Avra Estiatorio. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Avra Estiatorio is betting on Boston’s appetite for fish. The upscale mini-chain of Greek-inspired seafood spots—with glamorous locations in Beverly Hills, Miami, New York City, and beyond—is now open in Back Bay, featuring simply garnished, charcoal-grilled fish, including Mediterranean imports like tsipoura and lavraki. Plus: towers of crispy zucchini and eggplant chips, pretty platters of sashimi, and hilariously large slices of chocolate cake and coconut pie.

Avra Estiatorio’s sashimi platter. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Avra Estiatorio’s spicy tuna crispy rice. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The sprawling second-floor location at the Lyrik development, atop just-opened Peruvian restaurant Rosa y Marigold, feels primed for special occasions, from the white tablecloths to the copious faux olive trees. Elegant, wing-like structures dangle above the marble bar, and several private dining rooms are event-ready. In the warmer seasons, terrace seating will be available on Lyrik’s upper level, an unlikely oasis perched above the Pike.

Avra Estiatorio. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The bar at Avra Estiatorio. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Diners are encouraged to swing by the fish “market,” a display brimming with whole specimens on ice, to choose their seafood and peer through the large window into the kitchen. “Everybody wants to experience the fish market,” says Avra cofounder Nick Tsoulous—but for those who want to stay at the table, staff will present options on a tray. Many of the selections are from the Mediterranean, but Boston, of course, has plenty of its own great seafood, and “we love [sourcing] locally, if available,” says Tsoulous. Next, the fish is grilled, deboned, and finished with ladolemono sauce, a Greek mix of olive oil and lemon. (The Avra team seems particularly proud of the restaurant’s olive oil; there’s a bottle on each table. It’s from a small family farm in the Peloponnese and is a first-harvest oil, which has a bolder taste than oils from later harvests.)

Avra Estiatorio’s chips (crispy zucchini and eggplant with tzatziki) and lobster pasta. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Avra Estiatorio’s whole fish, grilled and served with ladolemono. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

While the fish is the star of the 26-year-old restaurant group—more precisely, “Greek seafood with Mediterranean influence,” says Tsoulous—there’s also “a great selection of meats” and other dishes, all meant to be shared. Start with a Greek salad, says Tsoulous, featuring Kalamata olives, feta, tomatoes, peppers, and onions, and then an appetizer such as grilled octopus with caper and red wine vinaigrette. Next, raw fish of some kind, whether a sashimi platter of Faroe Island salmon, big eye tuna, and hamachi or lavraki ceviche with a bit of heat from jalapeño. Grilled fish-market selections and other entrees come next—lobster pasta, for instance, or Colorado lamb chops—followed by celebratory, somewhat over-the-top desserts.

Avra Estiatorio’s lavraki ceviche. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Avra Estiatorio’s lamb chops. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

This is the eighth location for Avra, which Tsoulous founded in 2000 in New York City’s Midtown East with Nick Pashalis, his longtime business partner in other food endeavors, and Marc Packer, cofounder of Tao Group Hospitality (which is behind major restaurant and nightlife destinations in New York, Las Vegas, and elsewhere). The Avra founders waited 16 years before opening a massive second location elsewhere in the city, and expansion continued from there. Avra tends to attract A-listers and power players wherever it opens, but its roots are humble: The restaurants are inspired by Tsoulous’ coastal Greek hometown of Nafpaktos, where he grew up fishing with his father and uncles and feasting on their catch with family.

Avra Estiatorio. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Avra Estiatorio. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

“We like Boston, and we think it’s a big fish town,” says Tsoulous, and it felt like the time was right to open here. “We think there’s not enough food here the way we do it, and not a lot of Greek seafood restaurants.” Besides, says Tsoulous, Boston has a big Greek population: “I think they’re very anxious to come in and try our menu.”

The fish “market” at Avra Estiatorio, where diners can choose fish to be prepared. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Cocktails at Avra Estiatorio. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

400 Newbury St. (at the upper level of the Lyrik), Back Bay, Boston, 617-592-8888, theavragroup.com.

Avra Estiatorio’s coconut pie. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Chocolate cake and ice cream at Avra Estiatorio. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The Zebra Room. / Photo by Josh Jamison

Has anybody ever walked into a white-tablecloth steakhouse and thought, more wood paneling, please? Chris Jamison is betting you haven’t. And with the Zebra Room, opening downtown April 15, the COJE Management Group CEO hopes to add a unique spin to the Boston steakhouse scene with a “nontraditional take in a more intimate, laidback setting,” he says, complete with 1970s vibes, very cold martinis, and an atmosphere that “feels more like a living room than it does a restaurant.”

With a hefty array of nightlife-leaning restaurants and venues under their belts (including Mariel, Coquette, and Yvonne’s), the COJE team has set out to create something a little more grown-up here in the space below Yvonne’s, a focus that started with their late 2025 opening of the cozy sofa-filled cocktail lounge My Girl in Boston’s Post Office Square. (“I’m 42 now, and how do I want to spend my nights?” Jamison said at the time. “Going to dinner, and then going somewhere with a good soundtrack, sitting back, and grabbing some martinis.”) The Zebra Room takes it a step further: “This is a restaurant and dining bar first, a major departure from what we’ve traditionally done,” says Jamison, whose other venues tend to feel nightclubbier. “We’re trying to hit some notes for the cross-section of our clientele who have been asking for something like this for a long time.”

Beneath the main level of sibling restaurant Yvonne’s, the Zebra Room is hidden through a secret bookshelf door inside Yvonne’s subterranean Library, in a room that has gone through a couple iterations over the years, most recently as an event space called the Gallery. “Over the last year or so, we kept thinking that there was an opportunity to use the space better,” says Jamison. “We’ve seen an interesting trend [domestically and globally] toward much smaller, higher-touch restaurants. All of ours are huge.” So, the Zebra Room was born. “It’s a wholesale departure from what we’ve seen for steakhouses in Boston,” says Jamison, particularly size-wise, with just 10 tables and a small bar. (The tiny Bogie’s Place nearby, tucked between the Wig Shop cocktail bar and JM Curley, is another rare exception.)

The design, too, is meant to subvert Boston steakhouse expectations: “There’s a common thread of huge, corporate-forward spaces with wood paneling, the boys’ club [ambience],” says Jamison. “We designed this beautiful room [to be] super intimate, elegant, and comfortable, sort of a throwback to the 1970s ‘conversation pit’ vibe.” That means the dark red space is full of lots of soft surfaces, from banquettes to carpets, says Jamison. “The whole room is full of fabric.” Bold patterns on the wallpaper, floor, and furniture contrast the softness, along with colorful contemporary art by Junar Rodriguez, Halim A. Flowers, King Paris, Eser Gündüz, and Francisco Valverde.

Several food references go back a century further than the design, an homage to the iconic Locke-Ober, the restaurant that stood for over a century in the space that now houses Yvonne’s and the Zebra Room. The 1875 salad—endive, radicchio, blue cheese, bacon lardons, Medjool dates—is named for Locke-Ober’s founding year. And there’s lobster Savannah, a Locke-Ober signature that lands on the Zebra Room menu as two pounds of the shellfish, baked with sherry cream sauce, blue oyster mushrooms, gruyère, and buttered crumbs. Says chef Tom Berry, who runs culinary operations across COJE: “It was really important to capture the essence of a steakhouse without being too formulaic. But we also [wanted to give] a little bit of a nod to Locke-Ober without being too heavily into that.”

One must-try dish, as far as Berry is concerned: onion beignets, “sort of a riff on onion rings without being super crunchy.” It’s essentially a pâte à choux batter, he says, with grated onion, dehydrated onion, and Comté cheese, piped into doughnut molds and fried. The center is filled with boursin crème fraîche, with Ossetra caviar on top. “They’re intense, unique bites, and hopefully people are going to gravitate toward them,” says Berry.

The bar at the Zebra Room. / Photo by Josh Jamison

As for the steaks, it’s “a nicely curated selection of different cuts and also different farms and producers,” says Berry, with options ranging from a Brandt Beef flat iron (“approachable and cooks beautifully,” says Berry) to the Olive Snow wagyu NY strip from Michigan’s Stonefall Farm (“the marbling is just insane,” he says, describing this one as “super premium”—to the tune of $135 for a 12-ounce cut). Among the non-beef options: dry-aged pork chops; a rack of lamb from the Australian company Mottainai, which touts its product as “the wagyu of lamb.” They’re not too gamey and “well-tailored to the American palate,” says Berry.

Sides are important; this is a steakhouse, after all. “I wanted to have a mix of familiar and unique,” says Berry. He’s particularly excited about the “baked potato flattie,” a baked potato squashed paper-thin in a dough press, dressed with salt, cream with thyme and garlic, and Comté, and broiled. “It becomes sort of a hybrid of a loaded baked potato and au gratin,” says Berry, once it’s garnished with boursin crème fraîche, shoestring fries, scallions, and “a bacon upgrade, of course, if you’re interested. Hopefully that’ll be an iconic dish here.”

One of the desserts brings the Zebra Room back around to that 1970s feel: the Watergate sundae, a play on the Watergate salad, which was born of Kraft Foods’ 1970s debut of instant pistachio pudding mix. “Our version is pistachio ice cream with caramelized pineapple, cherries, walnuts, pistachios, and meringue,” says Berry, “a cool riff on the 1970s pudding dessert.”

The cocktail program blends nostalgia with modernity, with COJE’s director of bars Ray Tremblay putting his “signature tweak” on steakhouse classics, says Jamison. The Zebra Negroni, for example, gets added depth from strawberry, rhubarb, and olive oil, while the Fat Cap Manhattan is a complex concoction with wagyu fat and coffee and mole bitters. “We’re doing a big freezer martini program,” adds Jamison: “total subzero, absolutely frozen bottles,” inspired by the Dukes martini in London, which is “the crispest, coldest, purest cocktail you’re ever going to have.”

The wine list, meanwhile, focuses on this side of the pond, with COJE’s corporate wine director Nick Morisi highlighting American picks, particularly Napa. This domestic emphasis is new among COJE’s venues and is inspired by the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Judgment of Paris, in which Californian wines bested French in a blind tasting. Still, there are classic global selections as well, from regions like Burgundy, Tuscany, and beyond.

The Zebra Room’s hidden location, intimate space, and exclusive-feeling reservation system (by request, or through the third-party membership-based Dorsia platform) give the restaurant the feel of a private club. (Incidentally, a private restaurant is among the group’s forthcoming late-2026 projects at the Post Office Square building that houses COJE venues Mariel and My Girl.) But it’s open to the public, as long as you can nab a reservation or, with luck, a walk-in bar seat. It’s poised to be worth the effort: From the 1870s to the 1970s to today, this nostalgic, comfortable restaurant might be just the thing to turn the Boston steakhouse scene on its head.

The Zebra Room opens April 15 and serves dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Reservations are by request or via the membership-based Dorsia platform, with potential walk-in availability for bar seats. 4 Winter Pl. (enter through Yvonne’s), Downtown Crossing, Boston, zebraroom.com.

Illustration by Jeannie Phan

A spread of food at Rosa y Marigold in front of a photographic print by Cambridge-based Matt Saunders. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

It’s been 13 years since JuanMa Calderón and Maria Rondeau started hosting dinner parties in their Cambridge home. Since then, the couple—a Peruvian filmmaker and a Guatemalan architect, respectively—have opened three Peruvian restaurants: the tiny Celeste in Somerville’s Union Square, the big-city-swanky La Royal in Cambridge, and the experimental Esmeralda in Vermont. Now, their biggest venture yet: Rosa y Marigold, a 100-seat restaurant on the ground floor at Back Bay’s Lyrik development. “We are more confident,” says Calderón, who’s the group’s executive chef. “At Rosa y Marigold, we’re being braver.” That means bolder dishes like anticuchos de corazón (beef heart skewers) and a packed schedule of weekday lunch, weekend brunch, and daily dinner service. Lots of live music, too. “With a new restaurant, it’s time to arrive,” says Calderón as the acclaimed team finally makes its Boston proper debut. It’s big and it’s ambitious, but Rosa y Marigold feels firmly moored to the joyous, community-building ethos of its elder siblings.

Rosa y Marigold features a mural by Wellesley-based artist Daniela Rivera. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The new restaurant’s concept is rooted in duality, like the book for which it’s named. Rosa y Marigold is inspired by Marigold and Rose, a novel by the late Nobel Laureate poet Louise Glück, “who was a very dear friend of ours,” says Rondeau (the restaurant’s designer and general manager). “She was a very big supporter of Celeste and always encouraged us to move forward.” The book reads like a fable, says Rondeau, describing two infant twin girls “who don’t have the gift of speech yet, but do have the gift of imagination, and they project. One is very creative and interested in the world as a visual; the other is more interested in the concepts behind things. So, [the book explores] how these two live as one—they’re separate, yet they’re together.”

Rosa y Marigold’s asado de costilla con pure de papas—braised short rib in panca, mole, and red wine reduction, with potato puree. “It’s based on a very traditional Peruvian dish called asado, which is made with roast beef,” says Rondeau, “but we wanted to portion it differently and give it a richer flavor, so we made it with braised short rib. It’s a little bit of a spin on ossobuco, also.” / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Duality manifests in various ways. For one, Rosa y Marigold is equally suited to day and night; Rondeau and Calderón are excited to finally be in a neighborhood with enough mid-day bustle to support weekday lunch service, when they’ll highlight sánguches, Peruvian sandwiches. Plus, the menu is a balance between tradition and modernity, from classic ceviche and street-food anticuchos to contemporary spins on steak frites (with huacatay butter and fried yuca) and the homey Peruvian dish asado (made here with artfully plated short rib instead of roast beef). “When I go to Peru to explore and research, I always go looking for the very traditional things,” says Calderón, “but in Lima, a lot of things are happening in cuisine. So, I always come back with the two parts: whatever I was looking for from my memories, and all the new things happening there.” And Lyrik itself embodies duality, too, perched at the intersection of neighborhoods and the crossroads of locals and tourists.

Rosa y Marigold’s anticucho de corazón, a beef heart skewer made with aji panca marinade. The restaurant also offers shrimp and pineapple anticuchos and vegan portobello anticuchos. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Compared to the menus at Celeste and La Royal, the anticuchos de corazón are one of the most notable new dishes at Rosa y Marigold. “Every neighborhood [in Lima] has a lady on the corner serving this every night,” he says of the ubiquitous street food. “It’s very old, coming from the slaves’ time, when the only meat they could eat was [offal].”

Rosa y Marigold features seven sánguches, Peruvian sandwiches, on its lunch menu. This is pan con chicharrón, deep-fried pork with sweet potato and salsa criolla, traditionally enjoyed on Sundays but always available here. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The sánguches are also new, and they’ve been on Rondeau and Calderón’s minds for ages, but lunch just didn’t work for the Celeste and La Royal locations, which don’t have as much midday foot traffic. (“In Peru, [sánguches are] pretty much what you eat in bars when you’re drinking beers,” says Calderón, and they’re also often a breakfast food. In Boston, they feel like a perfect fit for lunch.) Try the pan con chicharrón first, deep-fried pork with sweet potato—it’s a classic sandwich recently declared the best breakfast in the world in an internet contest (but equally tasty at any time of day). Traditionally it’s eaten on Sundays; Sundays are “the reason for a reunion, and people arrive to have a big breakfast,” says Calderón. Rosa y Marigold will thankfully serve it every day, though.

Rosa y Marigold. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

There are plenty of familiar threads, too, among Rosa y Marigold and its siblings. To drink, for example? “Always a lot of pisco sours and versions thereof,” says Rondeau. Here, one version is spicy thanks to the South American Rocoto pepper; another, the Newbury Sour, incorporates chicha morada (a purple corn-based drink) and black currant cassis, its color mirroring the dreamlike purple lighting in parts of the restaurant. Calderón’s emphasis on chifa (Peruvian-Chinese dishes) continues here as well, with dishes such as chaufa de mariscos, stir-fried rice with seafood, and wonton de camaron, fried shrimp dumplings with a sweet-and-sour tamarind sauce. “[Making the wontons] one by one helped me a lot during all these days [of opening the restaurant],” says Calderón.

Rosa y Marigold’s chanchito asado—Chinese-Peruvian roasted pork, hoisin sauce, and sautéed vegetables—pictured here with wonton de camaron, fried shrimp wontons. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Adds Rondeau: “It’s therapeutic; he meditates when he makes them.” And those dinner-party roots have not been forgotten. At each of the group’s restaurants, “the design revolves around the open kitchen,” says Rondeau. “That’s really what we’re all about: kind of sharing, kind of performance.”

Rosa y Marigold’s frito pescadito con papa dorada y salsa criolla, deep-fried whole branzino with potatoes and salsa criolla (tomato and onion). / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Of the group’s locations, this is the least neighborhood-y on its surface—the plentiful tourists and students come and go—but Rondeau and Calderón are confident that they can cultivate a community here. “When we came to this location,” says Rondeau, “we had this idea of food and bringing people together,” a lifeblood that courses through all their projects. With long hours, from lunch to late-night, and live music collaborations from Berklee and other local institutions and groups, it seems like the right pieces are in place to achieve that goal. “There’s a huge demographic here completely different from what we see [at our other locations]. We have tourism, because we’re at the hub of Boston, and we have students, and we have the neighborhoods: the Back Bay, Fenway, the South End. We see it as an opportunity to grow.”

Rosa y Marigold’s pollo al limón: braised chicken, aji amarillo, lime, red onions, and rice. This is “a classic from JuanMa’s mom’s kitchen,” says Rondeau. (It’s traditionally called ceviche de pollo, which leads some English speakers to mistake it for a raw chicken dish. The name actually refers to the flavors of ceviche, not the preparation.) / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Community within the restaurant group itself is essential to Rondeau and Calderón as well, and key to the decision to open this fourth venue. “One of the really important things for us is growing from within our team,” says Rondeau. Celeste’s first employee, Jose Saravia, who started as a dishwasher, is a partner in Rosa y Marigold, as is Lauren Harder, who is La Royal’s landlord and general contractor. “Our restaurants are really about us as a family,” says Rondeau, and that chosen family keeps growing.

Rosa y Marigold. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Since Rondeau designs each of the group’s restaurants, Rosa y Marigold feels like a seamless continuation of its older sisters. Grander in scale, sure, but intimate and lovely just the same. Of note are large mirrors on the ceiling, meant to “augment the space and give the idea that you’re looking beyond,” says Rondeau. “They let you observe, taking it all in, [feeling] that you’re part of something.” One wall is covered by a striking mural of “hands describing food you love,” as Rondeau explains it; it’s by Chilean-born, Wellesley-based artist Daniela Rivera, who also did pieces for Celeste and La Royal. Another wall features an almost otherworldly forest-like landscape, a photographic print by Cambridge-based Matt Saunders.

Rosa y Marigold’s squid al olivo, grilled squid with black olive mayonnaise. It’s one Rondeau’s favorite dishes on the menu. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

With duality at its core, Rosa y Marigold is equal parts an evolution for the group and recommitment to its siblings’ foundation, from Calderón’s expressions of Peruvian cuisine to Rondeau’s artistic design that balances homey and trendy. “A new restaurant is an opportunity to keep creating, keep playing, and keep experimenting,” says Calderón. “We’re ready to say, ‘This is who we are, and this is what we have.’ We can keep exploring Peruvian culture.”

Rosa y Marigold’s tostaditas de atún: cured salmon and avocado salsa madre. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Rosa y Marigold opens in mid-April, serving daily dinner, weekday lunch, and weekend brunch; reservations available via Opentable. Watch for live jazz on Wednesday nights and Sundays during brunch, with an expanded live music and schedule coming soon, spanning various genres. 400 Newbury St. (Lyrik Back Bay), Back Bay, Boston, rosaymarigold.com.

Rosa y Marigold’s causas—riced potato with lime, aji amarillo, and olive oil, served cold. The yellow one features tuna tartare; red—beet, tomato, and avocado; black—squid ink and shrimp. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Illustration by Jeannie Phan

For years, wellness was a solitary pursuit—early-morning workouts, solo spa appointments, quiet meditation apps. Now, a more collective approach is taking hold, reframing self-care as something to be shared. From candlelit sound baths to evening spa takeovers to communal ice baths, group wellness experiences are emerging as a new way to socialize—one rooted in restoration rather than reservations.

At the forefront locally is Spa After Dark, a new monthly series at the Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Boston. Held on the third Wednesday of each month, the hotel opens the spa after hours for a guided contrast-therapy experience designed to be both social and deeply restorative. Guests rotate between the sauna, vitality pool, and cold-water immersion under the direction of a trained professional, who enhances the sauna ritual with essential oils poured over hot stones, creating waves of aromatic heat.

Spa director Heather Hannig says the concept grew from her own love of thermaculture—the ancient practice of alternating heat and cold for physical renewal. When she started working at the property last year, she realized that the spa’s private suite, sauna, and soaking pools made it possible to translate that ritual into a shared, guided activity. The goal was to create something experiential rather than transactional: guests in swimsuits moving through multiple rounds of heat and cold, then lingering in lounge spaces to rehydrate and connect.

The shift to a more social experience—complete with nonalcoholic beverages, electrolyte-rich drinks, and food designed to support the body—was intentional. “As opposed to a dinner out or a bar experience, we were seeing that there’s an appetite for more group experiences that are wellness-focused, where people can socialize in this setting,” says Danielle McNally, director of marketing and communications for Mandarin Oriental, Boston.

Courtesy Remedy Place Boston

This desire for collective wellness extends beyond hotel spas. At Remedy Place Boston, guests gather for communal ice baths, sauna sessions, and breathwork in a sleek, club-like environment that prioritizes recovery and connection. Release Well-Being Center in Westborough similarly taps into the power of group energy through workshops featuring sound baths, singing bowls, and guided practices aimed at nervous-system regulation. After all, these days, social currency isn’t about cocktails—it’s about how good you feel the next morning.

Related: Is Wellness Culture Ruining Social Fun?

Bambola. / Photo by Armani Thao

The Seaport’s latest nightlife destination is a sister act. Please, welcome to the stage: Bambola and the Girl Next Door, who made their double-headlining debut on April 3. Theatrical, sumptuous—and dare we say seductive?—the side-by-side Italian restaurant and cocktail bar are collectively the latest venture from Sneaky Good Hospitality, the group behind local bars Foxhole, the Flamingo, Blondie’s, and Rock & Rye.

Bambola executive chef Bartolo Bruzzaniti. / Photo by Armani Thao

SGH founders Tyrone Di Stasi, Jairo Dominguez, and Richard Sullivan worked with Boston-based design firm Arrowstreet Hospitality to completely reimagine the former Seaport Social space at the corner of Northern Avenue and Harborview Lane, setting the stage for drama—or at the very least, your next Instagram post. It starts at the entrance, a curved, high-gloss, red-tiled vestibule: Standing here is like waiting in the wings and deciding what kind of show you want to experience. To the left, Bambola (Italian for “doll”) awaits, slightly hidden from view, featuring cozy alcoves for banter over pasta. Up ahead, it’s the Seaport-meets-Southern-Italy Girl Next Door, facing Northern Avenue and tailored for a more social experience. Roman-born chef Bartolo Bruzzaniti, who moved to Boston in 2020, oversees both, inspired by memories of sprawling Sunday dinners that he translates into personal plays on Italian classics.

Start with dinner at the glam Bambola, styled with an exclamation point (Bambola!) that you can almost hear as you step inside. Luxe gold wall coverings splashed with oversized foliage shimmer in the dim light cast by crystal-dripping, Murano-esque chandeliers. Tile floors with an undulating pattern evoke an Old-World villa, with mirrored ceilings and a dramatic gold-draped and illuminated bar capturing the eye. Drapes, carpets, and oversized velvet booths set the stage for hushed, romantic conversations. It’s easy to imagine diamond-draped Sophia Loren tucked in the corner twirling spaghetti with her fork.

Bambola’s spaghettoni alla carbonara. / Photo by Armani Thao

“We’ve always thought of going out to dinner as a celebration,” says cofounder Di Stasi, and the luxurious digs are a backdrop for everyday and special occasions built around Bruzzaniti’s cuisine. “The menu starts with the four pillars of Roman cuisine: carbonara, amatriciana, cacio e pepe, and pasta alla gricia,” says Di Stasi, “and then spans to Southern Italy, all the way down to Sicily.”

Bambola’s paccheri ai tre pomodori. / Photo by Armani Thao

For a date night, cofounder Dominguez says, “Start with a couple of the antipasti,” such as briny fried olives or beef meatballs swathed by a dollop of umami-rich tomato sauce atop crispy crostini. Next, he says, share a pasta or two before splitting a secondi, such as pollo saltimbocca or a whole branzino in white wine sauce, and ending with tiramisu crafted tableside.

Those pastas are designed to let the ingredients “shine on a plate without overcomplicating it,” says Di Stasi. Take the carbonara: Instead of padding the dish with cream, Bruzzaniti makes the silky sauce with only a mixture of Parmesan and pecorino cheeses, plus egg. And there’s only guanciale—a traditional salt-cured pork cheek—instead of bacon or pancetta. The team uses the fat of the guanciale to emulsify the egg mixture, and also to quickly sauté the pasta for added indulgence.

Bambola’s tonnarelli alla cacio e pepe. / Photo by Armani Thao

To drink: classics, with a decidedly Italian spin, such as an alpine Negroni with the bittersweet Amaro Braulio and rosso vermouth, or a Sicilian Old Fashioned with an herby kick from the Italian amaro Averna, or a martini with a bite, courtesy of pepperoncini brine.

The Girl Next Door, the chatty younger sister of the duo, beckons for a nightcap—or perhaps it’s the single destination of the evening. Where Bambola is dark and moody, the Girl Next Door glimmers with light and playful electricity. Glow from the chandeliers and the giant disco ball play off the glossy wallcoverings that feature flaming lips. A Dolce & Gabbana leopard-print wallcovering swathes one wall, echoed by cheetah-print, faux-fur banquettes.

Bambola’s rigatoni alla amatriciana. / Photo by Armani Thao

Here, you’ll drink cocktails that flirt with flavors from beyond the classic Italian canon (a lychee martini, for instance) and ingredients that feel a little fancy (such as a spritz with Veuve Clicquot Brut and Grand Marnier).

Then, there’s the espresso martini. It’s available in both spots, but the sisters have quite different views on the drink. Bambola sticks to her Italian roots, serving the elixir dark—just a mix of Three Olives Espresso vodka, Caffè Borghetti espresso liqueur, and fresh-brewed espresso. The Girl Next Door, on the other hand, is perhaps an American who studied abroad in Naples and headed to Ireland on break, if her version of the cocktail—with Irish cream—is any clue. The great thing about these two spots, though, is not having to choose: Hit up both, and let the drinks, dishes, and vibes fuel a dolce vita night out.

Bambola. / Photo by Armani Thao

225 Northern Ave., Seaport District, Boston, bambolabos.com.

La Tavernetta. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Seaside spritzes, grilled meat skewers, fried mozzarella with anchovy dipping sauce—and a panoramic view of the Boston skyline. That’s the promise of La Tavernetta, a new East Boston restaurant opening April 13, courtesy of the Mida team, that’s built around one simple idea: What if an oceanfront tavern grew up Italian and served cocktails in glassware shaped like dainty purses?

“It’s a coastal tavern with an Italian kiss,” says co-owner Seth Gerber, pointing to the flavors and feel of Southern Italy in particular.

La Tavernetta’s Calabrian chile wings. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Gerber and chef/co-owner Douglass Williams are no strangers to running Italian restaurants, serving expert pastas and more at four Mida locations around Greater Boston, including one right across the wharf from La Tavernetta. “We focus so much on Italy [at Mida], and it’s a big part of our inspiration and what we love to eat, so we couldn’t help but bring that here with regards to the flavor profiles and ingredient inspirations,” says Gerber. But there’s no sense in putting identical spots next to each other, of course, so La Tavernetta has a decidedly different menu largely reminiscent of “tavern-style fare,” says Gerber. “We have wings, oysters, sandwiches, and an amazing grill program.” Just embellished with a touch of Southern Italy. (The wings, for instance, are sticky and spicy with a Calabrian chile sauce.)

Decorative tiles embedded in La Tavernetta’s counters feature sayings or bar games. “Forte e Gentile,” strong and kind, refers to the Italian region of Abruzzo. (La Tavernetta’s cocktail list borrows “forte” and “gentile” as section headers.) / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The vibe, too, is meant to be transportive. “There are so many amazing venues throughout Southern Italy that are casual but have amazing food and drink, and they just feel so special near the water,” says Gerber. “We wanted to capture that energy and do a place that felt nautical and beachy without being theme-y. And there are a lot of places that already do ‘New England coastal restaurant’ really well, so this is our [Southern Italian-inspired] spin on what a tavern should be.” That includes an expansive patio wrapping around three sides of the restaurant, covered with massive teal-and-blood-orange-striped umbrellas; large windows throughout the space; and even tiles containing simple icebreaker-style bar game suggestions embedded in some countertops. “Maybe it’s your first date or your 1,000th, or you’re with friends—it’s another way to engage and show hospitality,” says Gerber.

La Tavernetta’s mozzarella en carrozza. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Compared to Mida, La Tavernetta has “a slightly more letting-your-hair-down atmosphere,” adds Williams. “Seth and I always talked about how we could expand the bar at Mida, and how it’s such a vibe. This is kind of a representation of Mida’s bar culture, expanded, and focused more on Southern Italy. More beach, more ocean, more salty.”

La Tavernetta. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

That plays out literally on the menu, too, in dishes such as the mozzarella en carrozza. “It’s essentially a fried grilled-cheese sandwich,” says Williams, with aged mozzarella, pecorino, and an anchovy-based dipping sauce if you want to add “an oceanic flavor,” says Williams. The dish is “super snacky; super yummy. We’re really excited about that.” Or a squid ink frutti di mare with cockles, rock shrimp, calamari, and lobster brodo, topped with a bit of basil, or a local striped bass ceviche with aji amarillo, cilantro, and lots of herbs. “All the bright, fresh things that you want when you’re eating on the coast, under the sun,” says Williams. “Dishes like this layer onto that seaside theme.”

La Tavernetta’s squid ink frutti di mare. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Spritzes are the star of the drink menu, light and breezy in flavors such as elderflower, limoncello, or the ubiquitous Aperol. There are a variety of highballs, too, and other cocktails that in many cases feature ingredients from Southern Italy, says Gerber. Club Cactus, for instance, is “basically a mezcal margarita” made with prickly pear, prevalent in Sicily. Carob, too, is widely found in the region; here, it lends a chocolatey taste to an Old Fashioned-like concoction. “That’s what we tried to capture with the drink menu: sneaking unique Southern Italian flavor profiles into recognizable cocktails,” says Gerber.

Cocktails at La Tavernetta. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Although La Tavernetta feels tailormade for easygoing warm-weather outings, it’s a winning formula for the colder months, too. The panoramic views of the Boston skyline can’t be beat, and even this opening spring menu has hints of hearty, comforting fare, from wagyu strombolis to the crowd-friendly grigliata mista (mixed grill) of spiedini (skewers of grilled meats), snacks, raw bar items, and more.

La Tavernetta’s fried fish sandwich. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Plus, Williams and Gerber plan to be open all day, including weekday “cafe/work-from-Tavernetta” service, says Gerber, with the goal of giving the neighborhood “a lovely little coffee program” and comfortable remote-work space, complete with “busy” flags you can display at your table “if you just want to lock in on your laptop and we’ll leave you alone.” There’ll also be full-service lunch, if you’d rather, and weekend brunch.

La Tavernetta. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Above all, the team is excited to highlight a style of Italian beyond pizza and pasta as Boston gets more comfortable with hyper-regional restaurants. “Doug gets to showcase really cool techniques that he doesn’t get to do at Mida,” says Gerber, “and a very specific kind of Italian food. So come, have fun, and let go of what your preconceptions are [about Italian].”

At La Tavernetta, a local striped bass ceviche with aji amarillo, cilantro, fried yuca, and avocado. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Adds Williams: “We’re stretching our legs on flavors, chiles, herbs, approaches, and techniques; this restaurant allows that. So if you’re not coming to have fun, then you’re at the wrong place.”

La Tavernetta, with sibling restaurant Mida in view across the water. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Opening April 13. Reservations will be available, but walk-ins will be encouraged. 45 Lewis St., East Boston, latavernettaeastie.com.

A spread of food on the patio at La Tavernetta. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses. / Photo via OST/Getty Images

You could say alt-rock is one of Boston’s enduring exports: It’s been 40 years since Throwing Muses’ self-titled album came out, and yet the pioneering band is still going strong, having released its 11th album, Moonlight Confessions, last year and coming home to the Paradise Rock Club on April 4.

They’re not the only band from Boston’s golden alt-rock era attracting young music aficionados with their unwillingness to become pure nostalgia acts (see: the Lemonheads’ 2025 LP, Love Chant; Juliana Hatfield’s 21st solo album, Lightning Might Strike, also released last year; and Buffalo Tom’s 2024 album, Jump Rope). “They don’t want to just do their big hits again; they want to come up with something new,” says George Knight, morning host at Emerson College’s WERS 88.9, Boston’s go-to station for alternative rock, new and old.

But their big hits are still appreciated: Founded by Newport, Rhode Island, stepsisters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly in 1981, Throwing Muses excelled at writing intensely personal lyrics accompanied by music that could be spiky or sweet, or both at the same time. They signed with the influential British record label 4AD in the mid-’80s, followed closely by the Pixies—which opened the floodgates for legions of other Boston artists to strike it big. “Boston at the time was not only a vibrant scene, but it had more musical diversity than other cities like Seattle, where it was all ‘grunge’ bands,” says Adam “Adam 12” Chapman, currently the executive producer of 98.5 the Sports Hub’s Toucher & Hardy show and the program director of Rock 92.9. Back in the 1990s, he was a DJ at Northeastern’s college radio station and the late, great alt-rock colossus WFNX, where he would play local bands that ranged from power pop to ska-punk to jazz-rock. Chapman also points out another important feature of Throwing Muses and other local acts: The bands had women in them. “That was a big deal. It wasn’t the norm back then,” Chapman says.

It sure is now, with much of today’s most exciting new indie rock—from Mitski to Momma—made by women. The resemblance is partly what’s attracting younger fans to old-school alt-rock—that and a full-circle appreciation for the genre’s killer sound. Knight, for example, has seen this zeitgeist shift with his student interns and the younger DJs at the station. “What resonates with the students is stripped-down, honest rock music. It’s not super slick,” he says. “These days, they get bombarded with remixes and stuff with a bazillion samples. But these are bands that pick up their instruments and just play, and I think that goes a long way.”

Dalia. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

At Dalia, Broadway Restaurant Group’s new South Boston Spanish restaurant, even the calamari is a surprise. It’s cut lengthwise and cooked over charcoal, standing in for noodles in a sauce built from ibérico pork and sobrassada—a Spanish riff on Sichuan dan dan. There’s also a churro, but it’s stuffed with crabmeat and topped with caviar. And the paella? It has a dedicated three-person team. This, to put it mildly, is far from a neighborhood restaurant that’s playing it safe.

A spread of food and drinks at Dalia, including chips with jamón ibérico and caviar; paella; and red sangria. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The design, too, is daring and grandiose, courtesy of South Boston-based firm Assembly Design Studio, which also collaborated on Dalia’s immersive Italian siblings Prima, Capri, and more. From the massive, plant-filled skylight to the tasseled lamps to the cozy fireside tables under dog-themed paintings, this looks like nothing else in Boston. It’s a challenge to nail both the style and the substance, but BRG seems ready to take on that challenge, thanks in part to an impressive kitchen suite in full view.

Right by the front windows at Dalia, a comfortable seating area by a fireplace will accommodate diners waiting for tables. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Between the sun-drenched front dining room and the moody, sexier space in the back, the custom-built kitchen is stacked with equipment by Barcelona-based Josper, including four Basque-style grills and a wood-fired broiler. From sure-to-be-coveted counter seats along the edges of the kitchen, or from virtually anywhere in the two dining rooms, customers will be able to watch the team prepare everything from fresh breads like pan de cristal to brightly flavored crudo to big pans of paella, the latter perfected by that three-person team.

Dalia’s Valencia paella, with shellfish, chorizo, and chicken. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Dalia’s razor clam crudo. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

“What’s really fun about Spanish cuisine is that it’s [often] wood-fired cooking,” says culinary director and partner Nick Dixon. “And the Spanish culinary scene is constantly evolving. It’s one of the top cuisines in the world. We like to have eclectic, creative menus, so we took the idea of wood-fired, Spanish-influenced food and put a spin on it.” Case in point: a mountain of Spanish potato chips with jamón ibérico and (optional, but encouraged) caviar, or those aforementioned churros and dan dan not-noodles. While the menu isn’t traditional, the team is sourcing many ingredients from Spain, including sherry and ibérico pork (a jamón cart will feature staff slicing ham tableside). In a perfect blend of near and far, the restaurant’s olive oil of choice is produced in Spain by a company based in South Boston, Titin.

The bar in Dalia’s back dining room. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The best way to get a feel for Dalia’s culinary philosophy, says Dixon, is to start with a crudo, such as the bluefin tuna with blood orange, black olive, and kumquat, before moving into the tapas. “We’re a very tapas-focused restaurant,” he notes. The guisantes à la brasa, charred snap peas, are “very fresh and bright,” cooked in a bed of charcoal, tossed with orange and sherry, and garnished with Marcona almonds and burnt-orange chimichurri. That calamares “dan dan” is also a must-try, he says, and a good example of Dalia’s out-of-the-box take on Spanish. Try a robata dish, too—that’s Japanese-style charcoal-grilling—such as the thinly sliced wagyu rib cap with sherry ponzu.

/ Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Then, choose your own adventure: Several types of bomba-rice-based paella beckon, including the shellfish-loaded Valencia style. “The paella, for us, is like the pasta in an Italian restaurant,” Dixon says. Or try some of the larger, made-to-share entrees, such as whole suckling pig or whole local fish. Either way, save room for dessert, such as the gâteau Basque, a cookie-meets-pie situation with blackberry preserves.

Dalia’s Amapola cocktail (strawberry mezcal, Aperol, white vermut, lemon) with mejilones à la brasa (PEI mussels, cockles, and salsa verde). / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

“Even with the beverage program, we’re trying to incorporate Spanish ingredients,” says Dixon, “and we wanted to have drinks that are crushable but thoughtful, that will make you feel like you’re on vacation.” The Amapola—strawberry mezcal with Aperol, white vermut, and lemon—is summertime in a glass. There’s red sangria, too, not to mention a passionfruit-and-coconut margarita. On the wine side, the options are mostly Spanish. “Everything from delicious, affordable wines by the glass to baller reds,” says Dixon, noting that Spanish wines are particularly affordable. “An $80 bottle of Spanish wine could drink like a $120 bottle of wine [from somewhere else]” he says—which, in this economy, feels like reason enough to visit.

Dalia’s txistorra “hot dogs” with chorizo, peppers, and onions. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The thread of Spanish sourcing continues in everything from Dalia’s ingredients to the décor and accoutrements. “Both Erica [Diskin, cofounder of Assembly Design Studio] and I wanted to honor Spain as much as possible in the space,” Dixon says. Plates were handmade by Cerámicas Ortiz in the south of Spain; lamps were custom-made in Valencia; intricate floor tiles come from Spain, too. Broadway Restaurant Group and Assembly Design Studio have collaborated on projects for well over a decade, “and everything I ever do [in the future], Assembly will be involved in,” Dixon says.

The front dining room at Dalia features a large skylight full of living plants. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The bar in Dalia’s front dining room. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

“Nick and I have each been living and working in Southie for a long time,” says Assembly cofounder Erica Diskin, “so the perspective with this place was, ‘What does the neighborhood need?’” Adds Dixon: “I’ve been cooking [in this neighborhood] for 14 years,” starting next door at sibling spot Lincoln. “What do people who are 14 years older want now? They want something where they can have a date night and feel transported.”

Dalia’s gambas al ajillo, featuring Argentinian red shrimp. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

From the starting point of the central kitchen, the existing skylight, and the idea that the space should feel lived-in, Assembly worked to design a restaurant equal parts homey and worthy of special occasions. “[I wanted to create] my fantasy home that I’d want to sit in and live in,” says Diskin, “because when you go to a neighborhood restaurant, it’s like your third space. We want it to feel like you’re moving through rooms of a house,” from a cozy area at the very front—with a fireplace, furniture that invites lounging, and walls covered in paintings of dogs (and one cat)—to the plant-filled front dining room and bar, to the “more formal” backroom for “fancier dinners and sexy date nights.” Fancier, but timeless; Diskin uses layers—paint, plaster, fabrics, textures, reclaimed wood—to evoke the feel that this has been someone’s dining room for ages.

Dalia’s back dining room and bar, with a view of the open kitchen. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Given the long-term relationship between Broadway Restaurant Group and Assembly Design Studio, it feels like the teams up the ante with each new restaurant, working on a grander scale each time. Sure, Dalia is poised for an easy social-media win with its countless photogenic nooks and details, but there’s a lot more at play here. The design and the culinary philosophy play off each other to create what we can only predict will be an important South Boston destination for years to come—or, at the very least, a rockin’ paella party.

Dalia’s churro with crab and caviar. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Dalia opens for dinner on April 2, with plans for brunch and cafe service at a later date. Also still to come: a downstairs lounge with its own personality; stay tuned. 429 W. Broadway, South Boston, daliaboston.com.

Dalia. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

A spread of food at Izakaya Minato, where chef/co-owner Thomas Takashi Cooke is nominated for a 2026 James Beard Award in the Best Chef: Northeast category. / Photo by Caroline Alden

James Beard Awards season continues today with the announcement of the 2026 restaurant and chef nominees across the United States—a pared-down selection that follows January’s broader semifinalists list. (Winners will be announced at a Chicago gala on June 15.) Zero Massachusetts chefs or restaurants made the cut. What gives, James Beard Foundation? There’s an extra sting to the omission given the Boston area’s mixed feelings around its first inclusion in the Michelin Guide just a few months ago, yielding a single Michelin star. Other parts of New England fared a bit better in today’s Beard announcement, with the region as a whole landing 10 nominees across six categories; more on those below, but first, a refresher on the James Beard Awards.

The annual awards are a big deal in the U.S. restaurant world, recognizing talent across the food, beverage, and hospitality industry. From promising newcomers to industry veterans, a variety of chefs, bakers, beverage professionals, and more are granted awards across about two dozen categories under the “restaurant and chef awards” umbrella. Additionally, there are food media awards, lifetime achievement recognition, and other honors, some of which are announced on a different schedule throughout the year.

The announcement of the closely watched restaurant and chef awards is a multi-step process, with the long list of semifinalists dropping early in the year, followed by the nominees in the early spring (that’s what happened today), and finally the winners at a big event in June. At the start of the process, there’s a public open call for recommendations, while decisions are made by a voting body of Beard Foundation subcommittee members and appointed judges around the U.S.

Super Secret Ice Cream. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Here are the 2026 nominees around New England:

• Dana Street of Fore Street, Scales, Standard Baking Co., and others (Portland, ME)—Outstanding Restaurateur nominee
• David Standridge, The Shipwright’s Daughter (Mystic, CT)—Outstanding Chef semifinalist
• Loma (Providence, RI)—Best New Bar nominee
• The Port of Call (Mystic, CT)—Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program nominee
• Super Secret Ice Cream (Bethlehem, NH)—Outstanding Bakery nominee
• David DiStasi of Materia Ristorante (Bantam, CT)—Best Chef: Northeast nominee
• Evan Hennessey of Stages (Dover, NH)—Best Chef: Northeast nominee
• Thomas Takashi Cooke of Izakaya Minato (Portland, ME)—Best Chef: Northeast nominee
• Paul Trombly of Fancy’s (Burlington, VT)—Best Chef: Northeast nominee
• Derek Wagner of Nicks on Broadway (Providence, RI)—Best Chef: Northeast nominee