A global tasting tour through the city’s best neighborhood tables, no passport required
Indulge yourself, and travel around the world without ever leaving Boston. Over one long weekend, we mapped out seven restaurants across seven cuisines and seven distinct moods, starting in Greece and Italy, swinging through Peru and Mexico, and landing all the way in Hunan, China. Each one sits in a different corner of the city, chosen to match a different kind of appetite and a different kind of evening. Think of this as your course-by-course guide to the best of what Boston has to offer.
KRASI
Back Bay hospitality, poured by the glass
At the top of Flanelle’s restaurant list sits Krasi. Set on the busy streets, Krasi is the true epitome of hospitality: a restaurant that doesn’t take itself too seriously, in the best possible way. The food is exquisite, the service impeccable, and the vibe lively and intimate, with the music pitched at exactly the right level, low enough that you can hold a conversation even when the room is packed. What truly stands out, though, are the spirits and the wine collection, an all-Greek list running past 180 bottles that pairs beautifully with the food. Order the grilled octopus and the papoutsakia, stuffed eggplant whose name translates to “little shoes,” and let the staff walk you through pairings from Santorini and beyond.
Our server, Jorge, was exceptional, guiding us confidently through a wine list most guests have never encountered and making recommendations that elevated the entire meal. Krasi occupies the old Cafe Jaffa space just off Newbury Street on Gloucester Street, a project from the team behind Boston’s modern-Greek pioneers Committee and GreCo, and reservations here go fast, sometimes weeks in advance. All in all, a restaurant you truly won’t want to miss.
Address: 48 Gloucester St, Boston, MA 02115, United States
AQUA PAZZA
North End Italian on the Freedom Trail
In the heart of the North End, Boston’s Little Italy in all but name, Aqua Pazza stands out as a small, intimate restaurant staffed by a young, energetic crew and serving genuinely delicious Italian food. The wild boar pappardelle was the highlight of our meal, rich and slow-cooked, and the wagyu burger with black truffle aioli has quietly built a following of its own among North End regulars.
The restaurant sits on the Freedom Trail near the Paul Revere House and is one of several ventures from Frank DePasquale, whose portfolio also includes Bricco, Mare, and Umbria, each worth a visit if you have the appetite and the time. Aqua Pazza leans more seafood-forward than its siblings, with a raw bar and a rotating list of crudo alongside the pastas, and the dining room, filled with wine bottles and crates and framed by gold curtains, makes for excellent people-watching if you can snag a window table.
Address: 135 Richmond St, Boston, MA 02109, United States
THE BEEHIVE
A jazz-club brunch hiding under the South End
On a warm Sunday morning, we walked to a beautiful terrace on Tremont Street, thinking we might get some eggs Benedict under the sun. The birds were singing and the street was calm. We arrived at The Beehive and told the hostess we had a reservation. “Just this way,” she said, and led us inside, into a damp, dark, bar-like space. We stepped down the stairs, and the further in we walked, the louder the music got. Lit in purple, a live band was already playing experimental jazz. We felt like we had been transported into a speakeasy, at ten forty-five in the morning. We were seated at a bistro table near the band.
The food was good, but it was the atmosphere that made The Beehive worth the trip: a bohemian cellar inside the Boston Center for the Arts, hung with theatrical drapery and local artwork, running weekend jazz brunches that have been drawing crowds since long before “hidden speakeasy” became a cliché. The truffled potato pierogies are the dish regulars order, and the shakshuka, built on a North African tomato stew with poached eggs, brings some welcome heat to the table. It’s an experience you’ll want to try when you’re in Boston on a Saturday or Sunday, ideally with a reservation locked in well ahead of time, because the line for walk-ins can stretch out the door.
Address: 541 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116, United States
ROSA Y MARIGOLD
Peruvian fire and open-kitchen theater on Newbury Street
For a super fun ambiance paired with fresh Peruvian-inspired cuisine, head to the far end of Newbury Street, where you’ll find yourself enchanted by Rosa y Marigold. The spicy fried yucca and the grilled steaks were absolutely delicious, and part of the kitchen is open to the dining room, so you can watch the fire grilling in real time. On the other side sits a high bar for a more casual dining experience, good for a solo dinner or a quick bite before a show.
The restaurant opened this year as the most personal project yet from chef JuanMa Calderón and architect Maria Rondeau, the duo behind Somerville’s Celeste and Cambridge’s La Royal, and it’s named for “Marigold and Rose,” the final novel by the late poet Louise Glück, a close friend and longtime regular at Celeste. Beyond the yucca and steak, the menu moves through ceviches, cold potato terrines called causas, and anticuchos, the marinated beef heart skewers considered close to Peru’s national dish. Live jazz plays on weekend nights, and a palm tree grows, somewhat improbably, right in the middle of the room.
Address: 400 Newbury St Lyrik Plaza, Boston, MA 02115, United States
WOODS HILL PIER 4
Farm-to-table dining with a Seaport harbor view
Down in the Seaport, right at the water’s edge and next to the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Woods Hill Pier 4 pairs harbor views with a menu built almost entirely from ingredients grown on a single 360-acre farm in Bath, New Hampshire. Owner Kristin Canty and chef Charlie Foster change the offerings daily depending on what’s ready to harvest, so no two visits look quite the same.
On a warm late morning, the garage doors roll up along the wrap-around patio, and it can feel as though the entire city is angling for a table. The butter-poached lobster, served with morel mushrooms and charred snap peas, is the closest thing to a signature dish, though the smoked ham hock croquettes, finished with a honey and Aleppo pepper gastrique, are hard to pass up as a starter. It’s a fitting stop for anyone who wants New England seafood filtered through a genuine farm-to-table sensibility, right down to the raw-milk cheese board sourced from Canty’s own herd.
Address: 300 Pier 4 Blvd. Retail Space 2, Boston, MA 02210, United States
SUMIAO HUNAN KITCHEN
A quick trip across the river for real Hunanese heat
If you’re looking for Chinese food that tastes like it transported you straight to China, you have to try Sumiao Hunan Kitchen, which sits outside of Boston, in the Cambridge area. The vibe is modest and unpretentious, but with the sheer number of choices on the menu, we recommend going with a party of at least three or four, since you’ll want to share everything across the table.
Founded by Sumiao Chen, a former pharmacologist and scientist who traded the lab for regional Chinese cooking, the restaurant has become one of the most talked-about kitchens in Kendall Square and has landed on the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list, plus three straight years on the New York Times’ best-restaurants roundup. It sits just across the river in Cambridge, a short ride from downtown Boston, and is worth the detour on its own merits. The lava fish, thick fillets marinated in pickled chili and garlic, is the dish people mention first, but don’t sleep on the dry-fried string beans in peppercorn oil or the shredded cabbage with dried chilis and aged vinegar. It’s some of the most exciting regional Chinese cooking in New England.
Address: 270 Third St, Cambridge, MA 02142, United States
TACO AZUL
Beacon Hill brunch, tacos, and popsicle cocktails
The perfect Mexican restaurant for brunch, Taco Azul keeps prices super affordable, and the popsicle champagne cocktail was a genuinely fun way to start the meal. The dishes are truly beautiful, from the guacamole served with blue corn tortilla chips to the tacos themselves, crispy fish, skirt steak, and pork carnitas among the standouts. The restaurant sits inside a handsome, high-ceilinged room on Beacon Street, complete with Corinthian columns that feel a little unexpected next to the tequila list. Founder Dan Leyva built the menu around tacos, guacamole, and margaritas, and the kitchen doesn’t overcomplicate any of the three. The weekend brunch has become something of a Beacon Hill ritual, so arrive with a reservation or be ready to wait, and save room for churros at the end.
Address: 21 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02108, United States
Seven restaurants, seven very different Bostons: a Greek wine bar tucked off a shopping street, a family-run Italian kitchen on the Freedom Trail, an underground jazz club with an astonishing brunch, a Peruvian restaurant named for a poet, a Hunanese kitchen just across the river, a working farm on a harbor pier, and a taco counter beneath a landmark ceiling. Plan a long weekend around all seven, and you’ll leave with a very different sense of what this city tastes like.
