Boston

Recommendations from a Passionate Hedonist
tednet 19 Reviews 520 reads
posted

Great question, and good for you for being adventurous and eager to try new things.

So, obviously it depends upon what you're into.  Here's come color on several great spots from a passionate hedonist:

Meritage: fantastic location, gorgeous dining room with a modern svelt aesthetic.  This restaurant is located on the second floor of the Boston Harbor Hotel, and it overlooks Boston Harbor.  It has a cool little bar.  It's main attraction is its wine list, with selections and pairings chosen by Chef Daniel Bruce.  They have older vintage Bordeaux and Burgundy, cult Cali, and great champagne.  They also have small plates, and do especially well with New England fare and seafood in particular.  This place is awesome.

Prezza: similar theme as above, with a fantastic modern dining room and an outstanding wine list, only in the North End.  Prezza puts out a wonderful fusion of Italian and New England fare, and it's in the North End with so many other red sauce establishments, and yet it is totally different.  It's just better.  It's a modern dining experience.

Mooo: Again similar to above, the dining room here is like that of a NYC lounge,and with cool, down temp acid jazz to accompany it.  This restaurant is located in the uber-trendy XV Beacon hotel (Ian Schrager-esque in all respects) is located on Beacon Hill, it features Painted Hills steaks, and a steak menu like that of a wine list -lots of amazing choices, and tasty sides like Kobe dumplings.  This restaurant occupies that space that used to be The Federalist, and it used to have a fantastic wine list, but sadly they sold just about all that down.

Harvest: if you want to venture to Harvard Square, this restaurant is amazing.  Again similar to the above in that the dining room is gorgeous clean modernist, and it has a wonderful rich upscale mahogany-type bar.  The food here is clean upscale modern New England Fare.  The wine list is biggish though without much back-vintage.  The food here is delicious, I mean really tasty.  And, bonus (!), they have a wonderful hidden garden outside patio dining area that rocks in the spring-summer-fall seasons.  This place is really one of my faves.  You cannot miss here for a special evening.

Avoid Del Friscos at all costs.  This is a terrible, horrible imitation of the fantastic NYC Rock Center experience.  It's all shitty attitude and B&T crowd.  It's basically the worst of all worlds.  

I hope this helps!

T
 

 



-- Modified on 3/30/2015 5:01:07 PM

Hi guys, I always make it a point to try a new restaurant whenever visiting a city.  Please recommend some great places to eat in downtown Boston.  My requirements are: Good Food & Ambiance.

Thanks in advance for all your pointers!

Grill 23 & Bar for some of the best Steaks in the country and Legal Seafood for excellent seafood (if you want more casual seafood then No Names is the best), have fun!

Great question, and good for you for being adventurous and eager to try new things.

So, obviously it depends upon what you're into.  Here's come color on several great spots from a passionate hedonist:

Meritage: fantastic location, gorgeous dining room with a modern svelt aesthetic.  This restaurant is located on the second floor of the Boston Harbor Hotel, and it overlooks Boston Harbor.  It has a cool little bar.  It's main attraction is its wine list, with selections and pairings chosen by Chef Daniel Bruce.  They have older vintage Bordeaux and Burgundy, cult Cali, and great champagne.  They also have small plates, and do especially well with New England fare and seafood in particular.  This place is awesome.

Prezza: similar theme as above, with a fantastic modern dining room and an outstanding wine list, only in the North End.  Prezza puts out a wonderful fusion of Italian and New England fare, and it's in the North End with so many other red sauce establishments, and yet it is totally different.  It's just better.  It's a modern dining experience.

Mooo: Again similar to above, the dining room here is like that of a NYC lounge,and with cool, down temp acid jazz to accompany it.  This restaurant is located in the uber-trendy XV Beacon hotel (Ian Schrager-esque in all respects) is located on Beacon Hill, it features Painted Hills steaks, and a steak menu like that of a wine list -lots of amazing choices, and tasty sides like Kobe dumplings.  This restaurant occupies that space that used to be The Federalist, and it used to have a fantastic wine list, but sadly they sold just about all that down.

Harvest: if you want to venture to Harvard Square, this restaurant is amazing.  Again similar to the above in that the dining room is gorgeous clean modernist, and it has a wonderful rich upscale mahogany-type bar.  The food here is clean upscale modern New England Fare.  The wine list is biggish though without much back-vintage.  The food here is delicious, I mean really tasty.  And, bonus (!), they have a wonderful hidden garden outside patio dining area that rocks in the spring-summer-fall seasons.  This place is really one of my faves.  You cannot miss here for a special evening.

Avoid Del Friscos at all costs.  This is a terrible, horrible imitation of the fantastic NYC Rock Center experience.  It's all shitty attitude and B&T crowd.  It's basically the worst of all worlds.  

I hope this helps!

T
 

 



-- Modified on 3/30/2015 5:01:07 PM

UncleAndy452 reads

Italian - Mamma Maria's, in the North End. You pretty much can't go wrong with anything in the North End - let your nose be your guide - but I think MM is one of the nicest places. Don't forget to get pastries from Modern or Mike's on Hanover St. for in-room dessert later. :-)

Steak - Smith & Wollensky; go to the Back Bay location on Arlington St. It's in the old armory building; rely a cool atmosphere. There's a S&W on the waterfront as well, but I've always thought the service in the Back Bay location is better. Abe & Louie's is another great steak place.

Contemporary, and great cocktails - Eastern Standard, in Kenmore Square.  

Seafood - Neptune Oyster or Atlantic Fish Co. Legal's is OK, the Test Kitchen locations have interesting dishes.

The oldest French restaurant in the city is Marliave, next to the Common. Great French bistro food.

Something lighter? Salty Pig does great charcuterie and cheese plates, great cocktails and beer too.

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