Restaurants

Friends tell me I'm too tough, that a so-so meal at a particular restaurant shouldn't automatically exclude it from this section. They want me to give their favorite neighborhood place another chance.

But I'm not just being a contrarian when I say that I don't think I'm tough enough. My friends and I live here, and we can easily try that disappointing restaurant again. You're here for just a few days, and you probably don't have the time -- or the inclination or the budget -- to be throwing around second chances.

That's not to say that every restaurant in this section gets high marks for every aspect of every meal. If the space isn't the loveliest, the service isn't the greatest, or (rarely) the food is less impressive than some other element of the experience, I'll point that out.

The days when restaurant snobs sniffed that they had to go to New York to get a decent meal are long gone. Especially in warm weather, when excellent local produce appears on menus in every price range, the Boston area holds its own with any other market in the country. Celebrity chefs and rising stars spice up a dynamic restaurant scene, and traditional favorites occupy an important niche. The huge student population seeks out value, which it often finds at ethnic restaurants.

The guiding thought for this section, without regard to price, was, "If this were your only meal in Boston, would you be delighted with it?" At all of the restaurants that follow, the answer, for one reason or another, is yes.

Time Is Money -- Lunch is an excellent, economical way to check out a fancy restaurant without breaking the bank. At restaurants that take reservations, it's always a good idea to make them, particularly for dinner. (To make reservations at any hour, visit www.opentable.com, which handles many local restaurants.) Boston-area restaurants are far less busy early in the week than they are Friday through Sunday. If you're flexible about when you indulge in fine cuisine and when you go for pizza and a movie, choose the low-budget option on the weekend and pamper yourself on a weeknight.

The Food

Seafood is a specialty in Boston, and you'll find it on the menu at almost every restaurant -- trendy or classic, expensive or cheap, American (whatever that is) or ethnic. Some pointers: Scrod or schrod is a generic term for fresh white-fleshed fish, usually served in filets. Local shellfish includes Ipswich and Essex clams, Atlantic lobsters, Wellfleet oysters, scallops, mussels, and shrimp.

Lobster was once so abundant that the Indians showed the Pilgrims how to use the ugly crustaceans as fertilizer, and prisoners rioted when it turned up on the menu too often. Order lobster boiled or steamed and you'll get a plastic bib, drawn butter (for dipping), a nutcracker (for the claws and tail), and a pick (for the legs). Restaurants price lobsters by the pound; the ones in this section typically charge at least $15 to $20 for a "chicken" (1- to 1 1/4-lb.) lobster, and more for the bigger specimens. If you want someone else to do the work, lobster is available in a "pie" (casserole), in a "roll" (lobster-salad sandwich), stuffed and baked or broiled, in or over pasta, in salad, and in bisque.

Well-made New England clam chowder is studded with fresh clams and thickened with cream. Recipes vary, but they never include tomatoes. (Tomatoes go in Manhattan clam chowder.) If you want clams but not soup, many places serve steamers, or soft-shell clams cooked in the shell, as an appetizer or main dish. More common are hard-shell clams -- littlenecks (small) or cherrystones (medium-size) -- served raw, like oysters.

Note: The axiom that you should order oysters only in months with an "R" in them originates in biology. Summer is breeding season, when the energy that usually goes into bulking up (and making lots of juicy meat) gets diverted to reproduction. To experience the best the oyster has to offer, wait till the weather turns colder.

Traditional Boston baked beans, which date from colonial days, when cooking on the Sabbath was forbidden, earned Boston the nickname "Beantown." House-made baked beans can be hard to find (Durgin-Park does an excellent rendition), but where you do, you'll probably also find good cornbread and brown bread -- more like a steamed pudding of whole wheat and rye flour, cornmeal, molasses, buttermilk, and usually raisins.

Finally, Boston cream pie is golden layer cake sandwiched around custard and topped with chocolate glaze -- no cream, no pie.

How Sweet It Is -- What a world! The low-carb craze just won't go away, but a place with the delightfully unsubtle name Sugar Heaven is thriving. The self-serve calorie castle at 218 Newbury St. (tel. 617/266-6969; www.sugarheaven.us) carries hundreds of confections, makes its own cotton candy, and stays open till midnight daily. That sound you hear is your dentist whimpering.

Where's the Beef? -- Say "Boston," think "seafood," right? Apparently not. Branches of most of the national steakhouse chains dot the city, and they're all at the top of their game -- a rising tide lifts all boats, as the seafood folks say.

The local favorites are Grill 23 & Bar; the Oak Room, in the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, 138 St. James Ave. (tel. 617/267-5300); and Abe & Louie's, 793 Boylston St. (tel. 617/536-6300). Devotees of the national chains can choose from the Palm, in the Westin Copley Place Boston, 200 Dartmouth St. (tel. 617/867-9292); the Capital Grille, 359 Newbury St. (tel. 617/262-8900); Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, 217 Stuart St. (tel. 617/292-0808); Morton's of Chicago, 1 Exeter Plaza, Boylston Street at Exeter Street (tel. 617/266-5858), with a new branch scheduled to open on the South Boston waterfront in late 2007 or early 2008; Ruth's Chris Steak House (tel. 800/544-0808; www.ruthschris.com), in Old City Hall, 45 School St.; and Smith & Wollensky, 101 Arlington St. (tel. 617/432-1112).

The Scoop on Ice Cream -- No less an expert than Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's has described Boston as "a great place for ice cream." That goes for Cambridge, too -- residents of both cities famously defy even the most frigid weather to get their fix. I like Cambridge better: Try Christina's, 1255 Cambridge St., Inman Square (tel. 617/492-7021); Herrell's, 15 Dunster St., Harvard Square (tel. 617/497-2179); Toscanini's, 1310 Mass. Ave., Harvard Square (tel. 617/354-9350), and 899 Main St., Central Square (tel. 617/491-5877); or Lizzy's, 29 Church St. (tel. 617/354-2911). Favorite Boston destinations include Emack & Bolio's, 290 Newbury St. (tel. 617/536-7127) and 255 State St., across from the New England Aquarium (tel. 617/367-0220); Ben & Jerry's, 174 Newbury St. (tel. 617/536-5456) and 20 Park Plaza (tel. 617/426-0890); and JP Licks, 352 Newbury St. (tel. 617/236-1666) and 659 Centre St., Jamaica Plain (tel. 617/524-6740).

Breakfast & Sunday Brunch

Several top hotels serve Sunday brunch buffets of monstrous proportions -- outrageous spreads that are outrageously expensive. They're worth the investment for a special occasion, but you can have a less incapacitating experience for considerably less money.

My top choice is in Cambridge: the S&S Restaurant, a family-run operation that never sends anyone away hungry. In Boston, Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe, 429 Columbus Ave. (tel. 617/536-7669), is a longtime South End favorite not far from the Back Bay -- just the right distance to walk off some blueberry-waffle calories. The Paramount, 44 Charles St., Beacon Hill (tel. 617/720-1152), is a classic destination for eggs and a glimpse of the real community behind the neighborhood's red-brick facade. In Jamaica Plain, locals tough out long weekend waits for the delicious specials and strong coffee at the Centre Street Café, 669 Centre St. (tel. 617/524-9217).

If you have your heart set on a fancy brunch at a hotel, make reservations (especially on holidays) but do not make elaborate dinner plans. Aujourd'hui, in the Four Seasons Hotel, 200 Boylston St. (tel. 617/451-2071) charges $58 for adults, $28 for children; at Café Fleuri, in the Langham Hotel Boston, 250 Franklin St. (tel. 617/451-1900), adults pay $39 to $49, children $17; at Meritage, in the Boston Harbor Hotel (tel. 617/439-3995), brunch costs $45 for adults, $20 for children.

Boston Tea Party, Part 2

In Boston, the only city that has a tea party named after it, the tradition of afternoon tea at a posh hotel is alive and well. The best afternoon tea in town is at the Bristol in the Four Seasons Hotel, 200 Boylston St. (tel. 617/351-2037). The gorgeous room, lovely view, and courtly ritual elevate scones, pastries, tea sandwiches, and nut bread from delicious to unforgettable. The Bristol serves tea ($26) every day from 3 to 4:30pm; reservations are essential. The Taj Boston, 15 Arlington St. (tel. 617/536-5700), serves tea in the celebrated Lounge Wednesday through Sunday at 2:30 and 4pm. The price is $20 for tea and pastries, $28 for tea, pastries, and sandwiches. You'll need reservations. The Langham Hotel Boston, 250 Franklin St. (tel. 617/451-1900) serves afternoon tea in Café Fleuri daily from 3 to 4:30pm. The Langham chain's flagship is in London, and as you'd expect, this is a proper British experience. The price is $18, $24, or $36 per person, plus $2 to $5 for premium teas.

Boston Restaurant Weeks

During Boston Restaurant Week, dozens of terrific spots serve a three-course prix-fixe lunch for the decimal equivalent of the year -- in 2008, $20.08 -- and many offer dinner for just $10 more. The third week of August was the original Restaurant Week; the March incarnation is less enjoyable because late winter's seasonal ingredients are, to put it nicely, dull, but that's another option. The Convention & Visitors Bureau (tel. 888/SEE-BOSTON; www.bostonusa.com) lists names of participating restaurants and individual numbers to call for reservations. Ask whether the menu is set yet and seek out restaurants that really get into the spirit by offering more than just one or two choices for each course. Popular places book up quickly, so plan accordingly.

Quick Bites & Picnic Provisions

Takeout food particularly appeals to two kinds of out-of-towners: eat-and-run sightseers and picnickers looking to take advantage of the acres of waterfront property in Boston and Cambridge. Here are some suggestions.

If you're walking the Freedom Trail, pick up food at Faneuil Hall Marketplace and stake out a bench. Or buy a tasty sandwich in the North End at Volle Nolle, 351 Hanover St. (tel. 617/523-0003), or Il Panino Express, 266 Hanover St. (tel. 617/720-5720), and stroll down Fleet or Richmond Street toward the harbor. Eat at the park on Scarlett's Wharf, behind 2 Atlantic Ave., or in Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park, overlooking the marina (which is also an option if you stocked up at Faneuil Hall Marketplace).

In the Financial District, the Milk Street Café operates a kiosk (tel. 617/350-7275) in the park at Zero Post Office Square. Its kosher offerings include salads, sandwiches (on bread and rolled up in pitas), fish dishes, fruit, and pastries. Eat in the park or head to the harbor.

Two neighborhoods abut the Charles River Esplanade, a great destination for a picnic, concert, or movie. In the Back Bay, stop at Trader Joe's, 899 Boylston St. (tel. 617/262-6505), for prepared food, or Spike's Junkyard Dogs, 1076 Boylston St. (tel. 617/266-0909), for some of the tastiest hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and "poodle" (curly) fries around. At the foot of Beacon Hill, pick up all you need for a do-it-yourself feast at Savenor's Market, 160 Charles St. (tel. 617/723-6328). Or call ahead to Figs, 42 Charles St. (tel. 617/742-3447), a minuscule pizzeria that's an offshoot of the celebrated Olives. The upscale fare isn't cheap, but avoiding the long line is worth the price -- as is the delectable pizza.

On the Cambridge side of the river, Harvard Square is close enough to the water to allow a riverside repast. About 5 minutes from the heart of the Square and well worth the walk, Darwin's Ltd., 148 Mount Auburn St. (tel. 617/354-5233; www.darwinsltd.com), serves excellent gourmet sandwiches and salads. Take yours to John F. Kennedy Park, on Memorial Drive and Kennedy Street, or right to the riverbank, a block away. Nowhere near the Charles, there's a branch at 1629 Cambridge St. (tel. 617/491-2999), in Inman Square.