25 tastes, trends and tables to watch in
2010
by Josh B. Wardrop
JUST LIKE MOM
USED TO MAKE
It probably comes as no surprise
to anyone that the most popular cuisine on
the Boston restaurant scene in 2009 was
comfort food. With most of America feeling
in need of a hug, and modern diners largely
unwilling (or unable) anymore to pay premium
prices for aesthetically attractive but
miniscule portions of food, restaurants’
menus almost across the board seemed to fill
up with dishes like meatloaf, fried chicken
and grilled cheeses. The most successful new
eateries were the ones who aimed high,
providing uncommon quality and
sophistication in comfort food at reasonable
prices. The urban tavern
Post 390 was perhaps the year’s most
buzzed-about new spot, blessed with a prime
Back Bay location, a warm, inviting design
complete with soft wood tones, cozy dark
corners and roaring fireplaces and a menu of
savory and sweet favorites. This month sees
the arrival of Stoddard’s Fine Food and
Ale (48 Temple St., 617-426-0048), a
restaurant that unites old-school cocktails
and cask ales with upscale takes on
traditional New England cuisine like chicken
pot pie, prime rib and roasted cod. And
South Boston added a new neighborhood tavern
in Barlow’s (241 A St., 617-338-2072)
that serves comforting dishes like butternut
squash ravioli, steak tips and bacon-wrapped
meatloaf—knowing that bacon-wrapped anything
always reassures us that everything will be
alright.
BIG NAMES, BIG
FLAVORS
In the restaurant world, nothing
succeeds like success—which is to say that a
chef or restaurateur’s past track record and
level of name recognition can go a long way
toward convincing patrons to spend their
hard-earned dough at an eatery they’ve never
tried. It’s this faith in the past successes
of Boston’s celebrity chefs and well-known
restaurant moguls that allowed some familiar
names on the local culinary scene to make
2009 (and 2010) a fruitful time for
expansion.
Chef Barbara Lynch—the driving force behind beloved Boston restaurants like The Butcher Shop, B&G Oysters and No. 9 Park—opened two new eateries in 2008 (cocktail bar Drink and Italian-influenced “diner” Sportello) on Congress Street in the Fort Point Channel neighborhood of South Boston, but those were just a warm-up for her newest venture, Menton, scheduled to open in the same complex in February. Lynch’s much-anticipated new addition is an ultra high-end eatery, serving chef’s tasting menus of four or seven courses, with dinners rumored to run $150 and up per person.
Another
chef who continued to display his culinary
range and ambition in 2009 was Ken Oringer,
the talent behind Hub hotspots like Toro,
Uni and La Verdad. With Coppa (253
Shawmut Ave., 617-391-0902), the new enoteca
that opened in December in the South End,
Oringer and longtime collaborator Jamie
Bissonnette have gone Italian, serving up
pasta, wood-fired pizzas and small bites
like arancini and chicken liver crostinis.
Todd English, meanwhile, experienced his empire contracting in 2009 (his Park Plaza Hotel steakhouse Bonfire closed in the fall), only to expand again this month with the opening of Isabelle’s Curlycakes on Beacon Hill. The new cupcake bakery—a partnership between proud dad English and his teenage daughter, Isabelle—got a dry run in December when English started a temporary delivery service out of his flagship restaurant, Olives, churning out frosted treats like peppermint stick and Guinness (yup, the beer) cupcakes.
Boston even managed to lure a name chef from that ultimate hotbed of hip and buzzed-about restaurants, New York City, to town in 2009. Patricia Yeo—who made her name at trendy NYC spots like Monkey Bar, Pazo, Sapa and AZ—took up residence in the South End, turning what was once the French-Indian eatery BanQ into Ginger Park (1375 Washington St., 617-451-0077), a sophisticated space specializing in exotic and flavorful small plates based in the street food traditions of nations like Thailand, Malaysia and China.
It wasn’t just the names in the kitchen that branched out this year. Ken Himmel, owner of local institutions Grill 23 and Harvest, opened two new eateries in 2009—Post 390 and the swanky Bistro du Midi (272 Boylston St., 617-426-7878), a Provencal-style French restaurant that opened in the space once occupied by Himmel’s longtime success Excelsior. Bistro du Midi serves top-notch traditional dishes like nicoise salad and rabbit rillettes in its rustic street-level bar as well as its more formal upstairs dining room, which offers a spectacular view of the Public Garden.
And
a pair of North End entrepreneurs proved
that Boston’s love for authentic Italian
cuisine shows no sign of waning. In 2009
alone, Frank DePasquale—owner of Mare,
Bricco and Trattoria Il Panino—revamped his
Italian steakhouse
Umbria Prime (295 Franklin St.,
617-338-1000), and opened the Italian market
DePasquale’s Homemade Pasta Shoppe
(66A Cross St., 617-248-9629) and the
Miami-influenced nightclub/restaurant
Splash Ultra Lounge (150 Kneeland St.,
617-292-7695). Meanwhile, the
larger-than-life Nick Varano—proprietor of
North End eateries Strega and Nico—became a
sandwich hero with his new Famous Deli
(66 Cross St., 617-391-0050), and plans to
open a second, larger
Strega and the Italian coffee bar
Caffe Di Marina on the waterfront at Fan
Pier in 2010.
HAUTE-L CUISINE
The arrival of two brand-new chic
hotels (the W Hotel and the Ames), combined
with the reinvention of a number of eateries
at venerable Boston lodging options, made
2009 the year that hotel restaurants were on
every foodie’s radar. The Hub’s top new
alternatives to room service include:
Market (100 Stuart St., 617-310-6790) at
The W, which features a French- and
Asian-inspired menu from world-renowned
three-star Michelin Chef Jean-Georges
Vongerichten; Woodward (1 Court St.,
617-979-8200), a “modern tavern” at the Ames
that serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and
late night snacks—as well as its own brew,
Woodward Ale—in a stylish and sophisticated
two-level space; City Table (65
Exeter St., 617-933-4800) at The Lenox
Hotel, a neighborhood bistro-style
restaurant specializing in American fare
like the bleu cheese crusted filet and day
boat scallops; Pairings (50 Park
Plaza, 617-262-3473) in the Park Plaza
Hotel, where Chef Robert Bean focuses on
shareable small plates for lunch and dinner,
and creative breakfast dishes like pancake
tacos and lobster Benedict; Champions
(110 Huntington Ave., 617-279-6996) at the
Marriott Copley Hotel, a “sports bar” that
defies the stereotype, offering a menu
packed with delicious appetizers and
entrees, an extensive beer and cocktail
menu, and enough TVs to satisfy any sports
fan, all within a chic, second-floor setting
that eschews banners, jerseys and
memorabilia for a sleeker, more nightlifey
vibe; and
Rowes Wharf Sea Grille (70 Rowes
Wharf, 617-856-7744) at the Boston Harbor
Hotel, a seafood eatery that serves the
freshest fish and shellfish in a picturesque
location overlooking Boston Harbor itself.
WHERE
EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME
Fancy restaurants are great for
special occasions, but most of us who dine
out regularly tend to find the greatest
comfort and satisfaction in that place
around the corner that perfectly sums up our
neighborhood—that place where we can drop in
for a tasty meal or a favorite cocktail,
maybe catch a band, and hook up with
friends. Happily, Boston added to its
already strong collection of neighborhood
hidden jewels in 2009.
When South End stalwart Bob’s Southern Bistro—home to soul food and live jazz for a half-century—closed in 2008, its short-lived replacement was the small-plate bistro Circle. In 2009, the space went back to its roots somewhat as The Stork Club (604 Columbus Ave., 617-391-0256) arrived, bringing with it a menu heavy on upscale bar food like rock shrimp and ginger spring rolls, Cuban sandwiches, fried chicken and mac ’n’ cheese. (And yes, the nightly live jazz and blues music came back, too.)
The most versatile neighborhood eatery of 2009 has to be Symphony 8 (8 Westland Ave., 617-267-1200), just around the corner from Symphony Hall, which is actually three spaces in one. Symphony 8 is a cheerful bistro serving upscale takes on French and American cuisine, while Siansa 8 is an Irish pub that retains some of the Symphony 8 menu while adding Celtic chow like shepherd’s pie, a ploughman’s lunch and a full Irish breakfast. Then there’s Prohibited, a “speakeasy” that requires a daily password in which to enter and claims not to allow the making or accepting of phone calls should you manage to get inside—you’ve been warned.
Brookline scored a new bar/restaurant
with a sitcom pedigree—The Regal Beagle
(308 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-739-5151),
named for the “Three’s Company” meat market.
Across the river in Cambridge, Lord Hobo
(92 Hampshire St., 617-250-8454) moved into
the spot vacated by the late B-Side Lounge,
and has promptly become a hipster watering
hole specializing in Belgian, German and
cask beers to wash down your hand-cut curry,
gravy or truffle fries. And in Somerville,
Trina’s Starlite Lounge (3 Beacon
St., Somerville, 617-576-0006) offers a menu
of upscale pub food, including several
pumped-up takes on hot dogs that put Fenway
Franks to shame.
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