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Get Your Foodie Fix

Whether you’re in a rush to make curtain, want to score a celeb chef’s John Hancock, or are craving pate, papardelle or potstickers, there’s a table in Boston for you. Here’s where local epicureans go for…

Pretheater Dinner

Pigalle l 75 Charles Street South, Boston, 617-423-4944, pigalleboston.com
Walk past too quickly in your rush to the box office, and you might miss it: a small hedge of topiaries shielding cafe-curtained windows. Pigalle is an understated sort of place known well by Francophiles and theatergoers. The intimate cocoa-colored room is clubby yet delicate, with toile accents and semicircular leather banquettes. The menu is French, bien sur, but not too: There’s escargot bourguignonne with a fried egg, and a cassoulet of duck confit, but there’s also a tempura-fried tuna roll and a spicy Thai-style carrot soup.

Dessert

Finale l One Columbus Avenue, Boston, 617-423-3184, finaledesserts.com
Velvet seating, candlelight, linen napkins…
Finale offers the red-carpet treatment for opulent desserts. This is the place for patrons who don’t want the night to end but don’t need to burn the oil past midnight (it closes at 11:30 weeknights, midnight weekends). Fittingly located near the Theater District, Finale has a sweet sprawl of cakes, tarts, mousses and sorbets, plus antipasto and cheeses for those with more savory tastes. Ports and sweet wines are paired with particular plates: The signature molten chocolate cake is recommended with a glass of aged tawny; the fantasia plate—strawberry tart with mascarpone mousse, peach chardonnay torte and white chocolate flower petals filled with butter crumb cake—is matched to a flight of late harvest wine.

Brunch, Hearty

Henrietta’s Table l One Bennett Street, Cambridge, 617-661-5005, henriettastable.com
For a true country-style spread, inveterate brunchers go to Henrietta’s Table in the Charles Hotel. Don’t mistake this for an ordinary mid-day repast. Oversized farm tables and an earthy New England display of fresh regional produce make this a comfortable place to wake up gently. Trademarks include a groaning board of homemade French toast and made-to-order omelettes, carved meats and a raw bar, plus a selection of cheeses, pates and terrines, entrees and desserts. Large windows open onto a pleasant brick courtyard and beyond lies the heart of Cambridge, ground zero for weekend strolling and shopping.

Brunch, Light/Cafe

Garden of Eden l 571 Tremont Street, Boston, 617-247-8377, goeboston.com
This is the place to meet for breakfast in the South End, and they come in droves: singles, pairs, parents with strollers, writers with laptops. The Garden of Eden was one of the first in the South End to popularize the street-front patio, which is always packed, weather permitting. But the inside is equally airy, thanks to wall-sized windows that let the outdoors in. Large butcher-block tables (often shared) ensure a casual atmosphere, and organic, locally grown ingredients are the backbone of the comfort-food menu (pastries, ome-lettes and more). Browse the attached market, Lionette’s, for European-style prepared foods and gourmet products like vinegars, mustards and cheese.

A Celebrity Chef Sighting

Olives Boston l 10 City Square, Charles-town, 617-242-1999, toddenglish.com
In the beginning—before there were Olives in Aspen, Las Vegas, New York and D.C., among others—there was Olives in Boston. And Todd saw that it was good. So good, that it spawned twelve restaurants and countless articles and televisions shows. The Todd English empire began in 1989 in the Charlestown neighborhood, and lines snaked out the door because of a no-reservation policy. The same open-hearth kitchen and Mediterranean cooking is still there, with ingredients and flavors stacked one upon the other until you cry basta (grilled bass is served with horseradish whipped potato, shaved fennel, lobster salad, green beans and bacon). What’s no longer here, thankfully, is the no-reservations policy.

Homey Italian

Pomodoro l 319 Hanover Street, Boston, 617-367-4348, pomodoroboston.com
It isn’t the fanciest place in the North End, but it’s the most simply and deliciously affordable. Pomodoro’s shtick is no frills, from the rustic decor and wines (house red and white are your options) to settling the tab (cash only). But all that is secondary to the food: ample portions of earthy Italian using fresh, local ingredients. Favorites: seared chicken breast with a Marsala-scented wild mushroom ragout tossed with pappardelle noodles, and tiger shrimp tossed with linguini in a slow-roasted plum tomato sauce. There are only eight tables, so make sure to call ahead, lest you wait with the masses.

Affordable French

Petit Robert Bistro l 468 Common-wealth Avenue, Boston, 617-375-0699;
480 Columbus Avenue, Boston, 617-867-0600; petitrobertbistro.com.
Don’t mistake the inexpensive menu for lack of stature. Both locations of the Petit Robert Bistro might offer low-key atmosphere for French comfort food, but the pedigree and expertise of the owner are tres magnifique (Jacky Robert is a former chef of his family’s restaurant Maison Robert, a thirty-year Boston institution). The offerings are straight from the farmhouses of Normandy, originally Robert’s home: a trio of homemade pates; pot au feu with a marrow bone served on the side. And all more upscale than you’d expect for the tab. Few appetizers top $10, and most entrees are less than $20.

Hip Chinese

Myers + Chang l 1145 Washington Street, Boston, 617-542-5200, myspace.com/myersandchang
With Chinese food, there’s always the rub: great food with unfortunate ambience, or vice versa. At the new Myers + Chang, there’s very little compromise—a cool, retro-feeling Chinese restaurant serving inexpensive, delicious food in an artsy South End neighborhood. Not to be missed: shitake mushroom potstickers and braised tea-smoked spare ribs, and the organic Scottish salmon made with ginger, sriracha and rock sugar. Placemats are made of Chinese newspapers; red calligraphy is scrawled across the large streetfront windows; and tables and chairs are 1950s diner-style trendy. The website is a myspace page…What’s hipper than that?

Chichi Sushi

O Ya l 9 East Street, Boston, 617-654-9900, oyarestaurantboston.com
Don’t let the location fool you. This former firehouse (yes, that’s it down the cobblestoned alley in an unexciting South Station neighborhood, behind a nondescript front door) celebrates the raw ingenuity of uncooked fish, with twice as many dishes as there are seats (forty, and seventeen of them are at the sushi bar). Ordering well means managing a systematic parade of delicious—but super expensive—morsels: An oyster arrives topped withponzu-marinated watermelon “pearls” and diced cucumber; seared foie gras nigiri with balsamic chocolate; Peruvian-style toro with an aji panca sauce and cilantro pesto. O Ya is a Japanese exclamation of surprise, which is an apt name for this unexpected outpost garnering raves from publications across the country.

(Beautiful) people watching

Via Matta l 79 Park Plaza, Boston, 617-422-0008, viamattarestaurant.com
The town’s movers and shakers pack this streetfront bar nightly, and so, for that matter, do visiting headliners (Mick Jagger has been known to eat here when he’s in town). For all the crowding of the bar (Enoteca, with twenty wines by the glass), the dining room is expansive, as if to allow patrons to shake out their finery and give a little runway strut to the table. The menu is pure Michael Schlow (of Radius and Great Bay fame), who works his magic here with Italian: sirloin with wild mushrooms and roasted sunchokes, duck with cipolini onions, Umbrian lentils and red currants. If you can resist a la carte, go for the five-course tasting menu.

A Carnivorous Fix

Grill 23 l 161 Berkeley Street, Boston, 617-542-2255, grill23.com
The ambience is that of the most private club—gleaming paneled walls, hanging tapestries, soaring mahogany staircase— but tonight you are an esteemed member. Grill 23 has been Boston’s premiere steak and seafood restaurant since 1983, an honor worth boasting about in a full field of great steakhouses, thanks to its atmosphere of grandeur and classic menu of extravagantly good taste. Cuts are listed simply (dry-aged New York, bone-in Delmonico) and come from a single family-owned, naturally raised herd in California, and sides are timeless and perfectly prepared (buttered asparagus, gingered beets, broccoli gratin).

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