The following guide outlines which, in our opinion, are the best new Boston restaurants in 2023—a list that could fill your calendar.
By Amy Traverso
Oct 19 2023
Comfort Kitchen in Dorchester, Massachusetts | Best New Boston Restaurants
Photo Credit : Courtesy of Comfort KitchenSo many notable restaurants have opened in Boston this year, it seems that every chef and restaurateur spent whatever pandemic downtime they had sketching out new concepts. Of course, nothing about the restaurant business is that simple, but the sheer number of new openings does speak to pent-up creativity and increased demand.
The following guide outlines which, in our opinion, are the best new Boston restaurants in 2023—a list that could fill your calendar. And we’re not even done. Several new spots from lauded veterans like Jody Adams and Garrett Harker are coming soon. We will update as they do.
Located in a classic South End brownstone, this very personal jewelbox of a restaurant serves an 18-course omakase (chef’s choice) dinner for just twenty diners (ten per seating) each night. Chef Wei Fa Chen, who cooked at the three-Michelin-starred Masa in New York, serves deceptively simple sashimi, hand rolls, and nigiri that layer luxury ingredients like truffle, caviar, and lobster in with perfect pieces of tuna, crab, and amberjack. And they’re served on bespoke Japanese pottery designed to enhance each dish. This artisanal approach comes with a base price tag of $230 per person. If your budget allows, it’s well worth a splurge.
Boston’s most lauded restaurateur returns to Kenmore Square this month with All That, a seafood-forward eatery located just around the corner from where his signature Eastern Standard once stood. Along with culinary director Nemo Bolin and beverage director Jackson Cannon, Harker will be opening three more restaurant concepts in this space, including a revived Eastern Standard. For now, enjoy All That’s raw bar oysters, ceviche, and crudo, along with excellent flatbreads and mains like whole grilled fish with salsa verde.
Given the sheer numbers and influence of eastern Massachusetts’ Portuguese-American community, we’ve always felt the city deserved more Portuguese restaurants than it has sustained. That’s why the opening of Amar from Michelin-starred chef George Mendes in Boston’s swanky new Raffles Hotel is so exciting. Here is the culinary celebration we’ve been waiting for. Look for modern takes on classic dishes like salt cod croquetes, lobster with Azorean pineapple and fermented grilled fennel, and arroz de mariscos, a seafood stew with shrimp, lobster, mussels, clams, and piri-piri sauce.
We can’t overstate our love for this cozy Brookline restaurant, which is generally Greek, but more specifically highlights the cuisine of the Vlach people, nomadic shepherds from northern and central Greece. Culinary Director Brendan Pelly and Executive chef Katherine McCoart produce luscious spit-roasted meats, braised dishes, and savory pies. Don’t miss the homemade bread with sheep’s milk butter.
The mission of Comfort Kitchen is far more ambitious than “merely” serving delicious food, though one bite of the jerk-roasted duck or the Basque cheesecake will check that box. The restaurant weaves a narrative of the global spice trade, demonstrating on each plate how the cuisines of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and beyond informed and influenced each other. During the day, Comfort Kitchen is a cozy cafe serving overnight oats with Nutella and gorgeous sandwiches; at night, the real storytelling begins. comfortkitchenbos.com
Remember supper clubs? Elegant spots where you can enjoy live music and a good meal…where people might even dress up for a night out? This new Seaport hotspot by veteran restaurateur Nia Grace offers 5,000 square feet of stylish tropical-themed design, a central stage, and three seating areas with varying proximity to the stage, depending on whether you want a show or more of a background experience. The wine and cocktail program features celebratory pours, and the menu deftly blends modern takes on Creole, Cajun, and Soul Food classics.
One Shepard has been home to some of Cambridge’s most beloved restaurants: Chez Henri in the Nineties and Aughts, Shepard in the 2010s. Now the restaurant group headed by Michael Pagliarini and Pamela Ralston of Giulia is setting its sights on sustainable seafood (with an Italian accent). Notice a larger seafood trend here? It’s a good thing. Boston should always be this country’s premiere seafood city. Settle in for shared plates of barbecued mussels with curry and hazelnut, spaghetti with lobster, chili, and shiso, and mackerel with sweet corn and harissa.
Is this the restaurant of the summer in Boston? The nightly crowd of diners at Prima, an Italian steakhouse on the edge of City Square Park in Charlestown, might be ready to throw down on that debate. The restaurant is a stylish, ambitious affair that ups the ante for a group best known for reliable neighborhood spots in Charlestown (Waverly, Monument) and South Boston (Lincoln, Capo). Sample the mozzarella bar and don’t skip the seafood mains, including the fish en papillote, wrapped in parchment paper and baked with shrimp, clams, and a bright citrus salad.
Sure, Boston’s got plenty of Italian food, but we will never say no to another option, particularly when it involves fancy steaks, tons of house-made cheese, and a swanky backroom filled with pink marble and red velvet. Prima—whose team overlaps with Capo, Hunter’s Kitchen & Bar, and several other venues in Charlestown and Southie—is bringing new life to the old Olives space, and we’re here for it (and its jumbo cannoli). Read our full story here.
Here’s another trend we can get behind: regionally-inspired Chinese restaurants that take diners beyond more familiar Cantonese, Hunanese, and Sichuan fare (see Best of New England winner Yunnan Kitchen and Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe for earlier examples). Enter Zhi Wei, which serves the foods of Lanzhou in northwest China. Most notable: the beef noodle soup with hand-stretched noodles, thinly sliced beef, and a rich broth, topped with scallions, cilantro, radishes, and chili oil.
Do you have a favorite new restaurant in Boston? Let us know in the comments below!
Food Editor Amy Traverso oversees the Yankee Magazine Food department and contributes to NewEngland.com. Amy's book, The Apple Lover's Cookbook (W.W. Norton), won an International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) cookbook award for the category American.
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