Courtesy Spoke Wine Bar. (Courtesy Spoke Wine Bar)
Let’s set the record straight: Contrary to what you may have heard, there’s more to Boston than American Revolution trivia, and its restaurant scene is far from staid. In this brownstone-lined waterfront city, you’ll have to go beyond the tourist-catering seafood spots and take the less-trodden (cobblestone) path to realize there’s much more coming out of the kitchens than lobster rolls and clam chowder.
Stroll through East Boston, and you’ll find a decades-old Colombian restaurant serving enormous meat-laden bandeja paisa. Visit South End, one of the city’s buzziest dining neighborhoods, and you might chance upon the spicy-sour, tongue-tingling flavors of China’s Yunnan cuisine. And yes, as the salty ocean breeze reminds us, there’s plenty of New England’s freshest catch to enjoy—in the form of a spicy Greek-island fish stew in Back Bay, or as deep-fried seabass with housemade red curry in Brookline.
I’ve been coming to Massachusetts regularly since college, and now that I live here, I have a front-row seat to how the restaurant scene is evolving. With this list of local restaurants to guide your eating exploits in Beantown, I hope you discover that the historic city you thought you knew is a far more vibrant mosaic than meets the eye. Though you might come for the fisherman’s platters, you’ll end up staying for the moqueca, rambutan salad, and octopus mortadella.
89 Holland Street, Somerville
(617) 718-9463
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