MULTIPLE DAYS
Ongoing through June 8 (and Beyond)

FOOD + DRINK

Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl
All-you-can-eat ice cream pretty much sells itself, which is why it’s been a great fundraiser for the Jimmy Fund since 1983. Featuring 13 different ice cream makers, ranging from local standbys like Friendly’s to hip brands like Salt & Straw, that will be offering samples. At 4 p.m., the event transforms into Scoop & Sip for visitors over 21, with beer, wine, cider, and more.
$15-$28.52, Tuesday through Thursday, June 2-4, 88 Seaport Blvd., Boston

MUSIC

They Might Be Giants
The elder statesmen of geek rock, Massachusetts-raised duo They Might Be Giants released their second album of the 2020s and 24th overall, The World Is to Dig, in April. In typically random fashion, the 18-track collection includes a non-rap tribute to the Wu-Tang Clan and songs with intriguingly eccentric titles like “Outside Brain,” “Let’s Fall in Lava,” and “In the Dead Mall.”
$55-$312.10, Friday and Saturday, June 5-6, Citizens House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston

Boston Gay Men’s Chorus: RISE!
Closing out their season at the start of Pride month, the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus honors the spirit of LGBTQIA+ resistance movements with “anthems of courage and liberation.” Founded in 1982 and directed since 1997 by Reuben Reynolds, the group has toured Europe, the Middle East, and South Africa.
$39-$138, Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7, Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St., Boston

COMEDY

Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes
In her Edinburgh Fringe sensation (soon to run off-Broadway), Cat Cohen turns her very unexpected stroke at the age of 31 into a full-on cabaret about the differences between anxiety and an actual fatal threat and the strange pleasures of being the center of medical attention.
$35-$54, Thursday through Saturday, June 4-6, Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St., Boston

OUT OF TOWN

Clockwise from top left: Jenna Bush Hager, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Tayari Jones, Richard Russo, Ann Patchett, Dr. Joshua Bennett

Nantucket Book Festival
Now in its 15th year, this celebrated literary gathering transforms downtown Nantucket for a long weekend of book talks—with a lineup, this year, that includes Ann Patchett (Whistler), Tayari Jones (Kin), Norah O’Donnell (We the Women), Jenna Bush Hager, Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo, and Man Booker Prize winner Marlon James, among others. Almost all events are free to attend—a quietly radical policy for one of the most expensive zip codes in the country.
Free (most events), Thursday through Sunday, June 11-14, Methodist Church and surrounding venues, downtown Nantucket

DANCE

DANCE NOW Boston
New York City’s Bang Group takes its annual pilgrimage north to collaborate with local dance entities Sara Hook, Bodies Moving (led by Kristin Wagner), Cassie Wang, and Emily Jerant-Hendrickson. Themes include the tragicomedy of being a dancer, motherhood, human patterns and conditioning, and finding the strength to respond to the need for change.
$17.85-$55.20, Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7, Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

Boston Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty
Set in a world of fairies, curses, and princely heroics, Tchaikovsky’s enduring work returns to the Boston Ballet stage for the seventh time, its dancers clad in designer David Walker’s costumes from Ninette de Valois’s 1977 Royal Ballet revival. The choreography is Marius Petipa’s original, with later additions by Frederick Ashton.
$36-$359, through Sunday, June 7, Citizens Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston

THEATER

Black Swan
The American Repertory Theater revives Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 psychological thriller as a musical, with director and choreographer Sonya Tayeh at the helm, a book by Jen Silverman, and songs by Dave Malloy. The story of a ballerina collapsing under the pressure of perfection remains fundamentally the same, but you haven’t seen or heard it like this.
$88-$183, through July 5, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge

Eureka Day
Jonathan Spector’s well-received satire comes to Boston courtesy of the Huntington. The plot: an outbreak of mumps reveals a minority of anti-vaxxer parents at the prestigious Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California. Can the pro-vaccine majority keep the peace—and keep the kids safe—without abandoning their consensus-based principles?
$29-$192.50, through June 28, The Huntington Theater, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston

The Mystery of Irma Vep – A Penny Dreadful
Two actors (Gabriel Graetz and Paul Melendy) play every character in this gothic romp from playwright Charles Ludlam, closing out the Central Square Theater season. Werewolves, vampires, mummies, weird old houses, rapid costume changes—if you can hardly wait another six months for Halloween, this is the show for you.
$32-$103, through June 21, Central Square Theater, 450 Mass. Ave., Cambridge

My Home on the Moon
Currently in residence at the Boston Center for the Arts, CHUANG Stage presents playwright Minna Lee’s tale of Mai, a Vietnamese American restaurateur trying to process her neighborhood’s increasing gentrification while wrestling with the temptation of a tech consultant’s strategy to massively increase business.
Pay-as-you-are, through June 13, Plaza Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St., Boston

Oedipus el Rey
The Huntington stages Luis Alfaro’s transposition of the ancient Greek tragedy of Oedipus to contemporary Chicano Los Angeles, where our hero has just gotten out of prison and is determined to make his own name—but his confidence may be no match for the two-pronged assault of a weird prophecy and a rigged system.
$29-$181.50, through June 14, Roberts Studio Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston

Something Rotten
Shakespeare looms so large over English language theater that it is necessary, early and often, to make fun of him and his hallowed world. Lyric Stage Company contributes to this noble effort with their season closer, in which a fictional pair of the Bard’s Elizabethan rivals attempt to outdo him by inventing the Broadway musical three centuries too early—and with several screws too loose.
$25-$95, through Sunday, June 7, Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St., Boston

The Wedding Party: A Dinner Theatre Escape Room
You’ll help determine the fate of a newly minted marriage in this interactive experience combining the puzzle-solving fun of escape rooms with the uncanny entertainment of immersive theater. The basic ticket includes a dinner of salad, a choice of chicken and pasta dishes, and an opera cake for dessert.
$163.90, through August 2, W Boston, 100 Stuart St., Boston 

MOVIES

The Last One for the Road
This Italian film follows a pair of boozy middle-aged criminals as they wind through the Venetian countryside to meet up with an old buddy just returned from a perhaps not entirely voluntary stint in Argentina. Along the way, they make a young friend and try to find some cash they buried long ago.
$13-$15, Friday through Monday, June 5-8, Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge

Power Ballad
Intergenerational pals Rick (Paul Rudd), an aging wedding singer, and Danny (Nick Jonas), an aged-out boy band star, develop a rift when Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into a career-reviving hit. Rick now has to ask himself what’s more important: getting credit, or everything else?
$16.50-$19.25, opens Thursday, June 4, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge

Pressure (2026)
Brendan Fraser is General and future President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Anthony Maras’ historical drama about the hours leading up to D-Day. Key to Ike’s plans is British Group Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott), a meteorologist whose identification of a small window of favorable weather will help change the course of modern history.
$15-$19.75, Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

Tuner
The first fictional film from documentarian Daniel Roher, Tuner stars Leo Woodall (Vladimir, White Lotus season two) as Niki, a musician turned piano tuner who also uses his acute sense of hearing to crack safes for shady characters on the side—but this less legal aspect of his work gets him in trouble just as love begins blossoming between him and a student, Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu).
$17.49-$19.68, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

Backrooms
Inspired by a well-established creepypasta, this A24 sci-fi/horror flick might be best described as an architectural nightmare: a banal furniture store is found to lead to a nonsensical labyrinth of unfolding spaces generated and re-generated—always in a more absurdly degraded state—by unknown forces. A power of fascination draws the protagonists further, but will they be able to find their way back? All courtesy of A24’s youngest director, 20-year-old Kane Parsons.
$15-$19.75, Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

The Mandalorian and Grogu
Instead of a fourth season, fans of The Mandalorian are getting this 132-minute adventure, in which the bounty hunter Din Djarin gets an assignment from the New Republic to rescue the gangster scion Rotta the Hutt (son of Jabba) in the hopes of gaining intelligence on a potential threat.
$13.99-$27.98, AMC Boston Common, 175 Tremont St., Boston

I Love Boosters
Another comic but politically serious vision from writer-director Boots Riley, I Love Boosters centers on a squad of young women in Oakland who function as modern-day Robin Hoods with an entrepreneurial twist, shoplifting high-fashion clothes and flipping them for a fraction of their original prices. When the system starts pushing back, they up the ante with their biggest heist yet.
$12-$16, Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

The Devil Wears Prada 2
Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci reprise their roles in this belated sequel to the beloved 2006 fashion comedy. Now well-established, former personal assistant Andy (Hathaway) returns to Runway magazine as a features editor, only to learn that notorious editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Streep) has completely forgotten who she is—but this time, Andy may leave a stronger impression.
$13.99-$19.98, AMC Boston Common, 175 Tremont St., Boston

Hokum
Mixing the preternatural paranoia of The Shining with the rural anxiety of folk horror, Damian McCarthy’s latest film stars Adam Scott as Ohm, a writer who finds himself contending with a haunted inn after traveling to Ireland to pay his last respects to his parents.
$14.99-$19.68, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

The Drama
In this Boston-based dark comedy from director Kristoffer Borgli, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson play a couple who are thrilled to be engaged until the bride-to-be confesses to a scandalous act in her past just a week before the wedding, cracking the foundation of trust between them.
$15.99-$18.48, AMC Boston Common, 175 Tremont St., Boston

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
The diverse settings and anti-gravity fun of the Wii classic Super Mario Galaxy serve as a perfect anchor for the sequel to 2023’s colorful, star-studded The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Benny Safdie, Donald Glover, Issa Rae, Luis Guzmán, and Brie Larson have joined the voice cast for this outing, which finds Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) fighting Bowser (Jack Black) again—this time in space.
$13.99-$25.98, AMC Boston Common, 175 Tremont St., Boston

FRIDAY (6/5/26)

MUSIC

Vertical Horizon
This pop rock quartet is almost entirely remembered for their briefly ubiquitous double-Platinum 1999 single “Everything You Want” and its eponymous album. After poor major label promotion for their follow-up, Go, Vertical Horizon downshifted to indie status. In February, they dropped their first single since 2018, the preemptively melancholy “Last Night of Our Lives.”
$36, 8 p.m., Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Boston

Pete & Bas
A couple of posh white English boomers form a rap duo in their twilight years—it sounds like a fun joke, and it is, but Pete & Bas were a little too good at rapping to fade out after their initial hit “Shut Ya Mouth.” Close to 40 more singles have followed since, with titles like “The Old Estate,” “Dents in a Peugeot,” and “Golf.”
$30-$43.98, 8 p.m., The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge

Freddie Gibbs
Much-respected alt rapper Freddie Gibbs’ second duo album with producer The Alchemist, Alfredo 2, dropped last summer. Fans of its Grammy-nominated predecessor didn’t find any shocking twists or turns, just more sublime, crate-digging beats and well-honed, baritone rhymes from two of the best in the game.
$40-$84.82, 8 p.m., Roadrunner, 89 Guest St., Brighton

COMEDY

Chelsea Handler
Since the end of her popular Obama-era chat show Chelsea Lately in 2014, Chelsea Handler has (among other things) published two books, hosted a few episodes of The Daily Show, attempted to launch a pair of short-lived Netflix series, and released four standup specials, most recently 2025’s The Feeling.
$35-$312, 8 p.m., Boch Center Wang Theater, 270 Tremont St., Boston

Improv With My Friends From Work
Ben Marshall, Ceara O’Sullivan, Carl Tart, Ryan Gaul, Chloe Troast, Asha Ward, Alex Kagy, and Jimmy Fowlie, most of whom are writers or cast members on Saturday Night Live, present an evening of improv, standup, and maybe a few rejected sketches. Bostonians may have seen O’Sullivan, Gaul, and Kagy on the stage previously at Improv Asylum.
$45-$55, 7:30 p.m., The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston

SATURDAY (6/6/26)

FESTIVALS

Revelers march in the Boston Pride Parade in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 8, 2024. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

Boston Pride for the People Festival and Parade
The year’s biggest LGBTQIA+ party has two main hubs, Copley Square’s 21+ Block Party, running from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Boston Common’s all ages festival, running from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., with a parade between the two locations kicking things off at 11.
Free, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Copley Square and Boston Common, Boston

MUSIC

Dorchfest
Now in its fourth year, this free porchfest-style festival in the Ashmont-Adams neighborhood hosts 62 bands performing across 31 porches, yards, parking lots, and patios. Dorchfest sets itself apart from similar events by paying all its performers and this year’s lineup includes Boston funk-disco outfit SUPERPINK, Cambridge-bred hip-hop artist Illin’ P, and the 15-piece brass band FlyBy, among many others.
Free, 1 p.m.-6 p.m., various locations, Ashmont-Adams neighborhood, Dorchester

Boston Chilling
Boston Calling is taking a year off, but you were never about all that noise, were you? If so, Harpoon’s Boston Chilling mini fest is the low-key alternative you’ve been dreaming of, with sets from New York and New England indie acts Laundry Day, Lightfoot, Ali McGuirk, Lily Fitts, and Toledo, plus lawn games and, of course, beer.
Free, 1 p.m.-sundown, The Lawn on D, 420 D St., Boston

Jason Mraz
The amiable author of 2000s earworms like “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry)” and “I’m Yours” returned in May with an album of gospel and country tracks, Grandma’s Gospel Favorites. While the record has plenty of Mraz’s earnest fedora guy charm, it’s quite a reverent, affecting outing, with Mraz taking a stripped-down, traditional approach to these classic songs.
$41.65-$202.80, 7:30 p.m., Boch Center Wang Theater, 270 Tremont St., Boston

The Sonder Bombs
Indie rock often aspires to aloofness and abstraction, but this Cleveland band is shameless about their theatrical streak, whether the tone is pop melodrama or punk sarcasm—the latter being the case on the humorous cut “Everything,” off their latest Bandcamp release, Quick and Painless.
$18-$20.72, 8 p.m., The Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge

DANCE

Dance for World Community Festival
José Mateo Ballet Theater hosts five stages of dance from around the world, bringing together more than 60 area companies. There will also be food trucks, info booths for local nonprofits (part of the festival’s mission to spread social and environmental awareness), and a concluding dance party in the evening.
Free, 12 p.m.-8 p.m., Harvard Square between Putnam Ave. and Bow St., Cambridge

COMEDY

Alex La
This New York City comic has a disarming way of shifting from goofy sweetness to edgy absurdity—witness, for example, this bit about the time he, a Vietnamese American, ran into a guy with a Vietnam War veteran hat. La will be performing his new show Fool as Hell ahead of its Edinburgh Fringe debut in August.
$17.85, 8 p.m., Democracy Brewing, 35 Temple Pl., Boston

SUNDAY (6/7/26)

FESTIVALS

SomerStreets: Carnaval
Promising “16 blocks of pure joy and energy,” SomerStreets’ Carnaval takes over East Somerville Sunday with performances from Grooveristy, Samba Viva, Pedro Secco & Friends, Trio Latino, and Mambiseros, food from neighborhood Latin American restaurants, and games for all ages, including a dunk tank, a bouncy house, and more.
Free, 2 p.m.-6 p.m., Broadway between Pennsylvania Ave. and McGrath Hwy., Somerville

MUSIC

Summer Walker
R&B singer Summer Walker may have titled her latest album Finally Over It, but the public is not over her—the album debuted at number two and earned strong reviews for its vintage Y2K sound. Her amusing promotional stunts included taking a polygraph test to answer questions about the release and creating a one-day escape room attraction in Atlanta.
$46.25-$696.80, 7:30 p.m., TD Garden, 100 Legends Way, Boston

VHOOR
Versed in hip hop, EDM, Miami bass, and baile funk, Brazilian producer VHOOR made his biggest impact so far with the tracks “Se Tá Solteira” and “Delírios,” both off his 2021 album BAILE. His latest album, De Keke!, opens in a house mood before taking the listener on a much more varied trip.
$28.25, 8 p.m., Big Night Live, 110 Causeway St., Boston

COMEDY

Matt Vita
Known to rove between New York City and Vermont (where he co-founded the Vermont Comedy and Film Festivals), Matt Vita secured a standup niche with his legit rap skills—he’s even made a song about Microsoft Excel—hey, somebody had to. Also on the bill for this show: Nikki MacCallum, Collen Doyle, and Zach “New England Dad” Remi.
$26.40-$31.20, 7:30 p.m., City Winery, 80 Beverly St., Boston

MONDAY (6/8/26)

MUSIC

Laura Mvula
The brilliant, classically trained British R&B/soul singer-songwriter Laura Mvula turned heads with her lushly orchestrated 2013 debut Sing to the Moon and pushed herself even further on subsequent releases, focusing more on her stunning vocal arrangements and embracing harder, funkier, 80s-style synth beats.
$40-$100, 8 p.m., Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville

MOVIES

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
A Pride month classic, this 1994 Australian comedy stars Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce as a pair of drag queens travelling across the Outback with their trans woman pal (Terence Stamp) to perform at a casino in the remote city of Alice Springs. Note: this “craft-along” screening features partial lighting for attendees to work on personal projects while watching.
$13, 6 p.m., Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge

TUESDAY (6/9/26)

BOOKS + READINGS

Jared Freid
The co-host of the U Up? podcast is already back after performing standup at The Wilbur in January, but this time he’s promoting his new book Walking Red Flag: Dating Advice from Your Favorite Guy Friend, offering perplexed man-seeking women invaluable insights into the male mind, from first date red flags to long term relationship milestones.
$39 (admission only) or $70 (book included), 7:30 p.m., Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville

WEDNESDAY (6/10/26)

MUSIC

AVTT/PTTN
Few were expecting a collaboration between maverick 1980s alt rocker Mike Patton (Mr. Bungle, Faith No More) and 2010s Americana act the Avett Brothers, but here we are. Apart from two tracks, the supergroup’s eponymous debut album is far more Avettian than Pattonian, but those two, especially the lysergic Western mini-epic “The Ox Driver’s Song,” are among the most interesting.
$64-$127.15, 8 p.m., Boch Center Wang Theater, 270 Tremont St., Boston

FOOD + DRINK

Taste of Somerville
Over 50 local restaurants, breweries, and other establishments representing Somerville’s wide culinary diversity—BBQ, baked goods, burgers, chocolate, coffee, ice cream, sushi, seafood, pizza, multi-ethnic fusion, and more—are offering samples at this outdoor event, a benefit for the Elizabeth Peabody House.
$65-$95, 5 p.m.-8 p.m., Boynton Yards, 101 South St., Somerville

THURSDAY (6/11/26)

MUSIC

Hrishikesh Hirway
Known for both his deep-dive music podcast Song Exploder and his own music as The One AM Radio, Hrishikesh Hirway will perform some songs and speak with moderator Min Jin Lee for this hybrid event. In April, Hirway released a new album under his own name, In the Last Hour of Light.
$22.50-$32.95, 8:30 p.m., The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge

COMEDY

Nick Callas
“Are you ready to have some fun?” Nick Callas asks his audience at the top of his 2024 special Wolf Pup, proceeding to do a full split. A Saturday Night Live reject whose leaked audition tape ironically made him famous, Callas dances in the tension between this abundant enthusiasm and his reflections on life’s struggles.
$28.95, 7:30 p.m., The Comedy Studio, 5¾ John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge

FOOD + DRINK

Ivan Ramen Pop-up
Featured on Chef’s Table and Billions, the hot New York City ramen shop visits Boston Thursday night with a special menu including three soup options (Tokyo Shio, Shoyu Wontonmen, and Cold Yuzu Shio) as well as Chicken Gyoza, Miso Caesar Salad, Buttermilk Kara-age with yuzu kosho dip, and more.
No cover, 5 p.m.-9 p.m., Uni, 370 Comm. Ave., Boston

BOOKS + READINGS

Ann Patchett
The PEN/Faulkner Award winner (for 2001’s Bel Canto) and Pulitzer Prize finalist (for 2020’s The Dutch House) discusses her latest novel, Whistler, with Kiss 108’s Lisa Donovan. Whistler tells of a writer, Daphne, whose chance encounter with her ex-stepfather, Eddie, dredges up memories of the trauma that led to his exit from her life many years ago.
$42.50, 5:30 p.m., Big Night Live, 110 Causeway St., Boston

FRIDAY (6/12/26)

MUSIC

Michaël Brun
Bringing more than just a concert by the NYC-based Haitian and Guyanese DJ-producer, this tour is a full-on celebration of Haitian culture with multiple artists, dance, music, and food, expanding on the BAYO block parties Michaël Brun began holding across his homeland back in 2016. Brun’s latest single, a collab with singer Mellissa, is “Genie Baby.”
$105-$258.30, 8 p.m., Agganis Arena, 925 Comm. Ave., Boston

Sarah Hanahan Quartet
Selected last year for the category of Rising Star Alto Saxophonist in the influential DownBeat Critics’ Poll, Sarah Hanahan successfully aims to stun from the first urgent, sustained notes of her 2024 debut album Among Giants, whose title simultaneously suggests that she respects her elders and knows she can hang with them musically—both true.
$42.45-$59.75, 7 p.m., Scullers Jazz Club, 400 Soldiers Field Rd., Allston

The fin.
Introduced to Americans in 2015 at South by Southwest, this Japanese duo started off with a hazy, guitar-based indie rock sound, increasingly relying on synths as their career went on. Their latest, 2025’s Somewhere Between, is a lightly psychedelic, sumptuously arranged collection taking full advantage of lead singer Yuto Uchino’s dreamy tenor voice.
$26.50, 7 p.m., The Red Room at Café 939, 939 Boylston St., Boston

COMEDY

Mike Cannon
“I don’t know how anybody feels good, ever,” jokes Mike Cannon in his latest standup special, Live From Gramercy. He prefers his own remedies, however: dismissing a friend’s suggestion of melatonin for sleep, he replies, “I just kind of lay down and let my demons fight to the death.”
$39.90, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St., Boston

A Twink and a Redhead: A Musical Comedy
Just a couple years after they started posting videos, comedy duo A Twink and a Redhead, aka Grant & Ash, scored their first TikTok hit with a fake ad for an app targeted toward Disney adult swingers, spawning several follow-ups and a host of other bits and characters. This show tells the whole story of their friendship in musical form, from sixth grade to their Panera era to microcelebrity glory.
$49.50-$95.50, 6:30 p.m., Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville

OPERA

Project Creatine
Accompanied by pianist Danny Zelibor, opera-trained drag queen (or is it drag-trained opera singer?) Creatine Price stars in this semi-autobiographical one-person piece influenced by both classical opera and music theater, tracing a roller coaster journey through what one might call The Three C’s: cantatas, cabaret, and court.
$30, 8 p.m., Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

SATURDAY (6/13/26)

MUSIC

Leanna Firestone
Positioned between mainstream and indie pop, Nashville singer-songwriter Leanna Firestone offers an intimately confessional and ambitiously hooky set of tunes on her new debut album The Answer. “Thought I’d be smarter by 23,” she laments on highlight “Judas (Martyr To My Misery),” but only to celebrate the reviving power of new love a bit later on “Renaissance.”
$35.75, 8 p.m., Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

Whistle Jacket
Led by Michael Leyden through nine lineups to date, this local indie pop band released a slew of recordings in the 2000s and 2010s, each full of melodic goodness and nervous, geeky energy. Reconstituted as a full band for the first time in several years, they have yet to release a follow-up to 2018’s Leaves.
$10, 7:30 p.m., The Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge

COMEDY

Samuel Comroe
Known for his frank discussion of life with Tourette’s syndrome, Samuel Comroe has appeared on Conan, America’s Got Talent, and elsewhere. His 2025 special Don’t Blink is a whirlwind of pure speech, Comroe’s jokes flying hard and fast with a rhythmic Southern cadence as he roasts pretty much the entire world.
$39.90, 6:30 p.m., Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St., Boston

Jamie Lee: My Friend Katy
A writer for several TV series, most recently Crashing (on which she also played Pete Holmes’ love interest Ali) and Ted Lasso, Emmy-winning comic Jamie Lee digs deep into her past in this hybrid of true crime and standup, recounting the out-of-the-blue death of her college friend Katy and her belated attempt to solve it two decades later.
$24.02, 9:30 p.m., The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Somerville

KID FRIENDLY

The Rock and Roll Playhouse
Finding a babysitter so you can go to a show can be a hassle, but what if you could just bring your kid and share your love of live music? That’s the idea behind this series of afternoon concerts for families, featuring cover bands playing songs by well-known artists at child-friendly volumes. Taylor Swift is this installment’s featured artist.
$25, 12 p.m., Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Boston

SUNDAY (6/14/26)

FESTIVALS

Boston Dragon Boat Festival
In addition to the spectacle of sleek dragon boats flying under the bridges of the Charles, this popular event also features a cultural festival with food, arts and crafts, vendors, music and dance performances, lion dances, martial arts demos, and more.
Free, 7:15 a.m.-5 p.m. (boat races) / 12 p.m.-5 p.m. (cultural festival), near Weeks Footbridge, Riverbend Park, 1001 Memorial Dr., Cambridge

Le Grand Prix Elmendorf du Pain
A touch of Paris will be just a few blocks from Lechmere this weekend as professional and amateur bakers compete to make the best sourdough boules and seeded sandwich loaves, respectively, at this annual French-themed fest, which also includes food and art vendors and live music.
Free admission, 12 p.m.-4 p.m., Cambridge St. between Fulkerson & 5th St., Cambridge

MUSIC

42 Dugg and Babyface Ray
These two Detroit rappers have worked together many times—Ray appeared on Dugg’s first single, 2018’s “The Streets;” Dugg appeared on “Let Me Down,” off Ray’s 2022 debut FACE. Their best known collab, however, is 2023’s “Ron Artest,” a Platinum-certified single that’s racked up more than 100 million Spotify plays.
$54.10-$203.75, 8 p.m., Big Night Live, 110 Causeway St., Boston

Robyn Hitchcock
As punk and new wave were revolutionizing rock in the late 70s and early 80s, English singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock displayed a far greater loyalty to 60s psychedelia than most of his contemporaries, first with his band the Soft Boys and later in his solo work, which has amounted so far to 24 studio albums, most recently 2024’s 1967: Vacations in the Past.
$42.50, 8 p.m., Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston

COMEDY

Tawanda Gona
Born in Africa and raised up and down the eastern seaboard, Tawanda Gona offered his audience some perspective in a half-hour set from last year: “It’s a hard time to be an American—the President’s corrupt, everybody’s poor—but I’m from Zimbabwe, so it’s just like, Tuesday.”
$23.95, 6 p.m., The Comedy Studio, 5¾ John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge

MONDAY (6/15/26)

MUSIC

Royal & the Serpent
On her recently released debut as Royal & the Serpent, Emptiness of Godly, Los Angeles singer-songwriter Ryan Santiago weds acoustic folk, noisy indie anthems, digital artifacts, and a voice reminiscent of Grimes to create an artsy but accessible platter of pre-apocalyptic pop.
$25-$35.55, 8 p.m., The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge

Ongoing

OUTDOORS

Berklee Summer in the City Concert Series
Each summer, the amazingly talented students, faculty, and alumni of Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory are dispersed throughout the area to perform in parks, neighborhood squares, on the waterfront, and even on Spectacle Island. With performances ranging from jazz to R&B to pop to folk classical, there’s sure to be something up your alley.
Free, through September 30, various venues, Boston area

Kayak and Paddleboard Rentals at Community Boating
You’ve seen the river from the city more times than you could count, but have you ever seen the city from the river? Rent a vessel, explore the Charles River basin and esplanade lagoon system at your leisure, and take in a view of Boston like no other.
$40, through October 31, Community Boating, 21 David G Mugar Way, Boston

SHOPPING

Copley Square Farmers Market
The Boston area has no shortage of farmers markets in the warmer months, but Copley Square hosts the largest, offering a cornucopia of local produce, meats, dairy, baked goods, and prepared meals, as well as some non-edible products.
Free, Tuesdays and Fridays, through November 24, Copley Square, 227-230 Dartmouth St., Boston

SoWa Open Market
This popular Sunday event features more than 375 farmers and vendors selling their own food, jewelry, clothing, household items, art, and more, plus special performances and events, a chance to check out the nearby open studios of dozens of local artists, and a rotating selection of food trucks.
Free, Sundays through November 15, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., 500 Harrison Ave., Boston

FITNESS

Seaport Sweat
Get a little closer to your best self with the help of these outdoor classes, taking place Monday through Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings until the end of summer. The regular weekday schedule features Pilates, yoga, Zumba, athletic conditioning, strength training, and more; some of Saturday’s rotating offerings include new brand-led classes from Equinox, Rhone, Remedy Place, and Beyond Yoga in addition to familiar independent instructors. Also back this year: the Sweatapalooza.
Free, through Wednesday, September 30, Seaport Common, 85 Northern Ave., Boston

ATTRACTIONS

Photo by Rainer Christian Kurzeder

Dino Safari
Dinosaur-obsessed kids will flip for this walk-through exhibit featuring more than 50 life-sized, scientifically accurate animatronic creatures of the distant past, from the sleek hunter Velociraptor to the perennial crowd favorite, Tyrannosaurus rex. They’ll also find a simulated fossil dig, a scavenger hunt, virtual reality elements, and more edutaining fun.
$20.50-$26.50, open Wednesday through Sunday, CambridgeSide, 119 First St., Cambridge

Sloomoo’s Slime Wall. / Courtesy

SlooMoo MiniMoo
If you’re looking for something unique for the kids on a weekend or vacation day, consider this tactile workshop, where they can make and customize their own “slime” with scents, textures, color, and charms, play games with the stuff, and enjoy other fun sensory experiences. See more here.
$23.99, open daily, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, South Market Bldg., Unit 43-44, Boston

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Activate
Billed as “the world’s first active gaming facility,” Activate drops you and your friends in a real-life video game, employing interactive technology to usher players through a varied series of physical and mental challenges.
$24.99-$39.99, open daily, 20 District Ave., Dorchester

Putt Across America
If you’ve ever visited Faneuil Hall Marketplace and thought, “What this place needs is a mini golf course,” your prayers have been answered. Familiar American landmarks dot the 18 holes, making for plenty of fun photo ops.
$25, open daily, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Faneuil Hall Marketplace, 4 S Market St., Boston

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Museum of Ice Cream
Yes, you can eat as much ice cream as you want at the Museum of Ice Cream, but there’s a lot more to this escapist wonderland, billed as “a place free from distractions, expectations, and inhibitions.” There are several colorful, slightly surreal spaces to explore at your leisure, including the Diner, Creamliner (an imaginary airplane interior), Hall of Freezers, Carnival, and Sprinkle Pool.
$25-$51, 121 Seaport Blvd., Boston

Museum of Illusions
Experience the delights of confusing your brain at this new downtown attraction, featuring a set of images, installations, and “illusion rooms” designed to make reality feel a little less normal—and to provide some fun and crazy photo ops for the ‘gram.
$38, 200 State St., Boston

View Boston
If you’ve got visitors and you want to give them a killer 360-degree view of the city, or if you just want a peep yourself, you can hardly do better than View Boston, at the top of the Prudential Center. You can spring for a guided tour or just take it in yourself. The view isn’t all you’ll find up there—there’s also a restaurant, The Beacon, and Stratus, a cocktail bar, which is decked out for the holidays. Higher-level ticket packages include a sample drink.
$29.99-59.99, open daily, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Prudential Center, 800 Boylston St., Boston

The Innovation Trail
This tour focuses not on colonial and revolutionary Boston—that’s been thoroughly covered—but on the city’s history, down to the present, as a hub of science, medicine, and technology. You can arrange for a private tour via an online form or opt for a self-guided experience whenever you want.
Free (self-guided), starts in Central Square, Cambridge or Downtown Crossing, Boston

WNDR Museum
This gallery space in Downtown Crossing features iconic Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s Let’s Survive Forever and more than 20 other immersive installations, including The Wisdom Project, where visitors can add their own response to the question “What do you know for sure?,” and WNDR’s signature Light Floor, which changes in response to visitors’ movement.
$32-$38, 500 Washington St., Boston

ART + EXHIBITIONS (Ongoing)

Lucy Raven: Rounds installation view. / Photo by Mel Taing

Lucy Raven: Rounds
Arizona-born artist Lucy Raven takes advantage of the generous space afforded by the Institute of Contemporary Art’s Watershed annex to stage the U.S. premieres of two works: Murderers Bar, a quadraphonic moving image installation about the removal of a dam from the Klamath River in Northern California, and Hardpan, an enormous, kinetic light sculpture.
Free, through September 7, ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal St., East Boston

View Master (2025) by Derrick Adams, the titular artwork in his exhibition at the ICA. / Derrick Adams, View Master, 2025. Acrylic and fabric collage on wood panel. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian. © Derrick Adams.

Derrick Adams: View Master
Dedicated to a celebration of, in his words, “Black people — not entertaining, just being, living,” NYC artist Derrick Adams utilizes a wide range of media to make the everyday iconic. View Master is the first exhibition to provide a mid-career survey of his bold, idiosyncratic, character-rich work.
$20, through September 7, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

Pınar Öğrenci: Glück auf in Deutschland
Harvard Art Museums hosts the first major American exhibition of this German artist and filmmaker, featuring the titular 2024 film and a set of collages exploring and critiquing the process of rebuilding working class German identity in the years after World War II.
Free, through October 18, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge

Attaché: An ASB Group Show
The Boston Center for the Arts casts a spotlight on 30 of its Artist Studio Building occupants. With so many artists in various media, commonalities can be difficult to find, but curator Meclina Gomes notes how their practices “are shaped by inherited culture, migration, and lived lineage” and how their work functions in “carrying memory, tradition, and embodied knowledge from one context into another.”
Free, through July 11, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, 551 Tremont St., Boston

Performing Conditions: Artistic Labor and Dependency as Form
Most artists don’t want to have to think too much about business—it’s usually not particularly inspiring—but it can’t be avoided. The artists in this group show are all facing the demons of labor, debt, and the general dependence of art on factors outside it—historical, social, economic, etc.
Free, through August 2, MIT List Visual Arts Center, 20 Ames St., Bldg. E15-109, Cambridge

Subvert, Repair, Reclaim: Contemporary Artists Take Back the Nude
From ancient Greco-Roman sculpture to Picasso’s radical Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, nudes have been a constant presence in Western art, very often fraught, especially when it comes to female nudes, with questions of power and objectification. This show brings together 12 contemporary artists wrestling with these questions as they carry on and complicate the grand tradition.
$30, through August 2, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Fazendo a América: Rosângela Rennó and Histories of Memory and Migration in Brazil
It’s been almost three decades since Brazilian artist Rosângela Rennó has seen a solo exhibition in the United States. These six relatively recent immersive installations, made from personal, public, and anonymous photographs, address the ways collective memory is constructed and erased by the powerful, and the power of art to reassert what some have tried to make us forget.
$30, through August 2, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Unbraid: Hair, Clay, and Craft
Three artists, Adebunmi Gbadebo, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, and Sonya Clark, explore the meaning of hair in their respective personal cultural histories, the first two through ceramics and the third through lithography. A notion of hair emerges as a foundational human artistic medium—”the fiber that we grow,” as Clark puts it.
$30, through July 26, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Framing Nature: Gardens and Imagination
A well-maintained garden is a pretty thing, but also, as a celebration of natural beauty that is decidedly unnatural, a paradoxical thing. This spring, the Museum of Fine Arts is reveling in that tension with a themed exhibition exploring the diverse meaning and uses of gardens in art from around the world and across history.
$30, through June 28, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Split | Second
Our experience of time is defined largely by the ways we measure it, from stargazing to ancient sundials to atomic clocks. The MIT Museum explores our relationship with this strangest of phenomena through items from its own collection as well as Jonathon Keats’ piece New England River Time, which measures time by the movement of five local rivers.
$20, through January 4, 2027, MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Building E-28, Cambridge

Freezing Time: Edgerton and the Beauty of the Machine Age
Explore the legacy of 20th century MIT scientist Harold “Doc” Edgerton, whose photographic techniques, rooted in antiquated technology and updated for the 1930s, revolutionized the study of high-speed movement. Edgerton was as much artist as scientist, impressing with his pictures enough to be included in the Museum of Modern Art’s first-ever photo exhibition.
$20, through October 8, MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Building E-28, Cambridge

Celtic Art Across the Ages
“Celtic” is a slippery term in history, with scholars arguing to various ends about what cultures, past and present, can be meaningfully considered Celtic. Featuring artifacts stretching back to 800 BCE, this exhibition aims not so much to settle the debate as to highlight the creative diversity and achievements in craftsmanship that fall under the term’s umbrella.
Free, through August 2, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge

Imagined Nation
The Boston Athenaeum celebrates the United States Semiquincentennial by sharing a few of its holdings from George Washington’s library, including his copies of Common Sense and other pamphlets reflecting his engagement with the political discourses of his time. The exhibit also features other fascinating historical documents; it will be rotated with new content later this year.
$11, through November 14, Boston Athenaeum, 10½ Beacon St., Boston

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Discovering King Tut’s Tomb
Archaeologist Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb was a boon to Egyptology that continues to fire the popular imagination. In this interactive show, you’ll relive the iconic moment through virtual reality, learn about the art of mummification, and check out meticulously handcrafted replicas of artifacts associated with the Boy King.
$34.50-$37.50, through July 12, The Saunders Castle at Park Plaza, 130 Columbus Ave., Boston

The Road to Revolution: Massachusetts and the Independence Movement
Every student of American history learns that Boston was home to some of the most radical activity in the American Revolution, but it was also home to some its most vociferous debate. This exhibition takes a closer look with artifacts including an original broadside print of the Declaration of Independence, battlefield remnants, letters, and personal possessions.
$15, through January 3, 2027, Old State House, 206 Washington St., Boston

Say It Loud: AAMARP, 1977 to Now
Since 1977, Northeastern University’s African American Master Artists-in-Residence Program has provided space and support for Black artists and served as a crucial hub for the wider artistic community. This show features 60 works made or made or shown by nearly 40 different artists during their stints in the program.
$20, through August 2, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

Music America: Iconic Objects from America’s Music History
The title says it all: you’ll see 100 artifacts containing the story of American music, from anonymous objects like a Civil War bugle to celebrity possessions like Jimi Hendrix’s guitar and Chuck D’s lyric sheet for “Fight the Power.” Note: apart from exhibit hours, there are three other ways to see the exhibition, each with different pricing—check the link for full details.
$17.40 (exhibit hours admission), through July 7, Boch Center Wang Theater, 270 Tremont St., Boston

Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone
Of mixed Black and indigenous heritage, master 19th century marble sculptor Edmonia Lewis broke multiple barriers, winning the respect of her American artist peers but remaining underexamined until the end of the 20th century, when renewed scholarly interest and the rediscovery of some of her lost works prompted a long-overdue canonization. This major exhibition gathers 115 of her works.
$25, through Sunday, June 7, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Davis Museum Modern and Contemporary Galleries
Closed for many years, the Modern and Contemporary Galleries at Wellesley’s art museum are back and fully reinstalled with works from prominent figures like Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Daniela Rivera, Horace Pippin, and others, including some pieces from the Davis’ collection that have never been displayed.
Free, Davis Museum, Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley

To My Best Friend
Lasting for nearly the whole of 2026, To My Best Friend celebrates the contributions of Fotene Demoulas and Tom Coté to the Institute of Contemporary Art’s collection, highlighting their focus on women and other historically underrepresented artists. The 50-plus selection includes works from Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Olga de Amaral, Sarah Sze, and many others.
$20, through December 31, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

Press & Pull: Two Decades at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop
Coming of age during the Harlem Renaissance, printmaker Robert Blackburn helped to continue the movement’s legacy in 1947 by founding his Printmaking Workshop, which held classes and provided working space for artists. This exhibition brings together work from artists associated with the Workshop, a successor of which still operates today.
Free, through May 31, MassArt Art Museum, 621 Huntington Ave., Boston

AI: Mind the Gap
As AI continues to insinuate itself into seemingly every corner of social and economic life, this MIT Museum exhibit becomes more and more relevant. Noting that the technology “often reveals more about human intelligence than machines themselves,” the show draws on the work of experts like Claude Shannon and Seymour Papert to explore AI’s promise and dangers across a variety of applications.
$20, ongoing, MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Building E-28, Cambridge

Reality and Imagination: Rembrandt and the Jews in the Dutch Republic
The Museum of Fine Arts’ Center for Netherlandish Art collaborated with Boston University graduate students on this examination of Rembrandt’s relationship with the Jewish community in Amsterdam. The artist was no alien to this community—he lived in the city’s Jewish Quarter for much of his life.
$30, through December 1, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Lighten Up! On Biology and Time
A roster of 15 artists—including Carsten Höller, Adam Haar Horowitz, Seth Riskin, James Carpenter, Liliane Lijn, and Helga Schmid—explore the relationship of life to the cycles of day and night through immersive art, installations, and experiential environments, touching on circadian rhythms, alternative concepts of time, and the mysteries of dreaming.
$20, through August 31, MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Building E-28, Cambridge

Faces in the Crowd: Street Photography
Offering a slice of the immediacy of everyday life and society, street photography has an irresistible power of fascination. Connecting the work of legends like Garry Winogrand with that of contemporary practitioners like Katy Grannan, Faces in the Crowd hops around the globe and through five decades to explore this genre of otherness in the age of the selfie.
$30, through July 13, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Knowing Nature: Stories of the Boreal Forest
The Peabody Essex Museum casts a spotlight on one of Earth’s largest biome, which stretches nearly all the way around the world, from Canada through Siberia and into Scandinavia. You’ll learn about the region’s significance and diversity through personal testimonies, commissioned objects, photos and video, and interactive areas.
$25, through September 27, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Sea Monsters: Wonders of Nature and Imagination
Using historic illustrations, maps, artifacts, and specimens, this exhibition explores the exotic marine beasts cooked up in the dreams of sailors and bards down the centuries, as well as the real-life creatures, like the giant squid, whose scarcely believable existence inspired many of these legends.
$15, through June 26, Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge

The Salem Witch Trials 1692
Even when the story of the Salem Witch Trials is told with accuracy, the distance of centuries can make it hard to imagine. With this ongoing exhibition, the Peabody Essex Museum tries to close that gap a bit, bringing the timeline and context of the infamous miscarriage of justice to life through original documents and artifacts.
$25, ongoing, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Want to suggest an event? Email us.

This article was first published in the print edition of the June 2026 issue, with the headline,“Summer Fridays, Unplugged.”

New Restaurants to Try This Month

Recent (or imminent) openings to check out.

The Alley. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The Alley (Downtown)

The Craft Food Halls team has opened a new all-day venue in Post Office Square, the Alley—not to be confused with the Alley Bar. Offering everything from coffee and breakfast to dinner and drinks (including a snazzy pour-your-own-beer-and-wine system), not to mention ping pong and shuffleboard, the space feels tailored toward casual group outings. Think: after-work gatherings over charcuterie boards, sandwiches, and chicken vodka parm mac ‘n’ cheese (sure, why not?)

1 Post Office Sq., Downtown Boston, alleyboston.com.

Dessert and a Gilded Orchard cocktail at Monarch, made with Elijah Craig bourbon, Pierre Ferrand 1840 cognac, calvados miso butter, and Amaro Nardini. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Alice & Monarch (Kendall Square)

Hospitable Italian on the ground floor, a dessert-and-cocktail bar hidden below—there’s something for everyone at this new restaurant from the team behind Harvard Square’s pizza-and-more gem Source. (Yep, there’s pizza here, too; it’s similar to Source’s pie, but not wood-fired.)

238 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge, 857-856-5055, aliceandmonarch.com. 

Bey (South End)

Tabbouleh Negronis, olive coladas, and Beirut pilsners set the stage for upscale Lebanese dining at this Shawmut Avenue newcomer. Bring a group to dine through a wide selection of cold and hot mezze (labneh with za’atar chips, makanek—beef and lamb sausages, pan-fried halloumi with orange blossom honey, etc.), kebabs, and a few larger plates, such as grilled whole branzino.

280 Shawmut Ave., South End, beyboston.com.

Beyond Proof. / Courtesy photo

Beyond Proof (Jamaica Plain)

This new zero-proof bar provides the date-night ambiance—in gorgeous pinks and florals—sans alcohol, but with just as much care poured into spirit-free concoctions. Mediterranean bites make them sing.

597 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, Boston, beyondproofboston.com.

Oysters at Foxglove Terrace. / Photo by Biplaw Rai

Foxglove Terrace (Allston)

What’s better than a creative cocktail? A creative cocktail on a rooftop with expansive skyline views, of course. This Comfort Kitchen and Ama at the Atlas sibling sits high atop Allston’s Atlas Hotel, pairing mind-blowing drinks with genre-hopping dishes. (Most of the space is fully enclosed, but there’s an open-air portion as well.)

40 Western Ave., 16th floor (Atlas Hotel), Allston, Boston, foxgloveterrace.com.

An assortment of banchan at Sanbada. The eggplant, a fan-favorite, is the bottom-right dish on the brown tray. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Sanbada (Allston)

Banchan are more than supporting players at this new Korean spot: Excuse us if we devour plate after plate of the sweet-spicy eggplant. But the restaurant serves delectable main courses, too, particularly grilled fish. Win, win.

165 Brighton Ave., Allston, Boston, instagram/sanbada.allston.

Scull & Keel Fish House and Spirits (Cambridge)

So long to ArtBar, the Royal Sonesta’s long-running restaurant, and hello to its replacement, the seafood-focused Scull & Keel. The opening menu includes dishes such as Atlantic crab cake sandwiches with spicy remoulade; shrimp po’ boys; hot and cold seafood towers; lobster dinners for two; and lots more. Bonus: It’s in a hotel, so it has convenient all-day hours, from 7 a.m. breakfast to an 11 p.m. closing time.

Royal Sonesta, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd., East Cambridge, scullandkeel.com.

Sugar’s Hot Pizza. / Photo by Robin Winchell

Sugar’s Hot Pizza (Seaport)

Slice alert: Sugar’s Hot Pizza is now open steps from its comfort-food sibling, Stubbys. With a slogan of “nothin’ fancy,” the casual spot is offering a streamlined menu of pizza (by the slice or pie), sandwiches, soft serve, and a handful of other items. Pizza toppings include vodka chicken, because every Italian-ish spot is required to serve vodka sauce these days; a hot honey, capicola, jalapeño, and red onion combo; chicken, bacon, and ranch; and more. Ok, maybe a little fancy.

29 Northern Ave., Seaport District, Boston, sugarshotpizza.com.

The Zebra Room. / Photo by Josh Jamison

The Zebra Room (Downtown Crossing)

You haven’t seen a steakhouse like this one: Hidden beneath sibling Yvonne’s, the Zebra Room eschews the leather-chair, white-tablecloth norms of the genre in favor of an intimate, exclusive space with comfy lounge seating—perfect for sipping very cold martinis.

4 Winter Pl. (enter through Yvonne’s), Downtown Crossing, Boston, zebraroom.com.

Outdoor Openings and Reopenings

Seasonal beer gardens and more. (Find additional options in last month’s roundup.)

Island Creek Raw Bar Seaport. / Photo by Emily Hagen

Island Creek Raw Bar (Seaport)

Summer must be here now that this Seaport offshoot of a Duxbury fave is back for the season. Lobster tacos, caviar-topped hot dogs, and frozen hibiscus margaritas, here we come.

99 Autumn Ln., Seaport District, Boston, islandcreekoysters.com.

The Grove at the Lawn on D (Seaport)

Seaport’s expansive Lawn on D, reopening June 6, got a bit of a rebrand (enter “the Grove”) and refresh this year. The all-ages outdoor spot features cabanas, swings, live music, big screens for sports and movie nights, and plenty of food and drink, not to mention photo-friendly greenery throughout (designed in collaboration with Floratorium). On the menu: poke bowls, Tajín mango cups, fried fish, grilled cheese, watermelon frosé, and s’mores martinis.

420 D St., Seaport District, Boston, signatureboston.com/lawn-on-d.

The Night Shift beer garden on the Esplanade. / Photo by Tim Oxton/Night Shift

Night Shift Brewing (Allston, Esplanade, and Downtown)

Night Shift’s seasonal beer gardens are back up and running for the warmer months: on the Esplanade along the Charles River, in Herter Park in Allston, and in Dewey Square downtown. All dog-friendly, the gathering spots are featuring some fun seasonal releases, including Rickey Sour, a raspberry lime rickey-inspired sour ale; Double Parked, a citrusy double IPA; and Levity, flavored sparkling water with hops and electrolytes. Outside food is welcome, and watch for rotating food trucks at the Esplanade and Allston locations.

Multiple locations, nightshiftbrewing.com.

Saguaro Garden Bar by the Fat Cactus (Kendall Square)

The make-your-own-hard-seltzer bar is the main attraction at this festive, dog-friendly seasonal patio, which also offers lawn and card games; entertainment like trivia nights and live music; and snacks like chips and dip and grilled cheese. Tuck’s Twists is onsite, too, with soft serve, milkshakes, and other treats.

300 Athenaeum St., Kendall Square, Cambridge, instagram.com/saguaroboston. 

Tree House Brewing Company (Downtown)

Beers from this ultra-popular, huge-line-drawing, Central Massachusetts-based brewery aren’t as hard to get these days, now that there are a half-dozen locations around the state, but who’s complaining? This new beer garden at Faneuil Hall Marketplace is open daily this summer for your after-work juicy IPA needs (plus cold brew, seltzer, and other options), as well as merch and retail beer sales.

200 Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Downtown Boston, treehousebrew.com.

Older Restaurants Doing New Things

Expansions and other changes—time for a (re)visit.

Anna’s Taqueria in South Boston. / Courtesy photo

Anna’s Taqueria (South Boston)

This recent Southie opening brings the 31-year-old burrito chain to 14 current locations—convenient for when you’re craving, say, a super super (two 12-inch burritos) with chimichurri steak, or birria tacos, or a loaded Mexican bowl with all the fixings. Don’t forget the horchata.

457 W. Broadway, South Boston, 617-830-8228, annas.com. 

Dos Manos Kitchen (Brighton)

After several years of pop-ups around town, Dos Manos Kitchen—known for its pupusas—has its own location at the Charles River Speedway. Chef Edwin Orellana, an alum of Posto and Yvonne’s, is cooking up Salvadoran comfort food in a petite, colorful space.

Charles River Speedway, 525 Western Ave., Brighton, Boston, dosmanos.online.com.

Hecate x El Yaqui. / Photo by Mia Andreoli and Stay Gold

Hecate x El Yaqui (Back Bay)

Sidling into hidden Back Bay bar Hecate for a complex cocktail or two? Now there’s more to enjoy: Bartender Orlando Parra has launched a side project, El Yaqui, featuring Sonoran-style hot dogs, an ode to his hometown. The bacon-wrapped, condiment-topped dogs are available Tuesday through Saturday night at Hecate, dine-in or takeout. If you’re staying, try the El Yaqui canned margarita, too—a Bacanora-based drink with yellow bell pepper soda and chiltipín, a smoky pepper.

Janz Kitchen at Town Line Luxury Lanes (Malden)

Hallelujah! You can finally try the viral Filipino-style Ilocos empanadas—which previously required a nearly impossible preorder—now that Janz Van and her bright orange delicacies have landed at Town Line. Eat onsite and go bowling on Tuesdays, or preorder for Friday or Saturday pickup.

665 Broadway, Malden, townlineluxurylanes.com.

Slices (and a photo of founder Joe Pozzuoli) at Joe’s Pizza. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Joe’s Pizza (Fenway)

Kowloon Tiki on the Beach (Revere Beach)

Pupu platters and over-the-top decor are to be expected when this sibling of the iconic Saugus restaurant Kowloon opens in Revere Beach early June. Some classic dishes will carry over to the new location (sticky wings, General Gau chicken, etc.), but there’ll be new tropical fare, too, from spam musubi to sushi. (Meanwhile in Saugus, Kowloon’s spacious outdoor dining area, dubbed Tiki on Broadway, is officially open for the season.)

21 Revere Beach Blvd., Revere, kowloontiki.com.

Date-and-tamarind-glazed lamb ribs at Kush Modern Mediterranean, topped with pickled chili, peanuts, and chives. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Kush Modern Mediterranean (Union Square)

Takeout lamb merguez mac ‘n’ cheese consoled us during the nearly two-year wait for this dine-in debut from Chopped champion and former food-truck operator Saba Wahid Duffy, who thankfully offered delivery and catering during the restaurant buildout. The former alleyway garage (previously home to Wade BBQ) is stunning; the Mediterranean-meets-South-Asian food even more so.

5 Sanborn Ct., Union Square, Somerville, kushbysaba.com.

A loaf of sourdough from La Saison Bakery. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

La Saison (Cambridge)

Best of Boston bakery La Saison—seriously, try the chocolate cake, croissants, and, really, everything—finally has a bit of indoor seating at its tiny original location in Cambridge, and the existing outdoor seating is looking pretty spiffy, too. Time for a revisit! (Meanwhile at the Charlestown location, it’s that froyo-in-a-croissant time of the year.)

407 Concord Ave., Cambridge, lasaison-bakery.com.

Breakfast sandwich at Lulu Green. / Courtesy photo

Lulu Green (Kendall Square)

This fully vegan all-day café has long been a hit in Southie; now it’s in Cambridge, too, with sweet potato and broccoli Caesar salads; crispy chick’n Vietnamese noodle bowls; Korean lettuce wraps with gochujang-glazed seitan; spanakopita grilled cheese; and other globally inspired goods free of animal products. (Don’t miss the smoothies and baked goods, too.) Brunch, coffee, cocktails—this little café does it all.

675 W. Kendall St., Kendall Square, Cambridge, lulugreen.com.

POE-Lenta wild game Bolognese. / Photo by Eleven Seven Media / PAH Creative

POE-Lenta at Hub Hall (West End)

The Tip Tap Room and Crane River Cheese Club chef-owner Brian Poe and chef de cuisine Guillermo Guzman are expanding their food hall endeavors: Their casual Italian spot POE-Lenta—which they opened at Time Out Market Boston in 2024 with pasta, sandwiches, and more—is now operating at Hub Hall, too, as the duo eyes more locations around town. Try the wild game Bolognese.

Hub Hall at the Hub on Causeway, 80 Causeway St., West End, Boston, hubhallboston.com.

Presto Pasta at AquaPazza (North End)

Nearly a decade in, North End Italian restaurant and oyster bar AquaPazza debuted a renovation and updated menu a few months back. Now, the dinner spot has added a daytime grab-and-go pasta window, Presto Pasta. Choose your pasta (rigatoni, gnocchi, etc.), sauce (carbonara, vodka, etc.), and add-ons (meatballs, black truffle, etc.); watch it all come together on the spot.

135 Richmond St., North End, Boston, instagram.com/prestopastanorthend.

Rocco’s Sports & Rec. / Photo courtesy of the Garret Group

Rocco’s Sports & Rec. (Seaport)

Game day now has a vibe. This New York export pairs nostalgic design with big high-def screens for the ideal sports-viewing experience, alongside creative comfort food. Lobster clubhouse, anyone?

250 B St., Seaport District, Boston, gotoroccos.com.

Rubato’s ji cheung fun (steamed rice rolls) with curry fish balls and a spicy cucumber salad. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Rubato (Quincy)

Chef-owner Laurence Louie is crushing it on the current season of Top Chef, and he’s been featuring some rotating dishes from the show at his Hong Kong-style café on weekends, such as fried catfish sandos and rabbit siu mai. Watch Instagram for details on dishes and scheduling, and prepare to take your food to go; Rubato has just a few seats inside.

412 Hancock St., Quincy, 617-481-2049, rubato-food.com.

Saloniki’s braised pork pita. / Courtesy photo

Saloniki Greek (Allston, Back Bay, Cleveland Circle, Fenway)

There’s lots going on with A Street Hospitality’s 10-year-old fast-casual Greek chain these days. The original Fenway location, for one, is moving within the neighborhood to 1330 Boylston St. later this month (around June 20, as plans currently stand). Plus, new locations are set to open on Harvard Avenue is Allston (around mid-June) and in Cleveland Circle (around July). More chances for us to stock up on our favorite little glass jars of yogurt with lemon curd and eat lamb meatball-stuffed pitas. But wait, there’s more! The Newbury Street location recently debuted a froyo window.

Multiple locations, salonikigreek.com.

Tampopo (Porter Square)

Pay your respects to this 34-year-old Cambridge mainstay with a last meal or two: The Japanese restaurant closes at the end of June, as owner Yasumasa Ito announced earlier this year. Grab crispy pork cutlets in curry, a shrimp tempura bowl, or oyakodon for lunch or dinner (daily except for Wednesday).

1815 Massachusetts Ave. (inside the Porter Exchange building at Lesley), Porter Square, Cambridge, 617-868-5457, tampopocambridge.com.

Duck at Urban Hearth. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Urban Hearth (Inman Square)

You’ll have to wait until later in the month for this one, but reservations are now live for the June 20 debut of Urban Hearth, when the Michelin-recommended locavore superstar completes its move from a cozy little North Cambridge space to roomier digs in Inman, complete with full-service bar, a salon area, and a six-seat chef’s counter (two more than before). “We’ve been rolling in our tiny space that’s fallen apart,” chef-owner Erin Miller previously told Boston. “We’ve been doing this exceedingly hard thing really well for a long time. Imagine if we had a little bit more space, a little bit more time, more hands and hearts in the kitchen. Imagine what we can do.”

1281 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge, urbanhearth.net.

Looking Ahead

Intriguing spots coming soon (or not-so-soon). Find more to look forward to in our 2026 anticipated openings guide.

Max Faro, Tuscan Brands’ senior project manager of hospitality and development, in front of the future home of Buitoni Spaghetti Bar in March 2026. / Courtesy photo

Buitoni Spaghetti Bar (Kenmore Square)

Giant meatballs, nostalgia, pasta-makers in the window—this 2027 opening (in the old Eastern Standard space) sounds like a fun shot of energy for Kenmore, courtesy of the Tuscan Brands team (Tuscan Kitchen, Tuscan Market, and other Italian food businesses in Massachusetts and New Hampshire).

In addition to the now-open Tree House Brewing Company beer garden (see above), Quincy Market’s getting a bunch of new fast-casual vendors in the coming months. On the list: Smashed by BRED, from the burger-and-comfort-food experts at BRED Gourmet in Dorchester and Cambridge; an outpost of Harvard Square Indian stalwart the Maharaja; Azul Mexican Kitchen, from Taco Azul’s Dan Leyva; and more.

206 S. Market St., Downtown Boston, quincy-market.com.

Alcove. / Courtesy photo

Alcove

Here’s the recipe for a lovely night on the wharf: Start with a comfortable setting just off Causeway Street that boasts sweeping views of the Zakim Bridge. Pair the scenery with cool cocktails and an impressive wine list; Alcove owner Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli is a veteran drinksmith, after all. Add coastal New England cuisine—think: summery salads, seafood, and snacks from the fertile waterfront of southern New England. Serve. Immediately.

50 Lovejoy Wharf, West End, Boston, 617-248-0050, alcoveboston.com.

The Barking Crab is like a year-round vacation on the Fort Point Channel. / Brian Samuels Photography

The Barking Crab

The Barking Crab’s audacious red- and yellow-striped tent screams “HERE!” from its longtime plot right on Fort Point Channel. In the unlikely event you miss it, listen for the similarly roar-like calls of “Smitty!” as old friends are reunited over their post-pandemic oyster shooters, rum runners, and seafood platters. This is Boston, this is home.

88 Sleeper St., Fort Point, Boston, 617-426-2722, barkingcrab.com.

Battery Wharf Grille

This is one of those hotel restaurants you would never think to wander into as a local—because, why? Because of the terrace, that’s why, a lovely little brick-lain plot that’s right on the water and perfect for digging into cuisine of the “modern New England” (read: fish, sometimes not) variety, while scoping the Battery Wharf Hotel guests who arrive via water taxi and work for companies that still spring for waterfront rooms. You can delete Bumble tomorrow.

3 Battery Wharf, North End/Waterfront, Boston, 617-994-9001, batterywharfhotelboston.com/dining.

Belle Isle Seafood

As soon as you cross the bridge from East Boston to Winthrop, you’re welcomed by one of the best places around to get a (large, very large) lobster roll loaded with tender tail, knuckle, and claw meat. There’s plenty of other fresh and fried seafood dinners available inside these spare, warehouse-like quarters, which—true to its salty legacy—remains staunchly cash-only. But you’re here for the waterside deck right across from the Logan airport runways, a pretty cool place to watch planes take off while daydreaming of your next vacation.

1 Main St., Winthrop, 617-567-1619, belleisleseafood.com.

Boston Sail Loft

The Sail Loft’s side patio dangling over the harbor is small, but the mugs of chowder are not. They are, in fact, rich and overflowing—and among the absolute best in the city. The snug loft has all the other fried-seafood standards you’d expect to find in a no-frills, wood-paneled shanty like it, plus big windows overlooking the harbor for when you can’t find space on the little plank outside.

80 Atlantic Ave., Downtown Boston, 617-227-7280, thebostonsailloft.com.

Courtesy

Davio’s Seaport

The Boston-born chain of northern Italian steakhouses has nearly a dozen locations across several states now, but the seven-year-old Seaport outpost is perhaps its flashiest, enjoying an enviable position right on the waterfront. If you don’t “do” wind, feel free to request a table by the huge wall of windows inside—otherwise, take to the other side for patio dining on chops, pasta, seafood towers, and desserts (the key lime baked Alaska is quite a treat), with enough gluten-free options to blow you away.

26 Fan Pier Blvd., Seaport District, Boston, 617-261-4810, davios.com/seaport.

La Tavernetta. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

La Tavernetta

New for 2026: The team behind Mida has brought this Southern Italian coastal tavern to East Boston, and the result is one of the most transportive waterfront spots in the city. Soak up the Boston skyline from the massive teal-and-blood-orange-striped patio, while digging into sticky Calabrian chile wings, mozzarella en carrozza with anchovy dipping sauce, and squid ink frutti di mare. Spritzes and highballs lean on Southern Italian flavors—prickly pear, limoncello, carob—keeping things bright and breezy well beyond the warm-weather months.

45 Lewis St., East Boston, latavernettaeastie.com.

Photo courtesy of Legal Harborside

Legal Harborside

This three-story behemoth is a stunner in all seasons, but summertime is when it really excels. Grab a pint at nearby Harpoon before hitting up Legal’s picturesque patio—or killer third-floor roof deck—for some steamers, New England fried clams, and freshly shucked shellfish.

270 Northern Ave., Seaport District, Boston, 617-477-2900, legalseafoods.com.

Marcelino’s. / Courtesy photo

Marcelino’s

The spacious, fully covered patio looking out onto Fort Point Channel feels like a hideaway (albeit one that seats up to 180 fellow diners and drinkers)—the perfect spot to sip creative Middle Eastern-inspired cocktails, such as a bubbly sumac Paloma sized to share, in nearly any weather. (But when the weather doesn’t permit? The inside’s beautiful, too.) An outdoor DJ booth and bar add party vibes to the patio at this Providence export, but don’t dismiss this as a nightlife-only spot: The food is very much worth a try, from grilled ribeye garnished with pistachio butter and pomegranate seeds to za’atar-crusted grilled tuna.

2 Northern Ave., Seaport District, Boston, 857-957-0094, marcelinosboutiquebar.com/boston.

Nautilus Pier 4. / Photo provided

Nautilus Pier 4

Nautilus Pier 4—younger sibling to an ultra-popular Nantucket spot—splashed into Boston in 2021. This city outpost is much bigger than the original, boasting a sprawling patio at the Seaport’s iconic Pier 4 address and turning out a globally inspired menu of plates for sharing. Think: East Coast oysters wrapped in nori, kinda taco-style, with wasabi aioli and a spicy chili barbecue sauce; Berkshire pork belly buns with a coffee mayo and pickled cucumbers and herbs; and house-made dandan noodles with heritage pork, peanuts, and a dash of tongue-numbing Sichuan peppercorns.

300 Pier Four Blvd., Seaport District, Boston, 857-957-0998, thenautilus.com.

Pier 6. / Photo by Brian Samuels Photography

Pier 6

Dine in full view of the historic Charlestown Navy Yard and the USS Constitution on the roof deck, or on the huge, first-floor patio. Downstairs, there’s an outdoor bar, with rosé magnums and cocktails like the Pier 6 Painkiller, a soothing tincture of rum, orange, pineapple, crème de coconut, and nutmeg. Plus: There’s a complimentary (weather-dependent) seasonal water taxi directly to the equally scenic East Boston sister spot, ReelHouse.

1 8th St., Charlestown, Boston, 617-337-0054, pier6boston.com.

ReelHouse. / Photo by Emily Sotomayor

ReelHouse

… like we said, ReelHouse! On this sprawling, 130-seat deck, you’ll take in panoramic views of the harbor and skyline from the unique vantage point of Eastie. There’s a granite-topped outdoor bar, yacht-themed décor, tropical cocktails, and a seafood-focused menu from chef Marc Orfaly.

6 New St., East Boston, 617-895-4075, reelhouseboston.com.

The Rooftop at the Envoy. / Courtesy photo

Rooftop at the Envoy

Want a slightly elevated waterfront experience? (See what we did there?) Along with craft cocktails, the seventh-story lounge on top of the Envoy Hotel serves up breathtaking views of the harbor and the skyline. And even when the weather is cold, the place trots out glowing, plexiglass igloos that small parties can reserve to huddle inside with hot drinks and noshes.

70 Sleeper St., Seaport District, Boston, 617-530-1538, envoyrooftop.com.

Rowes Wharf Sea Grill

Chef David Daniels is still flexing his considerable talent at Rowes Wharf Sea Grille, the property’s casual-elegant (or is it, elegant-casual?) restaurant right on the water. Go for the Scottish salmon with brown butter kuri squash purée. Blue mussels, meanwhile, are lazing in red curry flavors with lime and fried shallots.

70 Rowes Wharf, Downtown Boston, 617-856-7744, roweswharfseagrille.com.

Sullivan’s Castle Island

It ain’t fancy, but that’s not what you’re here for. You’re here for some tasty cheap eats—James Beard-caliber eats, at that!—including hot dogs and burgers for a few bucks apiece, and lobster rolls for not many more (by the standards of lobster rolls). Dodge rollerbladers and walk ’em over to the beach, or stroll the Harborwalk around the perimeter of grassy Castle Island park. It’s summa’, kehd. 

2080 William J Day Blvd., South Boston, 617-268-5685, sullivanscastleisland.com.

Venezia

A rare waterfront restaurant on the south side of the city, Dorchester’s Venezia has been around for over a quarter-century, but the views still feel like a discovery. How often do you get this vantage point of the water, where the Neponset River meets the ocean bay? The Italian cuisine is uncommonly good, too, from the seafood pastas to turf-turning classics like chicken parmigiana, plus a standout burger topped with Vermont cheddar, fried onion rings, bacon, and cherry mayo.

20 Ericsson St., Dorchester, Boston, 617-436-3120, veneziaboston.com.

Woods Hill Pier 4

As waterfront dining goes, it’s hard to beat natural foods activist-turned-restaurateur Kristin Canty’s chic setup at an iconic Seaport address. The sprawling patio is a superlative setting for chef Charlie Foster’s upscale locavore cuisine, which sources many of its ingredients straight from sibling Woods Hill Farm in New Hampshire. In the same building, don’t miss Woods Hill Pier 4’s younger sibling, the Block at Woods Hill—a restaurant and market showcasing even more local fare (and tons of dry-aged, grass-fed meats).

300 Pier 4 Blvd., Seaport District, Boston, 617-981-4577, woodshillpier4.com.

Otis House

This grand Federal-style mansion was designed by renowned architect Charles Bulfinch. Built as the first of three homes for former mayor Harrison Gray Otis in 1796, the house is one of the last remaining structures from what used to be Bowdoin Square. Thanks to Boston’s period of urban renewal in the 1960s, the historical home now straddles Beacon Hill and the West End. Inside, its paint colors and carpet designs are historically accurate—and they’re surprisingly vibrant.

Otis House Museum, 141 Cambridge St., historicnewengland.org.

The Nichols House Museum photo via Wikimedia/Creative Commons

Nichols House

Beacon Hill’s other Bulfinch-built house museum was once home to suffragist and landscape architect Rose Standish Nichols. Among her many accomplishments, she was a founding member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in 1915, which has a mission to unite all women for peace, disarmament, and gender equality.

Nichols inherited the Federal-style home on Mount Vernon Street from her father in the 1930s, and ruled the roost until her death in 1960. She never married, but often hosted salons at the house, gathering intellectuals to discuss and debate progressive ideas over afternoon tea. Nichols intended for the house to be left as a museum after her death, and since then, it’s shown Bostonians what life was like in Beacon Hill at the turn of the century. Tour highlights include furniture handmade by Rose’s sister, Margaret Nichols Shurcliff.

Nichols House Museum, 55 Mount Vernon St., nicholshousemuseum.org.

Photo by John Woolf for A Glimpse of the Past at the Gibson House

Gibson House

For a snapshot of life in Victorian Boston, step through the double doors of the Gibson House on Beacon Street. Though you wouldn’t know it from the outside, this brownstone conceals a historical interior that hasn’t been altered since 1954. That’s thanks to Charles Gibson Jr., who in the 1930s decided he should preserve the contents and opulence of his family’s 1860 home. A guided hour tour through the house’s four levels features a one-of-a-kind Victorian ventilator shaft (you have to see it to understand its majesty), “Japanese Leather” wallpaper, a 15-piece bedroom set, and more.

The Gibson House Museum, 137 Beacon St., Boston, thegibsonhouse.org

Photo by Ed Lyons on Flickr/Creative Commons

James Blake House

Built in 1661, the James Blake House is the oldest house in all of Boston. It’s tucked between Upham’s Corner and Columbia Point on a sliver of green space, though it’s about 400 yards from its original location on what is currently Massachusetts Avenue. The home’s original owner, a minister named James Blake, settled in Dorchester in the 1630s. He built the house in the Western English style, now a rare sight in New England. The Dorchester Historical Society only offers tours of the house on the third Sunday of each month, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

James Blake House, 735 Columbia Rd., Dorchester, dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org.

Photo by Jules Struck

Prescott House

This impressive Federal-style construction dreamed up by architect Asher Benjamin flaunts unique rounded bay fronts and white columns. It was built overlooking the Common in 1808 for a merchant named James Smith Colburn, and on land once owned by portrait painter John Singleton Copley to boot. In 1845, historian William Hickling Prescott moved into the house, and about a century later, it was purchased by the National Society of Colonial Dames. The home, also known as the Headquarters House, is now open as a house museum on select Fridays.

William Hickling Prescott House, 55 Beacon St., Boston, nscdama.org.

Photo by Tim Sackton on Flickr/Creative Commons

Shirley-Eustis House

William Shirley, the Royal Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony until 1756, spent his summers at “Shirley Place,” which he built in 1751. It also served as the summer home of William Eustis, a post-Revolution Massachusetts governor who took office in 1822. Now called the Shirley-Eustis House, the place is one of the last remaining Royal Colonial Governors’ mansions in the country. Tours of the mansion are offered 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, but the grounds, gardens and orchards are free and open to the public dawn until dusk.

Shirley-Eustis House, 33 Shirley St., Roxbury, shirleyeustishouse.org.

Last updated May 2026, with additional research by McKenna Johnson.

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Thanks to last year’s launch (finally!) of the commuter rail to Fall River, New Bedford, and the surrounding area, it’s particularly easy to take a culinary tour of the southeastern swath of Massachusetts. Dubbed the South Coast, this region is a magical, liminal space: Somehow all at once it’s Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Portugal, with time-jumping layovers through the immigration-influenced past. And even better—the area is home to some wild, wonderful, and delicious hyper-regional cuisine. All aboard for five of these must-try bites.

Awful Awful

“IT’S A DRINK”—so goes the quote on the cups of this dreamy milkshake concoction at regional chain Newport Creamery, with locations in Fall River and Seekonk, along with six more in Rhode Island. Still, Awful Awful, we have questions. Just what are you, why are you so good, and why are there no commas in your name?

The restaurant, which was founded in 1928 in (you guessed it) Newport, Rhode Island, dishes out ice cream, hearty breakfasts, and comfort food—though it’s most loved for the Awful Awful. Which, according to local lore, gets its name because it’s “awful big, awful good.” The thick and indulgent drink replaces ice cream with a signature ice milk, which contains less dairy fat, with flavors amped up by syrups.

“It’s richer and more filling than a typical milkshake and has a loyal following thanks to its unique texture and classic flavor,” says Katelynn Dodson, business manager of Newport Creamery. “It’s been a staple of the region for generations.” While the standard Awful Awful comes in ten flavors ranging from the classic (vanilla and chocolate) to the slightly kooky (cotton candy, anyone?), a very scientific and entirely-not-biased study conducted by this author has concluded that coffee is the ultimate flavor. The sip is sweet and not cloying, thick and cooling enough to pair with a breezy drive out to the beach. Think of it like a sippable summer vacation.

But wait, there’s more: Gander the “topping & fancies” sign outside the walk-up window of the Fall River location on President Avenue, which lists bourbon caramel, hot fudge, and cookie dough pieces as ice cream additions. It’s unclear just what the difference between a topping and a fancy is, so your best bet is to try them all.

Michael’s Provision chouriço franks. / Official Website

Chouriço Hot Dogs

We could spend several hundred words on Portuguese cuisine alone; in fact, we already have in our South Coast-heavy Portuguese dining guide here. But beyond the area’s colossal steaks and soulful seafood options, one favorite dish stands out as a United Nations-esque transatlantic diplomatic alliance: the chouriço dog, a marriage of the all-American hot dog and the Portuguese pork sausage that’s heavily spiced with paprika and garlic. Unlike the thick sausages you can buy at spots in Fall River like Portugalia Marketplace, a chouriço dog is svelte enough for a hot dog bun and could pair well with a dollop of ketchup and mustard at your next cookout.

Both locations of Nick’s Hot Dogs in Fall River deep-fry chouriço dogs to order and serve them with your choice of toppings, such as tangy Coney Island sauce. You can also pick up chouriço dogs (plus leaner linguiça dogs) made by Fall River-based Michael’s Provision and/or North Dartmouth-based Gaspar’s at grocery stores in the South Coast, and often at Stop & Shop in Dorchester’s South Bay shopping center. To kick up your next cookout, toss them on the grill and wait until the skin gets blistered and slightly black in spots before you dig in.

But wait, there’s more: Those same purveyors sell chouriço patties to toss between hamburger buns and top with cheese (either classic American cheese, or tangy Portuguese São Jorge cheese). Different shape, same delivery system for big flavors. In the wonderful land of southeastern Massachusetts, chouriço can be many things—also a pizza topping, for instance, or stuffed inside a sub roll with hand-cut French fries (a chouriço and chips grinder).

Mr. Chen’s chow mein sandwich. / Photo by Dominic Chen

Chow Mein Sandwiches

Not to be confused with another regional cult classic, the chop suey sandwich of the North Shore, the chow mein sandwich is a Fall River original. The seemingly random equation of this dish—a hamburger bun plus fried chow mein noodles plus gravy equals delight—has cultural cross-pollination to thank for its genesis, as do other items on this list. It traces its roots back to the early 1900s, when Chinese restaurant owners were looking for ways to make their cuisine more familiar to waves of European immigrants. Turns out the sandwich is a culinary lingua franca, and the affordable (not to mention delicious) dish took off.

Most versions at local restaurants add bean sprouts and sliced celery to the mix, and the sandwich is a savory flavor-bomb of contrasting crunchy and soft textures. To be fair, the chow mein sandwich is a sandwich in the barest sense of the word: Sure, there’s a hamburger bun involved, but you have to eat it with a knife and fork (unless you want gravy-soaked noodles in your lap). Still, that doesn’t dim the dish’s clear star appeal, as evident when the region collectively melted down when Oriental Chow Mein Co., the Fall River-based company that has produced the noodles since 1938, temporarily stopped production because of a manufacturing mechanical failure, leading to “no-chow-mein May.” Fear not, because the machines are whirring again and cranking out noodles. Find the dish at Mr. Chen in Fall River (where you can add chicken and other proteins to the mix), along with Roger’s Family Restaurant in Somerset.

But wait, there’s more: Oriental Chow Mein Co. also produces the noodles for Hoo-Mee Chow Mein kits, which come with noodles and a gravy packet for you to make the delicacy at home. Find them in the international aisle at local supermarkets or online.

Stuffed quahogs. / Photo by dippy_duck via Flickr/Creative Commons

Stuffed Quahogs

At their shell, stuffed quahogs (alternatively called “stuffies” around Rhode Island) are pretty basic. A stuffing of bread, meat, spices, and chunks of quahog—a large hard-shelled clam—is packed into a quahog shell and baked until golden brown. But like the shimmery purple bands inside a clam shell, the story behind this dish is more vibrant.

Indigenous peoples in the area, including the Narragansett and the Wampanoag, harvested and cooked clams long before English settlers arrived (see “Q is for Quahogs” in our ultimate New England seafood guide), and these culinary traditions led to the New England favorites of clam chowders and clam boils. The influence of Portuguese immigrants over the last 200 years added to the culinary melting pot (er, clam boil pot?) of the Indigenous-British-American dish.

The regional Portuguese version is made with breadcrumbs or crackers (or, ideally, day-old papo seco bread sourced from a local Portuguese bakery) plus chopped chouriço, quahog, and a generous amount of parsley and spices. The appetizer-like bite is rich and savory, with a sea-forward kick: Most versions call for reserving some of the briny boiling leftover liquid to toss it into the stuffing before baking. Find it at plenty of South Coast restaurants. One of our faves is the Cove in Fall River, where a spacious deck overlooks the Taunton River—pair the view with stuffed quahogs and a squeeze of fresh lemon.

But wait, there’s more: New Bedford brand Whaler sells both hot and mild stuffed quahogs online. Or better yet, start at the Cove and then hit the specialty markets around Fall River—like Chaves Market and David’s Fish Market—where they offer quahogs to go.

Venus de Milo’s minestrone soup. / Courtesy photo

Venus De Milo Soup

We have Venus De Milo, a Swansea restaurant and function hall that’s been family-run since the 1960s, to thank for two culinary legends. The first is Emeril Lagasse, who got his start working banquets there, first in the mid-1970s when he was a junior at Diman Vocational Technical High School in Fall River and then for a few years while attending Johnson & Wales University in Providence. The second? Venus De Milo’s famed minestrone, a soul-warming soup with ground beef, vegetables, and pasta.

Venus sells takeout half-gallons of the soup, which—especially during the winter months—basically keeps the community from wandering into the frozen Taunton River. That’s why when the spot closed during COVID, then switched to takeout only for a while, then went on and off the real estate market, everyone’s blood pressure spiked as they wondered just how much soup they could fit in their freezer if the supply dried up.

In another pivot, Venus announced in late 2023 that it would reopen soon for in-person dining after extensive renovations to the vintage, Rat Pack-chic spaces. At the time, I envisioned a feature story about the scrappy function hall and how places like it are often the setting for our best and worst memories—from weddings to bereavement brunches—and called up Lagasse for his take. “They do something really special there and I’m glad to hear they’re opening back up,” he said in October 2023. The reopening, and thus the story, didn’t quite pan out; Venus delayed its plans to resume regular onsite dining. But in the meantime, the location still hosts events and offers takeout, including oven-ready catering pans of prime rib to warm up at home—and, of course, the soup.

But wait, there’s more: “They have baked stuffed shrimp with a butter cracker topping that I really loved,” Lagasse also says.

On one hand, you can’t throw a cannoli without hitting a great restaurant in Boston’s North End. On the other, when there’s so many options, it’s hard to decide where to go on any given night. Allow us, then, to narrow the scope to a handful of favorites that never fail to deliver—including pasta-filled trattorias, pizza landmarks, amazing bakeries, and more.

Updated May 2026; check back for periodic updates.

See also: Where to Find Traditional Italian Sweets in Boston (and Beyond)

Arya Trattoria

What do Melissa McCarthy, the Rock, and Joey Kramer have in common? They’ve all dined at this intimate second-floor restaurant, where first-time restaurateur Massimo Tiberi has pulled in a crowd of celebs big and…not so big (ciao, Kris Humphries) over the past few years. Maybe it’s his genuinely warm “Welcome to my house” greeting at the start of the meal. Maybe it’s the expert wine-pairing advice—on one visit, a server-recommended nebbiolo was structured and sturdy, the ideal accompaniment to our fall-apart-tender osso buco. Or maybe it’s just the generous portions of better-than-average regional Italian fare.

253 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 617-742-1276, aryatrattoria.com.

Bova’s Bakery

Frequent turnover isn’t usually a good thing in the hospitality industry. But it has helped Bova’s Bakery—the tipsy college student’s go-to spot for a cream-filled lobster tail or cheese-and-meatball-stuffed arancini at 3 a.m.—stay in business for nearly a century. Three extended families, all descendants of founder George Bova, each run the always-open bakery for six months before handing it over for the next “turn” to manage.

134 Salem St., North End, Boston, 617-523-5601, bovabakeryboston.net.

Gnocchi Sorrentina at Bricco. / Courtesy photo

Bricco

If you feel like you’re being taken care of by an entire Italian village when you dine at Frank DePasquale’s Hanover Street flagship, it’s because you are: The restaurant’s breads, fresh pastas, and imported meats are sourced from DePasquale’s own old-world panetteria and salumeria next door. His restaurant group, in fact, is a mini North End empire, with an extended-stay pensione above Bricco and several other eateries dotting the neighborhood. But this modern standby is still the one to beat for its well-executed menu of Italian staples—pillowy gnocchetti baked with bufala mozzarella is a favorite—and classic steakhouse dishes.

241 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 617-248-6800, bricco.com.

Carmelina’s in the North End. Clockwise from top: tonno siciliano; rollati with pistachio and mortadella; frutti di mare; and lobster ravioli. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Carmelina’s

At first blush, this stylish Sicilian-inspired restaurant, with its open kitchen, exposed brick, and retractable front walls for warmer months, feels like it might belong in the South End. But one spoonful of executive chef Damien DiPaola’s creative pasta dishes—from the vodka sauced, tiger shrimp-topped ravioli stuffed with fresh Maine lobster to the impossibly rich baked rollati filled with mortadella and ricotta—will bring you right back to Hanover Street.

307 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 617-742-0020, carmelinasboston.com.

The Daily Catch’s squid ink linguine aglio olio with scallops. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The Daily Catch

Not many restaurants with a $95 entrée (the lobster fra diavolo for two) can get away with serving wine in disposable cups, not accepting credit cards, and asking guests to tiptoe through the dishwashing station to get to the restroom. But the garlicky squid-ink pasta; golden, greaseless calamari; and surprisingly addictive monkfish Marsala at this intimate, family-run hole in the wall will make you quickly forget about those minor inconveniences. While there’s no dessert menu here (who needs one when there are a half-dozen bakeries within walking distance?), at the end of a meal, you may find yourself lingering at the table, mesmerized by the one-man show in the open kitchen and the endless plates of seafood coming out hot and fast.

323 Hanover St., 617-523-8567, North End, Boston, thedailycatch.com.

Farmacia. / Photo by Chris Vela

Farmacia

From the team behind Tony & Elaine’s, the Red Fox, and more, this intimate and highly creative cocktail bar is one of the hardest seats in town to book. If you manage it, your prepaid ticket gains you access to a magical themed journey through multiple cocktails (and very light bites—consider carbo-loading somewhere ahead of time). Example: Fall Flavors of New England, where you’ll choose from beverages with ingredients such as roasted pumpkin, maple smoked bourbon, butterscotch, and Eggo-and-maple-syrup liqueur.

5 North Sq., North End, Boston, farmacianorthend.com.

A slice at Umberto. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Galleria Umberto 

From appearances, you wouldn’t know there’s anything special about this nondescript North End pizzeria: The cash-only operation kind of looks like a cafeteria, has no website, offers only a few items, and closes once everything sells out (usually by mid-afternoon). But anyone who has ever tasted the decades-spanning institution’s perfect, doughy-delicious Sicilian slices knows that even in a historic neighborhood flush with competition, these are truly landmark squares.

289 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 617-227-5709.

La Famiglia Giorgio’s. / Photograph by Nina Gallant

La Famiglia Giorgio’s

“It might even be as good as my mom’s” is a sentiment echoed over and over again inside this cozy Salem Street brownstone, where the Giorgio family has been churning out gargantuan portions of red-sauce classics for more than three decades. Favorites range from the irresistibly spicy frutti di mare with fresh fettuccine (worth the $3 upcharge) to the tender eggplant parm with a bright marinara.

112 Salem St., North End, Boston, 617-367-6711, lafamigliagiorgios.com.

Giacomo’s

It’s not uncommon to hear passerby mutter, “Is it really worth the wait?” to a legion of devotees lined up outside this seafood and pasta spot for more than an hour—on a Tuesday night. Answer: yes, especially if you have a big appetite. The budget-friendly restaurant sates the hungry masses with piles of butter-saturated garlic bread and heaping portions of chicken parm. At $94 for two (or more) diners, the oft-Instagrammed zuppa di pesce, a staggeringly large platter of linguine with lobster, shrimp, scallops, calamari, clams, mussels, and your choice of sauce, is the best deal under the restaurant’s tin ceiling—and possibly in the whole neighborhood.

355 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 617-523-9026, giacomosboston.com.

Lucca

Serious tipplers won’t be disappointed by the selection at Lucca, which offers an of-the-moment beverage menu—cocktails like the bubbly Blueberry Fizz; rotating craft brews on draft; and a deep list of whiskeys—alongside a top-notch cellar of Italian and Californian wines. The kitchen is open until midnight, so before or after the game, post up at the dining-friendly bar for the mussels arrabbiata with bacon and shallots, or baked orecchiettewith prosciutto cotto—like a northern Italian take on mac ’n’ cheese.

226 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 617-742-9200, luccaboston.com.

Gnocchi Abruzzese and maccheroni amatriciana at Lucia Ristorante. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Lucia Ristorante

The Frattaroli family opened Lucia nearly 50 years ago, and the wide-ranging menu continues to honor their roots in Italy’s Abruzzo region. An icon on the menu helpfully marks traditional dishes from the area, such as chitarra al tartufo, a pasta dish with mushrooms, sausage, and white truffle cream; guazzetto di mare, a seafood medley in tomato sauce over pappardelle; and carrozza, a must-order app of breaded, fried mozzarella stuffed with prosciutto and topped with marinara. And, perhaps a rarity for such a flour-focused restaurant: Lucia offers plenty of gluten-free options.

415 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 617-367-2353, luciab.st.

Mamma Maria. / Photograph by Jared Kuzia

Mamma Maria

Its name may suggest red-sauce casual, but this North Square townhouse restaurant is quite the opposite, focusing on refined Italian fare: Beef carpaccio with arugula and black truffles is a lighter spin on the mayo-topped version developed at Harry’s Bar in Venice, while fresh pappardelle pasta is tossed in a hearty Tuscan-style rabbit ragu. The service and setting—including several chandeliered private dining areas, one of which seats just four—is white-tablecloth formal. It’s a style that’s falling out of fashion these days but is still comforting to revisit every once in a while, especially when it gives Nonna a chance to break out her pearls.

3 North Sq., North End, Boston, 617-523-0077, mammamaria.com.

Neptune Oyster’s lobster roll (the buttered version). / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Neptune Oyster

With its sleek, brasserie-like interior, straight-from-the-water bivalves, and buttery, overstuffed lobster rolls, this landmark would earn a spot on any list of essential restaurants across Boston—not just those in the North End. Neptune remains consistently excellent both in the kitchen (try the comforting, seafood-packed cioppino and the sweet-savory johnnycake topped with honey butter, caviar, and Maine lobster) and in the front of the house. Friendly yet firm hosts politely shoo out those keeping the door cracked open on a cold day and make good on promises to call your cell in two hours when your seat at the marble bar is finally ready.

63 Salem St., North End, Boston, 617-742-3474, neptuneoyster.com.

Parla. / Courtesy Photo

Parla

Take your chances rolling the 20-sided die that this quirky, contemporary Italian tavern offers to guests adventurous enough to accept a random selection from its secret list of numbered cocktails—no matter what you end up with, you won’t be disappointed. That said, if you’d rather know what you’re getting into, there’s plenty of spicy, sweet, and herbal tinctures described on the rotating menus of themed drinks, as well as the option to pair your favorite spirit with a shrub, offered in flavors like pineapple-hibiscus and cucumber-dill. All the tipples are equally excellent for washing down Parla’s modern small plates, which tap into some broader Mediterranean influences: lamb skewers with cucumber labneh and a parsley, vidalia, and sumac salad, for instance.

230 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 617-367-2824, parlaboston.com.

Prezza

Twenty-five years after it opened, chef Anthony Caturano’s debut still hits the sweet spot between romantic hideaway (a candle on every table) and neighborhood hang (a game always on at the bar). Nestled on Fleet Street, the restaurant boasts a 27-page wine list and lush dishes such as raviolo di uovo, a single oversize orb of butter-drenched pasta filled with ricotta and egg yolk, and a hearty seafood-stuffed stew. The minimalist dining room, with its gallery-style lighting and a few pieces of stark contemporary art, keeps the focus exactly where it should be—on your meal, and your company.

24 Fleet St., North End, Boston, 617-227-1577, prezza.com.

The Red Fox. / Photo by Assembly Designs

The Red Fox

This swanky 2024 debut—hidden down an unassuming staircase in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it building—offers a more pared-down menu than the enormous books you’ll find at many a North End restaurant. But who needs 100 choices when each of a couple dozen will make your night? The prosciutto and zeppole, drizzled with honey, is a must-order appetizer, and if your group is hungry, split a hefty lasagna. To drink, Negroni and martini variations rule here, including the Aglio e Pepe dry martini with raw garlic, pepper, and parm.

326 Commercial St., North End, Boston, redfoxnorthend.com.

Regina Pizzeria

We can’t vouch for all the secondary locations of the North End-born pizzeria chain, but the original location—founded in 1926 and Boston’s oldest restaurant for brick oven pizza—remains legendary for a reason. The pies arrive with cheese bubbling, crusts crisped just-so, and sauce tantalizingly tangy. The atmosphere is a huge part of the experience too: Regina doesn’t look like she’s had a makeover for decades (that’s a good thing!) and the walls are covered in photos of major celebrities who have stopped by for a legendary slice or two.

11 1/2 Thacher St., North End, Boston, 617-227-0765, pizzeriaregina.com.

“Mamma’s famous meatball” at Strega in the North End. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Strega by Nick Varano

A glowing shelf with saffron-tinted Liquore Strega. Eight crystal chandeliers. A VIP photo wall. And yes, that’s really The Godfather and Goodfellas playing on multiple televisions in the dining room. The extravagant interior sets the scene for an evening of larger-than-life cocktails—go for the classic espresso martini—and rich, indulgent fare, from luxurious surf-and-turf to spicy rigatoni alla vodka that is prepared table-side in a giant wheel of cheese to an enormous, award-winning meatball.

379 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 617-523-8481, stregabynickvarano.com.

Sunny Girl’s Truffle Shuffle breakfast sandwich. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Sunny Girl

While most of this guide features sit-down dinner options, we’d be remiss if we didn’t provide a couple casual favorites for earlier in the day. This one, steps from the waterfront, is the place to pick up gourmet breakfast and lunch sandwiches—and then find a place with a view to picnic nearby. We love the herby, earthy Truffle Shuffle: an over-easy egg, black truffle pecorino, burrata, tomato conserva, basil gremolata, and pancetta, served on local focaccia from Iggy’s.

252 Commercial St., North End, Boston, 857-277-0356, sunnygirlboston.com. 

Brown butter and sage tortellacci at Table. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Table

Table feels like a dinner party: Diners gather at communal tables inside sports reporter-turned-chef Jen Royle’s single-room restaurant. While plates are passed family-style and serving utensils are shared among your own group, you’ll be sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with new friends. Royle’s loyal fans come for the Italian comfort-food classics (including some of the best meatballs in Boston) and gregarious personality. Her following is big enough to support two related projects, too: Table Mercato, a neighboring market for grab-and-go foods  (that’s expanding to New York City), Italian groceries, and popular focaccia sandwiches, as well as Table Caffé, focused on gelato and sweets.

445 Hanover St., North End, Boston, 857-250-4286, tableboston.com.

Tenoch Mexican

Who knew that the Boston neighborhood inextricably associated with Italian food would happen to be home to one of Boston’s best Mexican restaurants? Anyone who has been to Tenoch, that’s who. The Medford-born mini-chain of restaurants opened in the North End in 2014, and we’ve been fiending for the tortas ever since. When you’re not chomping on telera bread sandwiches stuffed with chorizo and gooey Oaxacan cheese, though, you’ll find equally tremendous tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and more.

3 Lewis St., North End, Boston, 617-248-9537, tenochmexican.com.

Theo’s Cozy Corner

This casual Salem Street nook is breakfast-and-lunch favorite of locals. A few Brazilian dishes—including the seafood stew moqueca, fried tilapia, açaí bowls, and, when available, picanha steak—round out the classic American and Italian options. Cash only (with prices that won’t break the bank!), no frills, all smiles.

162 Salem St., North End, Boston, 617-241-0202.

Tony & Elaine’s upgrades nostalgic Italian-American comfort-food joints. / Photos by Justin Power

Tony & Elaine’s

One of Little Italy’s newer red-sauce joints—well, “newer” relative to the decades-old institutions, anyway—opened on the edge of the neighborhood in 2019 and feels instantly familiar, but way better than you remember. Sink into a plush, red vinyl booth at a red-checkered table and dive into old-school Italian-American comfort foods like mozzarella sticks, spaghetti and meatballs, and crispy-juicy chicken parm, to the sound of Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” naturally.

111 N Washington St., North End, Boston, 617-580-0321, tonyandelaines.com.

With additional research by Siena Griffin.

The New England Travel Awards are back for the third year in a row. Boston magazine is thrilled to once again celebrate the absolute finest hotels, must-visit attractions, and unforgettable destinations across Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut. And this year, we’re showcasing even more of New England’s most extraordinary travel experiences. Voting closes Friday, June 5.

Look for the October 2026 issue of Boston magazine for the winners.

Also: revisit last year’s New England Travel Awards winners here.