Top Secrets of Greater Boston’s Top 50 Restaurants
We got some of the area’s most popular dining spots to spill the details on off-menu items, best times to try to get a table, and more.
Go off-menu at Abe & Louie’s and order lobster stuffed with this lobster mac and cheese. / Photo by Brian Samuels
In the digital age of dining, there are few mysteries: Social media documents every inch of every restaurant; online reviews describe every dish. But there are still the occasional secrets to be found out, and we asked some of this year’s Top 50 Restaurants to spill the details. Read on if you want to be in the know about off-menu items, best walk-in times, and why you should head to Brookline’s Mahaniyom for your next special occasion.
Harissa barbecue duck shish at Sarma, a menu mainstay among a wide array of ever-changing seasonal specialties. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Sarma
The secret: Yep, you can really get a seat.
Chef/owner Cassie Piuma lets us in on a trio of secrets from the No. 1 restaurant on this year’s list. Perhaps most importantly for this nearly-impossible-to-reserve hot spot: “8:30 p.m. is the magic time” to score a walk-in bar seat, says Piuma. And while sitting at that bar, you might feel like sipping on one of the restaurant’s drinks from the early days, the fan-favorite cardamom-and-ginger Elettaria. “Our cocktails have come a long way, but if you want an Elettaria, we’ll make one upon request.” Finally, ever wonder just how Piuma and the team get Sarma’s vegetables to taste so irresistible, so…meaty? It’s thanks to Sugar Bob’s smoked maple syrup from Vermont, she says, imparting a bacon-like flavor.
249 Pearl St., Somerville, 617-764-4464, sarmarestaurant.com.
Bar Vlaha’s horiatiko psomi, village-style sourdough bread, made in-house. / Photo by Birch Thomas
Bar Vlaha
The secret: You can take home a whole loaf of bread.
The Greek restaurant pays homage to the rustic cooking of the nomadic Vlach people, from charcoal-grilled meats to freshwater fish dishes. The best way to start a meal? A slice or two of horiatiko psomi, village-style sourdough baked fresh in-house, slathered with sheep milk butter and sea salt. The best way to end a meal? Taking home a whole loaf for later. The restaurant’s top secret is that whole to-go loaves are available daily, says Xenia Greek Hospitality culinary director Brendan Pelley. Secret’s out.
1653 Beacon St., Brookline, 617-906-8556, barvlaha.com.
Duck at Urban Hearth. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Urban Hearth
The secret: You can open any wine bottle, if you commit to two glasses.
At this locavore favorite, light-drinking oenophiles aren’t tied to the by-the-glass selection. The restaurant will open “just about any bottle on our extended list” as long as you commit to two glasses, says chef/owner Erin Miller. “It’s a wonderfully curated wine list.” Bonus secret: When you reserve, ask for table 6 or 7 for a cozy corner (or to annoy a teen within earshot).
2263 Massachusetts Ave., North Cambridge, 617-682-7295, urbanhearth.net.
Brassica Kitchen + Café
The secret: There’s a fancy Big Mac, iykyk.
This funky JP restaurant—which recently moved into a bigger, swankier space next door—is hard to define; think: a little Italian, a little Japanese, but with French roots, plus a big focus on fermentation and upcycling. Easier to define? How delicious the off-menu burger is. “It’s, like, 20 years of trying to create a Big Mac from scratch,” says co-chef and co-owner Jeremy Kean, “using gorgeous wagyu and other ingredients as fine as we can use.” There are only about 10 a night, usually claimed by in-the-know regulars, so get there early if you want one. “We never advertise it; it’s never on the menu. If you know, you know.”
3712 Washington St., Jamaica Plain, Boston, 617-477-4519, brassicakitchen.com.
Don’t miss Mahaniyom’s eye-catching bathroom. / Courtesy photo
Mahaniyom
The secret: Tequila!
Beyond serving some of the best Thai food in town, this lively Brookline restaurant is known for its hospitality (and—bonus secret—a super-cool black-light-responsive bathroom mural). “We are really welcoming to our guests,” says co-owner Chompon “Boong” Boonnak, “so our secret is that if you’re celebrating anything with us, we like to bring [you] shots. A shot of tequila is my favorite.”
236 Washington St., Brookline, 617-487-5986, mahaniyomboston.com.
Lê Madeline. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Lê Madeline
The secret: Soup is always available.
This Quincy favorite for modern Vietnamese is a recent reinvention of Pho Linh, which was more of a traditional Vietnamese noodle shop. Favorites from the old menu—a wide variety of phở and rice plates—are still the focus at lunch, while Lê Madeline’s new-school approach takes center stage at night. But, says executive chef and cofounder Peter Nguyen, you can always request the soups and rice plates at dinner, too, even though they’re not listed on the menu. (“It’s a perfect season for soup,” he adds.) One more thing: You can add bone marrow to any of the soups, “which is a great combination.”
409 Hancock St., Quincy, lemadeline.com.
Baleia’s cataplana, a braised pork and seafood stew. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Baleia
The secret: An under-the-radar tasting menu.
South End Italian gem SRV is known for its “Arsenale” tasting menu—one of the most reasonably priced in town at $67/person—but fewer people know that its trendy younger sibling Baleia, serving Portuguese-inspired dishes, has a tasting menu, too. Try the “Explorador” ($70/person) for “sort of a chef’s tasting or chef’s whim” that includes surprises beyond what’s on the à la carte menu, says executive chef Andrew Hebert.
264 E. Berkeley St., South End, Boston, baleiaboston.com.
Grill 23’s Brandt Beef steaks, ready to cook at home. / Photo by Isabel Lopiano
Grill 23 & Bar
The secret: DIY steak dinner at home.
Want luxurious beef in the privacy of your own home? You can pick up uncooked steaks from Grill 23, says executive chef Ryan Marcoux, and show off your kitchen skills to your date. The restaurant includes flavored beef butter with your order. For the less culinarily inclined, here’s another secret: The venerable steakhouse serves “a fabulous burger” only at the bar, says Marcoux. A perfect pairing for Grill 23’s TikTok-famous, ultra-icy martini.
161 Berkeley St., Back Bay, Boston, grill23.com.
Puritan Oyster Bar’s caviar cones with Japanese-style egg salad await next door to Puritan & Company—along with half-off oysters if you go early. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Puritan & Company
The secret: A mini food crawl.
Take advantage of the proximity of two Cambridge Street Hospitality spots, says the group’s director of operations, Jared Sadoian: Puritan & Company’s cozy little seafood sibling is right next door. “Come into Puritan Oyster Bar for half-off oysters from 5 to 6 p.m. [available daily] before sitting down for dinner in Puritan & Company’s dining room.”
1164-1166 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge, 617-615-6195, puritancambridge.com.
Moona in Inman Square. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Moona
The secret: This space has history.
This romantic Eastern Mediterranean restaurant will launch a bigger spinoff elsewhere in Cambridge late this year, but the petite original Inman Square location lives in a restaurant space with historic bones. “In the early 1950s, the original Legal Sea Foods fish market was open in the building next door [to where we are],” says Moona owner Mohamad El Zein, “and its commissary was in the building that we’re currently in.” Legal founder George Berkowitz owned both buildings, later selling the one that currently houses Moona to the owners of Rosie’s Bakery, which operated in that space for nearly 40 years before closing in 2015. Next, Rosie’s owners Judy Rosenberg and Eliot Winograd rented the space to the Bronwyn team—who briefly opened a Balkan-inspired sandwich shop, Playska—and finally to Moona, which opened in 2016.
243 Hampshire St., Inman Square, Cambridge, 617-945-7448, moonarestaurant.com.
Saltie Girl’s warm lobster roll. / Courtesy photo
Saltie Girl
The secret: They sell a lotta lobsta.
It takes a lot of lobster to keep seafood fans fed on Saltie Girl’s popular lobster rolls—hot with butter, cold with mayo, and a fried, spicy collab with sauce brand Fly by Jing reminiscent of the restaurant’s off-menu award-winning fried roll we fell in love with last year. Saltie Girl goes through 1,500 pounds of lobster meat a week, says owner Kathy Sidell. “That translates to 5,000 lobster rolls that we sell a week.”
279 Dartmouth St., Back Bay, Boston, 617-267-0691, saltiegirl.com.
Abe & Louie’s
Another lobster-y secret: Get the lobster stuffed with lobster mac and cheese.
Not in the mood for steak at this neighborhood-favorite steakhouse? Shellfish fans have been going off-menu lately and ordering a decadent stuffed lobster—with a filling of lobster mac and cheese, says chef Mark Marciano.
793 Boylston St., Back Bay, Boston, 617-536-6300, abeandlouies.com.
Pagu’s spicy biang biang noodles. / Photo by Tracy Chang
Pagu
The secret: Noodles!
Pagu’s spicy hand-pulled biang biang noodles are on the secret menu if you ask for them, says chef and owner Tracy Chang. “This was a popular dish we put on the [regular] menu during COVID, but they were in such high demand that we would have had to close shop and just do hand-pulled noodles to keep up with the demand.” (Want to make them at home? Pagu offers classes. “We’ve had kids as young as five learn to jump rope with noodles, and grannies pulling noodles as long as three feet,” says Chang.)
310 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge, gopagu.com.
