The Hit List: New Boston Restaurants To Try Right Now

Dorchester is not lacking in Irish pubs, so it takes a really special one to rise above the frothy head of a neighborhood drowning in Guinness and make us take notice. McGonagle’s, a new place from the team behind The Dubliner, has done just that. The sprawling spot’s menu will make you reconsider Irish pub grub, and the pints, pulled from the light-up tap handles seen throughout the UK, are the perfect fuel for an afternoon hang at the bar. Order the spice bag, a takeaway dish popular in Ireland. McGonagle’s is served with salty, crunchy chunks of fried chicken, fries, onions, and peppers, all dusted with Chinese five spice, paprika, cumin, and more. Or if you're looking for a hearty start to the weekend, their full Irish breakfast comes with some of the best black pudding we've ever had.

Things don’t change a lot in Beacon Hill, and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, a hot new restaurant like Zurito is a welcome upgrade. Walk through the cherry red door and you’ll find a packed bar stocked not only with excellent wine, but legs of jamon, dangling like wind chimes over the bottles. Hang up your coat and join the party. The food and wine is inspired by Spain’s Basque region, and served tapas style. Start at the top of the menu with lots of small bites (order everything with anchovy), relax over a board of ham and cheese, and take a spin around the Spanish wine list—the tempranillo is a bargain at $8 a glass.

The restaurant group behind Krasi and Bar Vlaha, two of the toughest tables in town, seemingly can’t stop opening Greek restaurants. Not that we’re complaining. Kaia, the latest addition, is the sexy older sister that just breezed into town on a private jet from Santorini. The energy and the menu is very Greek isles, which means there’s lots of fish, lamb, and a host stand that doubles as a DJ booth. Set on the ground floor of one of the many new shiny towers in the South End, even the space evokes the islands, with a pillar that looks ripped from the Parthenon and soft tones of white and beige. The food is excellent and puts Greek ingredients front and center, in dishes like rich lamb carpaccio and a spicy feta dip made dank with stinky tofu.

There are plenty of restaurants Downtown where you can take someone for a business lunch or dinner, and most of them are fine. But if you want to get a deal done, or have a quiet conversation, the Vermilion Club is the place to do it and get some amazing food in your belly at the same time. Set above the lobby of an office building, inside you’ll find a giant orange Chihuly sculpture over the bar—your first clue that this meal isn’t going to be cheap. There’s a hushed atmosphere, along with dark booths on one end and sunlit tables center stage in front of massive windows. The menu is accessible, with a number of steaks prepared natural or Montreal spiced (go with the latter). The veal chop pizzaiola—essentially a pepperoni pizza with veal crust—is one of the best things we’ve eaten this year, and we eat an obscene amount of food.

Dinner at Mr. H feels like going to a party inside a jewelry box. A giant gold dragon (we’d say life-size, but who knows what size dragons are) presides over the space like the ballerina looking over your grandmother’s diamond brooch. Come here with your friends who appreciate the type of bonding that only happens over a rum-heavy Golden Panda Bowl for four. The long bar that slinks through the space is the best seat in the house, for one very specific reason: it eventually morphs into a dumpling bar where you can watch dim sum come together with surgical precision. We really like the shrimp and crab shumai, which are soft and savory, and completely extra, with gold leaf and caviar topping. The scallion pancakes are a must, and the Beijing Lamb is so rich and aromatic with cumin rub that you might think you don’t need the chili yogurt dip, but you would be very, very wrong.

We can’t believe we’re saying this about a restaurant in the North End, but The Red Fox is kind of sexy. The underground space (look for the handwritten “restaurant” sign and head down the stairs) hidden beneath a financial services office doesn’t feel like any other in the neighborhood. The dark, wood-paneled room is as sultry and louche as a Nick Cave song, so go with a date, slink into one of the clubby red booths, and order a drink from their martini- and Negroni-heavy cocktail menu, which is filled with genre-bending versions of the old standbys. The dinner menu is a murderer’s row of Italian classics with a few unexpected twists thrown in. Served with prosciutto and honey, the zeppole is closer to struffoli in texture than the globs of dough you get at the fair, and we could have eaten three orders. The mains don’t disappoint, either. Brisket stuffed into little pasta pillows in the cappelletti al ragu is near perfect, and the orecchiette manages to get more flavor out of pistachios than we thought possible.

When Amba opened in July in East Cambridge, it immediately elevated the lunch and takeout game in the neighborhood beyond your typical grab-and-go grinder. Amba is a downright dreamy all-day cafe from the people behind Puritan and Co., with tufted pink booths and a string of bar seats along the street-level windows. The Mediterranean-ish menu is extremely shareable, so bring a friend or two to cover the most ground. Start with the silken, garlicky hummus topped with a hearty amount of savory lamb and served with warm housemade pita. Follow that up with the arayes, a crunchier, crispy pita with ground spiced lamb smashed into it, doused with housemade Greek yogurt and a healthy drizzle of tomato jam. Add a side of shawarma fries—spiced crinkle cuts topped with pickled veggies and sweet white sauce—and lunch is in the bag.

When The Eaves announced their temporary closure in June, it felt like when Dunkin’ pulled the Dunkaccino. We were, in a word, crushed, and continue to eagerly await the return of both. In the meantime, the same team behind the Somerville favorite just opened what’s quickly become the new spot for birthdays and general good times in Cambridge. Taking over the whole fifth floor of a building on Lafayette Square, Saigon Babylon has a huge roof deck and a vibey dining room with enormous windows, tons of plants, and chandeliers dangling over mismatched furniture. Beyond the atmosphere, we’re here for dishes like the tender lemongrass beef—rich, barely seared wagyu kissed with a passion fruit sauce and topped with a rice cracker. The Good Dealer, a cocktail that mixes pho spices with yuzu jam and gin, tastes like it was engineered to be enjoyed on the roof deck at sunset, overlooking bustling Lafayette Square.

What do Somaek and the Beetlejuice sequel have in common? We’ve been highly anticipating both for months, and thankfully, Somaek is finally open downtown on Temple Place. The space is spare and serene, with only the woven-looking lamps over the bar to briefly distract you from the excellent Korean food. Bring at least one other person with you and load up on the small plates—special shout-outs to the soothing cold noodles with boiled egg and gochujang and hot steamy mandu filled with pork, kimchi, and tofu. And all of the banchan, particularly the mu radish kimchi and the soy beef, make us happier than the fact that Michael Keaton is back reprising his lead role. The place gets busy, but the bar turns over quickly, so it’s easy to grab two seats without a lot of planning for an impromptu date night or casual dinner on a weeknight.

This Portuguese restaurant is in a big space that used to be Area 4 in the South End, filled with comfy yellow booths, netting hanging from the ceiling, and a bar spanning the back wall. It’ll probably be packed when you’re there, but there’s usually a bar seat available, and it’s an excellent place to get down with some incredible seafood dishes. Go for the paper-thin octopus carpaccio with some crispy potatoes on top, head-on shrimp swimming in spicy mozambique stew that you’ll want to drink, and a hearty plate of fried rice topped with buttery, rich duck. We’ll be back to try the rest of the menu soon.

If you’ve been to this noodle shop’s Cambridge location, you know the drill: long line, short menu, quick service, and deeply delicious bowls of udon served to just 16 diners at a time. It’s mostly the same at their new Seaport spot, but the experience feels a little less rushed, more efficient, and extremely friendly, with all the same delicious noodles. Lunch at the bar is the move here—they’ll take your order when you’re in line if it’s busy—where you can watch the busy chefs pull long strings of fresh udon, slice and plop some fatty beef into your bowl, and drop in a perfect soft-boiled egg. It’s the perfect under $20 lunch in an area where that same amount of money will probably only get you half of a lobster roll (if you’re lucky).

Somenya is one of the more exciting openings in Chinatown this year—sorry to all the boba spots with more franchises than George Lucas. The noodles on the menu feel like what would happen if there was an official buckwheat chapter of The Avengers: brothy roast duck udon with big hunks of breast and sweetness from yuzu and cold truffle snow crab soba with generous helpings of salmon caviar, just to name a few. Prioritize one of these, but know the subterranean restaurant works great as a group spot since the rest of the snacky menu is so good, too. Come and hang out for a couple of hours, drinking sake and sharing chili-powder-flecked koji fried chicken under the bright umbrellas dangling from the ceiling.