Legendary New York restaurateur Danny Meyer announces plans to open Ci Siamo in the Seaport

Boston Globe

04-03-2025

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He plans to set the same tone here and will hire locally.
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A rendering of the future Commonwealth Pier development at 200 Seaport Boulevard.
Courtesy of Pembroke
'Sometimes, I'd rather show what we can do than talk about what we can do. But I hope that, when people come to any of our restaurants, they're a little bit confused as to whether they went out or came home. We want to give people a transporting experience away from home but treat them as if they are at home, with really good food and really warm hospitality. Anything I say is going to sound so cliche, but that's why I'd rather do it than talk about it,' he says affably.
Meyer developed an affinity for Boston dining in the 1980s, visiting his sister in college. He name-checks the cutting-edge chefs who were part of what he calls the 'American culinary revolution' at the time: Jody Adams, Gordon Hamersley, Lydia Shire, Jasper White. He has plans to visit Adams's La Padrona next time he's in town, and he's a big fan of her Greek fast-casual spot, Saloniki. He also hopes to visit Neptune Oyster and Faccia a Faccia. (Servers, be prepared.)
This isn't the first time a New York City company has expanded to Boston:
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Meyer feels confident about the Seaport plans: His 100th Shake Shack opened in the Seaport several years ago. At the time, he says the semi-developed neighborhood reminded him of Tribeca in its early days: 'near the water, lots of warehouses, really cool architecture,' he recalls.
Now it's a different beast. Commonwealth Pier will be a mixed-use development, home to Fidelity office space, retail, restaurants, and a 25,000-square-foot waterfront plaza and revitalized Harborwalk, with public art and programming.
Ci Siamo will focus on homey Italian food from Sterling, who has also spent plenty of time in Boston visiting family (and eating at Coppa). Her pre-Meyer resume includes well-known Manhattan institutions A Voce, Lupa, and Mesa Grill. In 2022, the Manhattan Ci Siamo won a glowing review from the New York Times, calling it 'the best and most confident restaurant we've gotten from Mr. Meyer's company in years.'
Sterling is taken with the seafaring Seaport location. 'I'm so inspired by the neighborhood. I get to look at the fishing pier and boats right next door. One of my favorite things when I was up there recently was the tackle-and-bait vending machine. It blew my mind,' she says.
She plans to work with local vendors for her Boston menu and will travel between both cities to launch the restaurant. The original Ci Siamo launched in Manhattan West, which was then a burgeoning area; she considers the Seaport's evolving Commonwealth Pier a similar story.
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'It's kind of like: 'Here we are.' Which is what 'Ci Siamo' means. We have arrived,' she says.
At Ci Siamo, Sterling will serve warm, approachable food: pizza bianca with anchovies and salsa verde (her favorite); rabbit in white wine; and a signature stuffed whole trout with pine nuts and raisins.
Neighboring café Daily Provisions will be open all day. They're particularly known for crullers, says executive culinary director Claudia Fleming: light, airy, crispy, crunchy (imagine the antithesis of a Dunkin' Donut).
A spread from Daily Provisions, opening in late 2025 at Commonwealth Pier.
Peter Garritano
Fleming played a large part in the success of Meyer's landmark restaurant, Gramercy Tavern: As pastry chef, she won a 2000 James Beard Award, as well as other honors. She was particularly admired for a caramel chocolate torte.
Here, she'll stick to what she knows: satisfying food.
'We're coming in as the new kid on the block, and I think that just doing what we do best, and not trying to sort of guess what people want, is probably a good play for us, because it's worked [in New York]. When does great food and great hospitality not work?' she says.
She hopes people pop in for a morning coffee and cruller; grab a Mediterrannean tuna sandwich with tapenade at lunch; and a roast chicken and a veggie side for dinner with beer or wine.
'We're there all day, for whatever you want,' she says.
Rather than remake the neighborhood, Meyer hopes to blend into it when Daily Provisions opens in the fall and Ci Siamo follows in the winter.
'I think that an important part of what we want to do is to enter a community with a lot of respect and humility on our part. The last thing we want to be is the New York restaurateurs that just landed on someone else's great city,' Meyer says.
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Kara Baskin can be reached at