a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a Michelin Northeast Cities Exceptional Cocktails Award—the rare double tap that makes Mahaniyom singular in the city’s sizzling dining scene. Personally there’s an inchoate (and undeserved) pride witnessing these amicable kids playing around in their back kitchen growing into a must-visit destination. They even opened a second spot, the cocktail bar Merai, in 2024 just a dumpling throw up the street. Expect $40–$60 per person, or more if you love the cocktails as much as we do.
There are no shortage of marquee events attracting folks from across the world to the waters of Boston Harbor.
La Padrona
We were first introduced to La Padrona when covering the new Raffles Boston—the latest outpost of the revered Singaporean luxury hotel group, and the first Raffles ever in all the Americas. Their cornerstone restaurant La Padrona had just opened to the public to much fanfare, so while there we interviewed co-founder Erik Papachristos, and had a chance to extensively try out their menu. Boy did they live up to the lofty Raffles expectations (word on the street is Papachristos’ A Street Hospitality somehow beat out several big time New York suitors for the honor).
Visually La Padrona’s interior design does its best to match the excellence of its Michelin Guide Recommended menu. A grand staircase up adds a bit of ritual to the arrival, then the vast room opens up dramatically before you—all set around a gorgeous 360-degree bar wrapped in Calacatta viola marble, under a “chandelier” made of Italian fabric. Deep walnut wood, heavy velvet drapery, and travertine stone steps panel the 8,600-square-foot space, with plush banquette seating looking out at Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood—including views of starchitect I.M. Pei’s gleaming John Hancock Tower.
But the design only sets the table. Papachristos’ co-founder Jody Adams, a James Beard Award-winning chef herself, told us how she took the entire team—including Executive Chef Amarilys Colón—through a tour of Italy before designing the menu, visiting nearly a dozen provinces along the way for inspiration. That dedication and research bursts from dishes ranging across Italy’s regions, from Piedmont to Emilia-Romagna to the Abruzzo coast, largely built around handmade pasta. For instance the Tagliatelle Emilia-Romagna is a thing of the gods: the fat noodles soaked in rich sage Parmigiano cream, piled high with a mountain of Parmigiano Reggiano shavings, finally drizzled at the table with 12-year aged balsamic that pours like syrup. Other highlights include a milk-braised rabbit ragu with roasted sunchokes over fresh-made fazzoletti sheets, a swordfish and lobster Calabrian chili fra diavaolo, and perfectly grilled rack of lamb. If you’re a fan of savory cocktails, ask for the oyster-shell martini off-the-menu and prepare for tears. Expect $80–$120 per person, more with wine.
Dalia
Just opened this April, Dalia marks the most personal project yet from Chef Nicholas Dixon—his effort and profile looming large over every touch of the new South Boston gastronomic magnet. A two-decade fixture of the neighborhood’s dining scene, shaping its identity through Lincoln Tavern, Capo, Prima, and Capri, you can feel Chef Nick’s passion burn as hot as his famed Josper wood-fired stove. The entire open kitchen plays center stage; around it the gorgeously baroque interior design radiates with verdant ferns, wrought iron lattices and plush Belle Époque furniture, all framing seemingly a million Instagram selfies per week.
But what really strikes you is the creativity and living experimentation that Dixon employs daily. The night we dined there he sent out an amazing off-the-menu Anchoa y Mantequilla (anchovy and butter) he was playing with that night. A twist on a traditional Spanish dish, the team charred onions on the Josper broiler, dehydrated them into ash, layered it into the smoked butter, and then let it set in an opera cake mold. They then griddle the fresh baked baguette with Spanish olive oil, add in slices of the ashy butter, then top it all with the Don Bocarte anchovies and lemon zest. “It’s an amazing bite,” Dixon concedes after mentioning how much we loved it. “I have convinced many people that they now like anchovies. I never would have thought that were possible.”
This experimentation is constant. For instance after acquiring some duck, the team blanched and marinated the breasts in a maltose and shio koji dip, dry aged the fowl for several days, then roasted them over the Josper. If you got lucky and were in that day, Chef Nick carved them before you and served it with a sherry and strawberry sauce. If you missed out, you can still order the Jamón Ibérico carved table side. In another dedicated homage to Spain—which in places like Granada mandate by law that free food has to be served with any alcohol—Dalia launched their new pintxoteo program. Guests early to the bar (4 to 5:30 pm) receive a free tapas with every drink. As in Spain, the more you order the better the complimentary bites you’re served. “We have a lot of talented chefs and cooks in our kitchen,” chef Dixon explains, “and we want to use this as an opportunity for them to create and showcase some special items.” Tapas run $9–$24, entrées $45–$170, paella $18–$38. Plan between $70–$120 per person.
“We have a lot of talented chefs and cooks in our kitchen, and we want to use this as an opportunity to create and showcase some special items.”
Dalia’s Chef Nicholas Dixon
Neptune Oyster
There are countless worthy Boston legacy seafood spots we could include here (Union Oyster House, Legal Seafood, Atlantic Fish Co., etc.), but we’ll stick with our hands-down favorite. Opened back in 2004 by Jeff and Kelli Nace, Neptune Oyster took a genuine risk when it landed on Salem Street: a seafood-forward oyster bar in the heart of Boston’s rabidly Italian North End. Jeff, a longtime North End resident and former beverage manager at Todd English’s Olives in Charlestown, spent over a decade watching tourists wander his neighborhood asking where to find good seafood. So he built the answer himself, drawing inspiration from Parisian oyster bars rife with rows of bivalves chilling in beds of ice. More than two decades later Neptune Oyster now feels like a cornerstone of the historic neighborhood, and yet it’s widely credited with helping modernize the North End’s dining identity.
The tiny 37-seat space—think white subway tiles, pressed-tin ceilings, red leather banquettes, a marble-topped bar—has trained a string of notable chefs, including Michael Serpa, who ran the kitchen for years before opening his own acclaimed Select Oyster Bar in the Back Bay. Today the kitchen is led by chef Eric Frier, a James Beard semifinalist who keeps the restaurant’s iconic plates intact while adding his own inspired touches. As expected the raw bar rotates a dozen oyster varieties daily, sourced largely from trusted farmers up and down the New England coast, served simply with a champagne rosé mignonette rather than anything that might overshadow their namesake’s briny flavor.
Beyond the oysters, the menu’s signatures include a cuttlefish ink risotto loaded with lobster, Nantucket Bay scallop crudo, and of course the restaurant’s namesake dish: a lobster roll, served hot with butter or cold with mayo, that’s become one of Boston’s most iconic bites. The buttermilk johnnycake, topped with smoked bluefish tartare and sturgeon caviar, is a quieter standout. Take note: the Michelin Guide Recommended Neptune Oyster infamously takes no reservations, which means waits can easily eclipse an hour. Our suggestion? Go early when they open at 11 am, or off-peak if you can. Expect roughly $50–$80 per person.
Zurito
Little needs to be said hyping the cuisine of San Sebastian—the charming Basque enclave claiming the most Michelin stars per capita anywhere in the world. Zurito is where Chef Jamie Bissonnette, of the aforementioned Willie’s, applies his decades studying Iberian cuisine. Whereas Willie’s plays loose with Italian-American form, Zurito fully commits to Basque gastronomy, rendering his work through pintxos, jamones, raciones and a full catalog of Spanish wine.
Built in collaboration with Bergmeyer and shaped by co-owner Babak Bina’s personal touches, the main dining room evokes a pintxo bar lifted straight from the alleys of San Sebastián’s Old Town: a zinc-topped counter, communal tables, exposed beams, custom hand-painted stone motifs, and flashes of green and red tile nodding to the Basque flag. It’s dense, warm, and loud by design, built for the kind of standing-room grazing culture the Basque region is known for.
The menu backs up the veneer with real technique: seared foie gras with caramelized peaches, baby cuttlefish in Basque chili oil, heirloom tomato salad dressed simply in sherry and olive oil, and a squid-ink risotto nero that regulars compare to a Basque riff on mac and cheese. The braised beef cheek, finished with a bright scallion oil, draws consistent praise, as do the classic gildas—the Basque region’s iconic anchovy-olive-pepper skewer. The wine program has real credentials too: a 2025 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence and a James Beard semifinalist nod for wine director Nader Asgari-Tari, backed by an inventive cocktail list heavy on not only Spanish spirits but also sherry—something that tickled the cockles of the Jerez nerd within us.
Come with a group, pile on the tapas, keep the refreshments coming and tuck your phone (and watch) away— Zurito is the type of place you’ll want to eat, gab and relax aplenty. Expect $50–$75 per person for a proper grazing spread with wine, and know upfront the room runs loud and lively rather than quiet and romantic.
Sushi @ Temple Records
While the undisputed shogun of Boston sushi remains chef Wei Fa Chen’s 311 Omakase, the city’s first and only Michelin-starred restaurant, it’s easier to get an invite to Drake May’s tailgate than a chair at the 10-seat counter in South Boston. Of the spots we’ve tried over the past couple years Downtown Crossing’s Sushi @ Temple Records both surprised and satisfied the most. Opened in March 2024, you can find the aptly named Sushi @ Temple Records just down an unmarked stairway at the back of the Temple Records vinyl listening bar.
Brought from Hawaii specifically for the project, Chef Kenta Katagai practices the school of Edomae—a Tokyo style known for fish that’s cured, marinated, or lightly torched rather than served purely raw, a nod to days before refrigeration. Using red vinegar instead of standard rice vinegar, these techniques enhance flavors—with rolls brushed with soy, the wasabi tucked between the fish and rice rather than served on the side. The long cellar feels very Tokyo as well, with imported Japanese Hinoki wood lining the walls and 22-seat counter. We opted for an omakase accompanied with a sake flight, taking a seat on the dimly lit bar where we could closely watch Chef Kenta at work. Here the Itamae plies his work diligently, happy to describe anything from the origins of the fish to his choice of marinades for a cut. Standouts include fried bluefin tuna, Manila clam miso soup and a sashimi plate of amberjack, red sea bream, mackerel and prawn. The absolute killer however was the finale, a fatty tuna cut roll layered with pickled daikon and shiso leaf, glistening with salmon roe and a nice plop of fresh uni on top.
For something more elevated, the monthly ticketed “Kenta’s Corner” offers a kappo-style tasting menu in a very limited setting. The drink list matches the ambition, with rare Japanese whiskies, sake, shochu, and a well-curated wine list. Expect $70–$120 per person, more with sake pairings or the Kenta’s Corner experience.
Chacarero
This one holds a special place in my heart, as I’ve followed the Odyssean journey of Juan Hurtado for awhile now. Almost three decades ago the Chilean immigrant opened up a little sandwich cart in Downtown Crossing, basically the Times Square of Boston. Hurtado’s sandwiches were so good word soon spread across the Financial District’s skyscrapers, lines growing accordingly. He moved into a brick and mortar hole-in-the-wall by Filene’s basement, and it all took off from there.
Now you can find Juan and his wife Margarita’s Chacarero just around the corner at 101 Arch Street, still slinging their amazing namesake sandwiches from the kitchen. It all starts with the pan amasado, a soft fragrant bread baked fresh at 6:45 a.m. every morning. The fluffy dough acts as the perfect pillow for the rest of the ingredients: thinly sliced chimichurri-marinated beef (or tangy chicken) grilled to order, slathered in avocado spread and a spicy jalapeño sauce (extra hot habanero optional), layered with muenster cheese, fresh sliced tomato and the final Chilean spin: steamed green beans. Yes, it works. Marvelously.
You can also find empanadas (way better than the Argentinian version), various salads and completos—a Chilean hot dog piled high with extras like avocado, diced tomatoes, and a full blast of mayo. But you’re best served trying the namesake chacareros if it’s your first time. Every trip to Boston we swing by at least once for lunch, pleasuring in the laid-back setting, familial atmosphere (Juan’s daughter Andrea mans the cashier daily), and superb chacarero sandos. The fact that its an absolute value makes it all the better. $10-$25
Faneuil Hall Marketplace
This one’s kind of a cheat, as it’s almost too obvious as a Bostonian to mention. As America’s original food court, first opened in 1742, Faneuil Hall Marketplace has attracted locals and tourists alike to its many bustling stalls for literally centuries. A dad staple when roaming the city with as a kid, Faneuil Hall lost some of its aura in the last 20 years as the lease holder clashed repeatedly with merchants and city officials, and other newer foodie destinations stole its shine. In 2024 J. Safra Real Estate took over, however, and the rejuvenation has been thorough.
Fret not, during the rebuild the marketplace’s culinary backbone remains intact. Quincy Market’s central colonnade still anchors the multi-chromatic culinary experience with stalls dating back decades, including the beloved Pizzeria Regina and Oyster Bar—where they fresh-shuck oysters and clams as you order—dating back to 1976 when both were part of Faneuil Hall’s last major transformation. Buy a bread bowl from both Boston & Maine Fish Co. (1984) and Boston Chowda Co. (1987) for your own personal chowdah battle, or do the same with their famed lobster rolls (with hot butter or cold mayo). Debate like a surly local while indulging, you’re really splitting hairs with their excellence. Meanwhile new outposts like Bakey attract viral energy and long lines thanks to their famous fresh-baked gourmet cookies and almond babkas; mesmerize over the hand-assembled displays at the Captain Candy Shop and try not to kickstart a diabetes attack. As a west coast transplant I hadn’t heard of Tree House Brewing Company, but the hype and dedication from New Englanders is legit—they opened a temporary location outdoors with patio seating, bringing serious craft beer credibility to the complex.
Ahead of the city’s 400th anniversary in 2030, Mayor Michelle Wu convened a task force of architects, planners, and community stakeholders early this year to reimagine the marketplace for its next fifty years. They explicitly aim to shape Faneuil Hall into an unmissable destination for Boston residents again, not just tourists, with estimates for a full-scale renovation running north of $150 million. It’s safe to say Faneuil Hall Marketplace will continue its reign well into its fourth century of existence.
BOSTON: WHERE TO STAY
InterContinental Boston
Right on the Financial District’s waterfront, just across from the bustling Seaport, the InterContinental Boston marks the apex of the city’s numerous luxury hotel options. Centrally located in the exact historic site of the Boston Tea Party, many of the city’s top attractions—New England Aquarium, North End, Faneuil Hall, etc.—stand a 10-minute walk from the hotel’s beautiful glass architecture. Sculpted in swooping, curved blue glass facades, the alluring 21-story building was designed to evoke the billowing sails of the city’s famed clipper ships, while reflecting both the sky and Harbor’s azure light. Inside the building houses 424 luxury guest rooms and 38 suites, including a 3,200 square-foot palace noted as the second-largest Presidential Suite in all of Boston.
There’s a 24-hour gym paired with a 45-foot heated indoor lap pool, an expansive 6,600-square-foot spa, and excellent F&B attractions ranging from $1 oysters on the terrace to the coastal Italian outpost Matria. Enjoy an aperitivo at Bar Fellini, or find the password to enter the secretive Loyall Counting Room speakeasy hidden behind a lobby wall. Meanwhile the guest rooms boast marble bathrooms and sunny floor-to-ceiling windows to take in the city views outside. Location, architecture, design, F&B, refined rooms and amenities are just some of the reasons why the InterContinental Boston was voted as the No. 1 hotel in Boston, as well as Condé Nast Traveler’s 24th best hotel in the world in last year’s Readers’ Choice Awards.
Follow Executive Editor Nicolas Stecher’s travel, spirits, automotive and F&B adventures on Instagram at @nickstecher and @boozeoftheday.