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Boston Globe
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
From roast lamb to sweet endings, here are 13 Easter brunches in Greater Boston
There's nothing quite like a grand holiday buffet with an elaborate spread of just about anything you'd like to eat, with waterfront views to boot. It's a splurge: For $225 per person, and $85 for children under 12, you can dine on a luxurious starters like Island Creek oysters, crab claws, lobster, smoked fish, omelets to order, and more. Also on the menu is roast New Zealand rack of lamb, lobster risotto, smoked Virginia ham, chicken and waffles, handmade sushi, lobster bolognese and much, much more. Seatings are available from 11 a.m. through 3 p.m., and reservations are strongly recommended. 70 Rowes Wharf, Boston, 617-848-5102, Advertisement Scobie's Café & Bar Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up Newly opened in Adam's Village, this homey Irish cafe is hosting Easter brunch for $40 per person, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. You'll get a bread basket, your choice of deviled eggs or lamb bites, and for mains, honey glazed Irish ham and slow roasted leg of lamb. Dessert features a sundae with cookies from Dorchester's own Puritan & Company The Inman Square favorite will be hosting a family-friendly prix-fixe brunch with starters like pastrami smoked salmon toast and Greek yogurt parfait, followed by braised lamb and rosemary hash, pan-roasted cod, and shakshuka for the main event, and sweet endings like chocolate mousse and citrus cheesecake. Easter brunch will be 10:30 a.m. through 2:30 p.m., and it is $65 per person, with a kid-friendly $25 option for children under 12. 1166 Cambridge St, Cambridge, 617-615-6195, Advertisement Prima Charlestown's Italian chophouse, Prima, is offering a $65 per person prix fixe on Easter Sunday, starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m. Starters include mushroom toast and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, and mains include rich dishes like steak and eggs, polenta with lamb ragu, and carbonara with farm yolk. Prima also has a kid-friendly menu for $25 per child, with easy-to-love dishes like chicken parm and spaghetti and meatballs. 10 City Square, Charlestown, 617-804-7400, Source This Harvard Square spot is offering a laid back prix-fixe Easter brunch, for just $32, that includes a glass of prosecco or mocktail. To start, try a goat cheese salad, vegetable arancini, or a smoked salmon plate, then move on to mains like leg of lamb with home fries and eggs, cinnamon hazelnut carrot pancakes, and even a Rascally Rabbit Pizza with mozzarella, fried rabbit, and hot chicken. 27 Church St, Cambridge, 857-856-6800, The eggs Benedict at La Padrona. HANDOUT La Padrona La Padrona is offering brunch from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., for $95 per person. Start with bright spring dishes like seared scallops and grilled asparagus, then move onto a pasta course of bucatini, or lobster and uni risotto, then onto main courses including carbonara eggs benedict with pancetta, swordfish fra diavolo or chicken saltimbocca. 38 Trinity Place, Boston, 617-898-0010, The Lexington Skip over to the second floor of Cambridge Crossing's to The Lexington, and enjoy beautiful views and a special Easter brunch. The three-course brunch menu is priced at $50 per person, with an à la carte menu available for children under 12. Starters include spring favorites like lamb meatballs, smoked salmon, and asparagus soup, and mains feature grilled salmon, sirloin steak and eggs, and French toast. 100 North First Street, Cambridge, 617-945-1349, Advertisement á la carte Easter brunches OAK Long Bar + Kitchen The historic restaurant in the Fairmont Copley Plaza will be serving Easter brunch from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m, with menu additions like carrot cake pancakes with pecan praline and a Bunny Sparkler for sipping, made with vodka, prosecco, and peach syrup. And, with Easter Sunday falling over Marathon weekend, diners might just spot a pro athlete or two carb-loading before the race on Monday, as the hotel is hosting Boston Athletic Association's operations for the race. 138 St James Ave, Boston, 617-267-5300, il Casale Both of this rustic Italian restaurant's locations, in Lexington and Belmont, will be hosting Easter brunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. until 8 p.m., with traditional 'Nonna-inspired' dishes. In addition to the regular menu, the restaurant will serve Pizza Chiena, an Italian-style quiche with ricotta, basket cheese, prosciutto, and sopressata, all baked in a pizza crust. Also on the menu is grilled lamb chops with rigatoni and a spring lamb ragu, and a sweet ricotta pie. 1727 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, 781-538-5846 and 50 Leonard St, Belmont, 617-209-4942, Abe & Louie's Back Bay chophouse Abe & Louie's is serving a bevy of spring specials on Easter Sunday. Start with deviled eggs with caviar and smoked salmon, as well as a chilled asparagus soup with crème fraîche and crispy leeks. Entree specials included porchetta with mascarpone polenta, lemon sole almondine, and an eight-ounce ribeye cap steak. Advertisement 793 Boylston Street, Boston, 617-536-6300, The Hourly Oyster House The Hourly in Cambridge is offering their regular menu from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., along with specials like an everything bagel with house-cured salmon and herb cream cheese, sweet strawberry and rhubarb French toast. And if you really want to get things hopping, try the Easter Basket Milkshake with malted vanilla ice cream and Robin Egg and Peeps candy. 15 Dunster St, Cambridge, 617-765-2342, The brunch flatbread at Tonno. HANDOUT Tonno Gloucester This coastal Italian restaurant is offering brunch on Easter Sunday starting at 10 a.m. and running until 1 p.m. The menu is seafood heavy, with rich dishes like a lobster benedict, cured salmon, brunch flatbreads, and a Belgian waffle with Nutella. 2 Main St, Gloucester, 978-879-4795, Puttshack For something a little different, and a great way to keep the whole family busy post-egg hunt, head to Puttshack in the Seaport and Natick on Easter Sunday for a festive twist on a holiday favorite — Mediterranean Lamb Skewers. Puttshack will also be serving its normal menu of shareable plates, including chicken skewers, lettuce wraps, and flatbreads. Tee up all day on Easter Sunday from 11 a.m. through 10 p.m. 58 Pier 4 Blvd., Boston, 617-295-7888, and 1245 Worcester St, Natick, 508- 545-7888, Tanya Edwards can be reached at
Boston Globe
04-03-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Legendary New York restaurateur Danny Meyer announces plans to open Ci Siamo in the Seaport
Advertisement He plans to set the same tone here and will hire locally. Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up 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: Advertisement 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. Advertisement '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. Advertisement Kara Baskin can be reached at
Boston Globe
29-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Luxury, hospitality, pasta: La Padrona is the restaurant Boston needed
The swank dining room is decorated in rich hues and materials, with a grand bar shaped like a racetrack at the center. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff The restaurant marks a return to Italy for chef Jody Adams, long of Rialto in Cambridge. Its menu takes inspiration from her years of travel throughout its regions. If you could not stop watching Stanley Tucci's 'Searching for Italy,' this place is for you. Adams and executive chef Amarilys Colon draw from Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Campania, passing dishes through a translation engine of New England produce, seafood, and meat. Get Winter Soup Club [Coming Soon] A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up Bread has its own section on the menu, which says something about the general aims and viewpoint of La Padrona. Nothing will be a throwaway, and programs like pastry and beverages that sometimes seem a side thought here are top of mind. Not every restaurant can afford decor of walnut, brass, and viola marble, but this mind-set is free. The ordering of cacio e pepe focaccia is contagious: To see the golden slices with their airy crowns of pecorino is to want them, and suddenly they're on every table. But do consider a skillet of chickpea spoon bread, a custardy, fluffy, soul-warming take on Italian farinata, crisp on the bottom and topped with charred leeks, celery leaves, and thin-sliced lemon for brightness and complexity. Vegetable dishes like charred arrowhead cabbage get their due. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Among the antipasti, burrata cheese bread eats like a white pizza, pretty with its crimped edges and topping of frilly frisee and thin-sliced purple radishes. But vegetable dishes steal the show in this category. A fritto misto of delicata squash, mushrooms, and fennel with Calabrian chile aioli and lobster bottarga offers some of the seasonal pleasures of tempura, with a crisp coating more reminiscent of fried clams. It overwhelms some of the delicate flavor of the vegetables, but no one minds much. Charred arrowhead cabbage is complemented by anchovy butter, orange, and sage. I was sorry to see sweet peppers tonnato, served over creamy tuna sauce with celery, currants, and smoked almonds, disappear from the menu. It was absolutely delicious, a sleeper dish among more obvious crowd-pleasers. Advertisement For instance: tender, sweet Nantucket bay scallops in saffron butter with pancetta, dill, and orange. The golden sauce is poured around the scallops tableside. There is more tableside action at La Padrona than I've seen in eons. It adds to the sense of theater, and the audience literally eats it up. Tender, sweet Nantucket bay scallops in saffron butter poured tableside. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff Tagliatelle Emilia-Romagna shines in its simplicity: ethereal pasta, a bath of luscious cream, gratings of Parmigiano and black pepper. Then — tableside — a stripe of aged balsamic is applied down the center. With its pure flavors, high-quality ingredients, focused execution, and fillip of showmanship, it feels like a defining dish. I salute the inventiveness of burnt wheat rigatoni, black like squid ink pasta but smoky like ash, with Barnstable clams, braised tomatoes, seaweed, and crispy little peppers. It's like a clambake in Basilicata. I'm glad I ordered it. But next time I'm here, it's the tagliatelle I'll return to. Also, to my surprise, the risotto. I'm agnostic about this as a restaurant dish, because 8 times out of 10 the grains are either undercooked or mush. La Padrona's version is not only perfect in this regard, it is gorgeous from first taste to last, rich with bites of lobster and uni, caramelized fennel and tomato. Advertisement Secondi like osso buco are solid, but the rest of the menu eclipses the meat. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff I'm a little less excited by La Padrona's secondi, which comes down in part to personal preference and in part bang for buck: I'd rather splurge on that risotto (a rich $48). But execution is a factor too. I enjoy veal osso buco braised in red wine with polenta and carrots, but it needs salt and the meat is a bit dry. Beef tenderloin is exceedingly tender, but the mushrooms it's served with taste burnt. There are a few large-format meat dishes — rack of lamb, a 40-ounce bistecca alla fiorentina — for a large party or a special occasion. I appreciate that these dishes are here, and also that they're eclipsed by things like dessert and topnotch cocktails. This administration understands my priorities. The Italian margarita contains pear and lavender, two ingredients I'll always avoid in a cocktail. But a server recommends it with such certainty, I order one, and she is right. It's a sophisticated, nuanced, balanced drink. There's a section of the drinks menu devoted to the Negroni, but I don't make it past the martini list. The Birth of Venus, made with oyster vodka, sherry, and mignonette, served with a crystal dish of pickles, is one of the best cocktails I've ever had; if you love oysters, you may feel the same. The wine list is deep, focused on Italy but not exclusively so, with prestige selections available by the glass. The Birth of Venus martini: like eating oysters, but make it an excellent cocktail. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff When are cannoli not cannoli? When they're actually Florentine cookies, lacy and crisp, rolled around citrus-scented ricotta. They are served in a cigar box: a whimsical delight to unbox and to eat. Tiramisu arrives in its mold and is freed tableside, jiggly and boozy as heck. It's great. Skip the stiff, grainy Earl Grey panna cotta. Advertisement Tiramisu arrives in its mold, jiggly and boozy as heck. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff There are imperfect moments on the menu, and it's a mystery why — amid the beautiful plates and glassware, the arresting presentations, the luxurious design — there isn't really anywhere to put bags. They sometimes wind up lumped on the floor with people's coats, like we're at an after-work happy hour at a bar. Also, the place is noisy. Take it or leave it. But Boston was thirsty: for luxury, for hospitality, for Italian food that hits a sweet spot between familiarity and invention. La Padrona is the restaurant we needed. There are several ways to translate its name — the restaurant seems to go with 'the matriarch.' That could refer to Adams, who has earned the title (whether she wants it or not) over many years of feeding this town. But it applies as well to the restaurant itself, a grande dame already the day it opened. LA PADRONA ★★★★ 38 Trinity Place, Back Bay, Boston. 617-898-0010, Wheelchair accessible via elevator (dining room is upstairs) Prices Appetizers $12-$28, primi $30-$48, secondi $40-$62 (large-format dishes $126-$216), desserts $14-$18, cocktails $18-$24. Hours Sun-Wed 5-10 p.m. (lounge until 11), Thu-Sat 5-11 p.m. (lounge until midnight). Noise level Loud music, loud room. If you require a quieter experience, try booking the club room. ★★★★★ Extraordinary | ★★★★ Excellent | ★★★ Very good | ★★ Good | ★ Fair | (No stars) Poor Devra First can be reached at
