fun hip restaurants in boston
 

dh and i going for parent's weekend to boston and would love some recommendations for fun hip restaurants to take our dd to.
we are from s.f. and love dining out.
dd has a pretty sophisticated palate as well and she is so sick of campus food.

the last time, elephant walk had been recommended for eclectic food and we were sadly disappointed.
we loved the red house at harvard square but have already been there on 2 visits. we also enjoyed the blue water grill at quincy but don't really want to go to such a touristy area

i have read good things about these restaurants and wondered if any one had personal experience.

dali
oleana
helmand
evoo
blue room
salts
rendezvous
bar lola (on sunday for flamenco)
avila

i'm hoping to make our 3 dinners fun and fabulous

thanks

HI abranz---I hope you have a wonderful parents' wknd!!

Re: the restaurant request, we have eaten at Dali and while it was very good, it seems to me to be just a standard, albeit, very good Indian restaurant. Not sure how wonderfully "fun and fabulous" it would be.....my son---who went to Tufts--liked it a lot but again, not sure about the fabulous part.

Helmand is quite interesting. Always busy and noisy, with good food, but b/c they are so busy, they rush you, IMO. (We have gone quite a few times and always the same rushing). Also, they take reservations that they cannot truly accommodate, and so there is usually standing around and waiting involved in a trip there, and since there is no bar or lounge area, it is no fun to have to do that.

Those are the only 2 that I can address directly. I have heard good things about some of the others on your list.

Oh, I feel like Emily Littella!!! Never mind. I meant *Diva* in my comment above. Not Dali!! Dali does not---or at least did not---accept reservations and the waits were outrageous.

Have been to all on your list except Bar Lola. Most are varying degrees of upscale in price (Dali is a tapas place and likely less expensive depending on how hungry you are). Hard to know what "hip" means in this context, though am thinking all but Salts might in some way be seen in this way (Salts is a little more staid than the rest in ambiance, though the food is top-notch). I'm a little less taken with the food at Avila than at the rest of your list, but all are indeed very good.

Looks like you have Cambridge pretty well covered.

I really like Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square, very lively, pretty space with great food and cocktails.

You might also enjoy Sonsie in the Back Bay, very scene-y but the food is good too.

Scampo on the Liberty Hotel could be a great option. Very good food and you may be able to spot a celebrity or two.

If you want the North End, I'd suggest Prezza, Lucca or Tresca. Sorrellina in the Back Bay might also work.

Lucca is definitely in the "hip" category, altho you did not ask about North End places. I think both you and DD would like the energy of the place.

oooh some great new ideas.
thanks a lot.
i will check into them.
i'm not very familiar with distances in boston.

bachslunch,
when i say hip, i am thinking along the lines of some of s.f and n.y. restaurants.
cool vibe, great food, 'in' crowd and generally hard on the ears for any one over 40.

socialworker, like your son, dd is at tufts. so the last time we were there, we stayed in cambridge and i focused on that area knowing it was not too far.

wyatttt,
scene-y is good. my teen is totally into it.

thanks sooo much. she is desperate for some action - food action that is.

Not necessarily "hip" but fun - my daughter and her friends like Fire and Ice (2 locations - Boston and Cambridge). They have a huge raw ingredient bar where you pick protein, veggies, carb, sauce and then stand in front of a gigantic flat grill where usually attractive young men cook it for you. Everyone gets to choose what they want to eat and go back for unlimited amount of food.

Do not know when Parent's Weekend is at Tufts, but city will be crowded in October - especially Columbus Day weekend and then, the following weekend, for Head of the Charles Regatta

Tufts parents wknd and the Regatta are the same wknd. Not *so* much of an issue unless driving in Cambridge, anywhere in the vicinity of the river during the day, ( i.e. don't!!) but a real concern re: restaurant reservations.

Just be sure to reserve ahead for dinners.

I hope that your daughter ends loving Tufts as much as my son did! It is a wonderful school. What an odd coincidence, your daughter in Boston when you live in CA and mine living in CA---(w/his parents here in Boston) ever since he graduated from Tufts. Mine is an "only" too.

I love the food at Oleana, but I'm not sure if it fits your description of "hip", it is not loud and its more romantic than trendy. But the food is interesting and unusual.

While I've never been to evoo, I know many who have, they love it.
Eastern Standard in Kenmore square is a great recommendation, I love the food there.
East Coast Grill in Cambridge is another one you might consider.

Something to consider....the more I think about it, the more it seems that--for one of your evenings-- Lucca in the North End fits the bill for what you want, and it also allows you all to stroll around the area if you have not yet gone to that part of Boston. Have espresso and cannolis at Mike's or Modern Pastry both on Hanover Street (the debate over the two of them continues!) after you have wandered the narrow streets of the neighborhood following your dinner.

EVOO struck me as more pretentious than hip.

having the regatta the same weekend as the parent's one at tufts made finding a hotel pretty difficult as well.
the prices had jumped 3 times what we paid during move in weekend.
so, i can imagine the crowds and the scramble for restaurant reservations.

dd's new bff is from brookline (dh's hometown) so one night we will all have dinner together.

i'll send this list off to dd for her approval.

thanks so much. sounds like this weekend is going to be quite gluttonous.

That is so great to be able to meet some of the "locals". When my son was at Tufts starting sophomore year parents' wknd, we had dinner out w/some of his friends' parents and *of course* the kids. For junior and senior year we hosted the out of town parents and the kids for Saturday night dinner at our home. It is one of our fond memories of his college years!

I hope you have a wonderful time!

socialworker,
dd has really lucked out with her new bff.
we met the parents on move in day and again last week.
they were visting s.f. and we took them out to dinner during which we were invited to stay with them anytime we came to visit dd.
the invitation has been re-issued twice since then.
how nice is that?
dh says, it is the typical new england hospitality.

How lovely for you to be able to forge a local connection so early in her college years! I hope that is helping in making you not feel the distance so acutely.

Another thought about restaurants, if not now for future reference, is a tapas place that is full of atmosphere altho not sure I would call it hip, exactly, but it is really evocative of being in a little hideaway in Spain. Tasca on Commonwealth Ave. in Brighton right on the Brookine line. I am sure that your Brookline friends will know it. The rstrnt does not typically take reservations, altho I believe that they will for a party of 6 or more. A big plus is that they do valet parking, kind of rare around here! (BTW Lucca does too!)

Just wanted to note that Donnie Wahlberg was just at Sonsie (Big Papi of the Red Sox goes there a lot too). And I believe Jon Hamm and Cameron Diaz are both staying at the Liberty Hotel while they film here, so they're both at the hotel bars and restaurants a lot.

wyatt,
thanks for the celebrity tips. we may just have to stake out tables at sonsie and scampo.

socialworker,
thanks for the tip on valet parking. it definitely makes a difference in choosing a restaurant.
the menu at tasca is righ up my alley.

http://www.eastcoastgrill.net/
East Coast Grill has always been our favorite....especially on "Hell Night".

abranz, thanks for clarifying. I'm actually hard pressed to think of anyplace that easily fits your "hip" restaurant description here in Boston. A few places might come close: Enormous Room (Cambridge), Pho Republique (South End), Sanctuary (near Faneuil Hall), and 28 Degrees (also South End). I've found them too painfully trendy for words, dishing up food that ranges from uninspired to utterly godawful, and can provide a dose of unpleasant service staff attitude with your eats and drinks. Don't say I didn't warn you. :-)

I'm also not a fan of Fire and Ice, though teens and college students seem not to mind eating there.

I also love East Coast Grill and could tell you many, many wonderful things that have happened to me and my family there, but I wouldn't hit it on Hell Night, and it isn't trendy in the sense of everyone looking like Kate Moss.

Mmm. I wish I were sitting down to a plate of the chipotle chicken livers right now.

what the hell is hell night?
could be fun??????

bachslunch,
i can handle the trendy and attitudy as long as the food is great.
if not, why even bother?
i never understand how such places stay in business.

Hell Night is a once-a-year special menu event (covering a three night period) at East Coast Grill. It's a hard core chili-head's dream, with a menu including what is billed as the hottest plate of pasta anywhere, liberally spiced with ghost chilies. Adam Richman visited there on his Boston episode of Man V. Food.

In general, I like East Coast Grill a lot -- very good BBQ for the area, and excellent seafood.

bachslunch,
thanks for that info.
yummy! sounds like my kind of food.

Hi abranz,

My friend and I just came back from Boston and we really enjoyed Figs, awesome "upscale" pizza in the Beacon Hill area, and The Beehive, very cool restaurant with live jazz/fusion music most nights and a great atmosphere. We had fantastic food at both. Have fun!!

omg! so many choices!!

reilly,
thanks for the tip on figs.
do they serve a neapolitan pizza?
i'll look it up.

figs looks amazing.

we loved todd english's blue water grill so i can imagine how good this will be too.
thank you!

Figs on Charles Street, the Beacon Hill location is great--we just stopped there for a late lunch when DS and fiancee were out visiting--but it is tiny. I mean like 8 or 10 tables and while I would put it in the trendy category, it is not a "destination" place for a dinner out, IMO. Not for an out of town special occasion like you are looking for, just my 2 cents.....

Hell Night description from the East Coast Grill web site:

<i>To the Chile-Heads and Their Loved Ones,

On the eve of this unprecedented 3-night over-the-top fiery food challenge between the East Coast Grill and our heat seeking public, I think it's important to remember the exact nature of our original dispute.

...I've always liked spicy food and, in the early days of the East Coast Grill (circa 1986), we had gained a little reputation for serving some spicy dishes, which was a little unusual outside a Thai or Mexican restaurant. Unsuspectingly, I was baited into a culinary dare by a small, sick sect of the dining public whose taunts of "that really wasn't that hot" finally got the better of me and my formal training. I could not control the burning desire to silence at least a few. The resulting creation was the now infamous Pasta From Hell, fueled primarily by the original Inner Beauty Hot Sauce.

Customers dropped like sweaty, panting, weak little flies. The kitchen howled at their tormentor's agony. But when the smoke cleared there were a few left standing, a crazed, goofy, half smile on their faces and a faraway look in their eyes, and, as I looked out from behind the grill, I would get an almost imperceptable, knowing nod. Their fix had been had and, lost in that chile stupor, they acknowledged the contest was a draw. But, like a gunfighter in the Old West, I knew this was only the beginning. They would return, they would bring their friends to face the true test.

Word spread until there was an actual demand for a night when only wicked hot food was served. The brave and the super freaks came in droves to feed their strange and weird addiction. The first Hell Night was born. More came and we created the Hell Doubleheader and today, for the only time in world history, you are participating in not 1, not 2, but 3 straight nights of pure atomic cuisine -- the only Hell Tripleheader known to humankind. Chefs Pat and Drew and Jason do battle today with recipes handed down by chefs before them. The legends of past fire eaters are whispered to new staff. So here we are in continuation of the eternal struggle. New dishes are designed, new chile mixes created, gas masks distributed. The kitchen is ready..are you?

We won't stop until you do.

Good luck,

Chris</i>

abranz - two things - did you see this on the NY Times college blog site "The Choice" today?
http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2.../29/tufts-sex/

and last spring when we were visiting Cambridge w/ our teenager, we ate at:
http://www.bandgoysters.com/

in the South End.Really good food, upscale, hip crowd, but not youngsters. Reminded us of Mary's Fish Camp in NYC

tc,
thanks for that piece on hells kitchen. it sounds magnificent. i hope to experience it one day and hope i will be one of the few left standing with eyes glazed over.

mp,
b & g oysters sounds great especially as we love seafood.

i posted in the lounge about the new tufts sex in dorm policy

http://www.fodors.com/community/fodo...dorm-rooms.cfm

there is quite a discussion going on there if you care to check it out.

You might want to check out BOND, SPLASH or DISTRICT.

These venues are currently all local favorites. They are fun, cool places to go.. visited by many celebrities when they are in town, as well.
Just make sure you pay attention to which days you go, special events etc... i included the website links for you.


*Bond is located downtown, in the Langham Hotel, on Franklin Street. Its very sophisticated & trendy. Currently the new hot spot.
http://www.bondboston.com/

*Splash just opened up on 150 Kneeland Street. A water themed venue, Vegas style atmosphere on the roof deck w/ a fountain & private cabanas. Ultra lounge dining after-hours until 2am.
http://www.splash150kneeland.com/

*District, right around the corner from Splash, at 180 Lincoln Street. Voted Boston's trendiest bar last year, and this year awarded as Boston's Best Wednesday Night.
http://www.districtboston.com

this is exactly what i was looking for!

love all 3 especially bond.
thanks so much

Bond is really a cougar hangout, wouldn't think college aged girls would really be impressed, and the food has gotten really lukewarm reviews. Not sure about Splash, but District is nighclubby, not a dinner place.

They look like more like "clubs" to me, as well. There may be a 21 y.o minimum to enter some of them, but they are definitely not restaurants in the traditional meaning of the word. There is a big difference, in Boston anyway, between a hip restaurant and a club.

There are places in Davis Square--Tufts "campus town"--- that are restaurants at dinner time and clubs later in the evening that would be more appropriate venues than these appear, but that is just my 2 cents and not a penny more!

I realize that I am *so* not the target market of those places, but I find it odd that I have never heard of any of them.

wyatt and socialworker,

thanks for the 1st hand info.
i thought district did look very loungey and the menu did not have too many options.
but the atmosphere and music looked great on the websites for bond and splash.
also, menus for both looked like they start the evening with dinner and late night turns into a club.
but definitely no cougar hangouts. yuck!

i will send out all these choices and will defer to the wishes of the teen and the other parents we are dining with.
thanks again

a big thanks and an update to everyone who gave us such great restaurant ideas.

we ended up having 2 dinners, 2 lunches and one brunch.
with such limited time we did not want to go to a place without reservations.

our first lunch which was originally supposed to be sampling cafeteria food had to be quickly re-thought as there was a complete power outtage on the campus because of a manhole fire in medford.
we ended up at devi as dd had missed indian food
as socialworker had mentioned, it was not fabulous but for a typical indian buffet it was o.k.

that night, friday, we had dinner at sonsie which was excellent. it was definitely a hot spot especially for parents and teens.
i was in love with their chandeliers.
dh had the canneloni which was much heavier than he expected. dd and i shared
pan roasted scallops with pumpkin gallette, steamed mussels, mushroom tart on a bed of frisee and endive with walnuts.
the appetizer portions were huge and we were so full, we could not even contemplate dessert.

saturday lunch was at tried and true legal seafood. i am amazed at how consistently good they are. this was our 3rd time, each at a different location.
their oyster bar as well as the tuna shashimi were excellent.

dinner that night was at al dente chosen by dd's bff's parents - a typical italian place with huge pasta portions. it was perfect for the 9 of us - loud and crowded and a lot of fun.
dd and i satisfied ourselves with salads. dh was in pasta heaven.
after dinner, we took a stroll and ended up at a small restaurant/bakery and indulged in canolis and tiramisu

our last meal was a dim sum brunch in chinatown at china pearl. although the dim sum was not the best i've had, the price was a third of what we would pay in s.f.
most importantly, dd was able to satisfy her craving for har gow and sesame balls.

so thanks again for all the recommendations. i will definitely be using them during the next several visits.

I was just thinking about you yesterday. We had the most beautiful kind of perfect NE autumn day and I was so wishing that you also would have had that kind of weather!!

In spite of the weather, it sounds like you had a really nice week-end. So glad that you had good restaurant experiences and I also hope that your daughter is happy--so far-- with Tufts.

bookmarking!