The new kids in town dish it out
Don’t let restaurant closings get you down, there are too many new ones to be happy about
This spring saw the closing of a few hotel-housed restaurants, including Aujourd’hui in the Four Seasons and 7-year-old Great Bay, which shut abruptly, just a few weeks after an extensive renovation. Bad news comes in threes, right? Thirty one-year-old Icarus, which initiated the South End dining scene, served its final meal earlier this month, leaving chef/owner Chris Douglas to concentrate on his more casual Ashmont Grill and Tavolo in Dorchester.
The economy gloom ends there, though, and openings outnumber closings, and vary from casual drop-ins (the stylized, but casual bar, Tory Row, in Harvard Square) to suave, like BOND lounge in the Langham Boston hotel, boasting well-prepared bar nosh, superb cocktails, and prices as high as its vaulted ceiling.
When the Millennium Bostonian Hotel in Faneuil Hall underwent a multimillion-dollar revamp, it swapped its fine dining Seasons for the casual North 26, which is headed by been-there chef Brian Flagg (Jasper’s, Olives, Harvest, Summer Shack). Though the Boston Harbor Hotel keeps its stunning wine-food tasting-oriented Meritage, its more casual Intrigue Cafe is reimagined as the Rowes Wharf Sea Grille.
Ultimately, there’s a changing of the culinary guard, as several newer restaurateurs rise: Clio and Toro auteur Ken Oringer’s new place, Coppa, opens on Shawmut Avenue in August, with a menu of Italian small plates and a low price point. Helmed by the owners of Tapeo and Bacco, Pazzo brings Italian cuisine maestro Bill Bradley back into town — a very good thing — with a menu of zapped-up staples and possibly the best tiramisu in town.
WHERE TO GO
BOND 250 Franklin St., Boston 617-451 1900
www.boston.langhamhotels.com
Coppa 253 Shawmut Ave., Boston
www.coppaboston.com
North 26
26 North St., Boston
617-557-3640
www.millenniumhotels.com
Rowes Wharf Sea Grille
70 Rowes Wharf, Boston
617-856-7744
www.roweswharfseagrille.com
Pazzo
269 Newbury St., Boston
617-267-2996
www.pazzoboston.com
Tory Row
3 Brattle St., Cambridge
617-876-8769
www.toryrow.us