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Boston Globe
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Which Boston restaurants will get Michelin stars?
Advertisement Regardless, our time is now, and there are plenty of exciting restaurants to consider. Which ones will Michelin include in its 2025 Boston guide? 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 The cheese cart at the defunct L'Espalier deserved a Michelin star of its own. Gretchen Ertl for The Boston Globe/Globe Freelance 3 stars It is unlikely that any restaurants will receive the top 3-star distinction. Michelin sees these as superlative establishments that raise cooking to an art form — the kind creating dishes that are known by name to restaurant groupies. There are about 150 in the world; in the United States, the dozen-plus include places such as Alinea in Chicago, Eleven Madison Park in New York, and the French Laundry in California. 2 stars Two stars are awarded when Michelin finds exceptional food that reflects the vision, personality, and talent of the chef. Although there are arguments to be made here (particularly regarding personality), I don't realistically think we will see a 2-star award. There are about three dozen of these restaurants in the US, including Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York, minibar in D.C., and Saison in San Francisco. In 2023, debut guides for Atlanta and Colorado named five 1-star restaurants in each location, and went no higher. Michelin doesn't grade on a curve. Advertisement At Ostra, sweet Maine lobster is served in split shells, lazy man's luxury. Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe 1 star This is the category where I'd expect to see some traction, else why enter the market at all? For this recognition, Michelin looks for restaurants that serve expertly prepared, distinctive food made with the highest-quality ingredients. The top contenders could be At O Ya, by South Station, owners Tim and Nancy Cushman offer 20-course omakase menus of inspired sushi, sashimi, and more. This isn't a hushed, reverential, traditional experience; it's a little (but just a little) more rock 'n' roll. It is distinctive, strong of voice, and a showcase for fine ingredients, and when it's at its best, it's sublime. Advertisement "Variations on Chocolate and Strawberry," a dessert once served at Deuxave, where plating is always striking. Barry Chin After that, the 1-star picture gets fuzzier. Chef-owner Rachel Miller in front of Nightshade Noodle Bar in Lynn. Alyssa Blumstein At Wa Shin, chef Sky Zheng was previously head chef at the Michelin-starred Sushi Nakazawa in New York; it feels like the likeliest contender among a newer crop of The 2025 guide will keep to the Interstate 95/Route 128 corridor. If it should expand in future editions — to the Cape and Islands, for instance — that could open things up in interesting ways. (Although a New England guide would be of great use, it's hard to imagine Massachusetts would want to share its shine.) Advertisement Wa Shin chef Sky Zheng was previously head chef at the Michelin-starred Sushi Nakazawa in New York. Bib Gourmand Boston's culinary gems might show best in another Michelin category: the Bib Gourmand, awarded for great cooking and good value. The guide also has a 'recommended' designation, for restaurants with food that is above average, as well as a green star for those that model sustainability. For context, in the first year of their guides, Atlanta had 10 Bib Gourmands, two green stars, and 29 recommended restaurants, and Colorado had nine Bib Gourmands, four green stars, and 30 recommended restaurants. These could merit the distinction: Fried chicken with maple umeboshi at Brassica in Jamaica Plain. Barry Chin/Globe Staff Advertisement Crudo with squid ink chicharron at Moëca. Carlin Stiehl for The Boston Globe Island Creek, Aunt Dotty, and Tumblecan oysters at the Winsor House in Duxbury. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff Sarma's tuna malawach. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff Niku udon at Yume Ga Arukara in Cambridge. Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe Recommended The line between this category and Bib Gourmand isn't always clear. Here is a short list of places that might be considered: Advertisement Amar, Bar Mezzana, Bar Vlaha, Bar Volpe, Bistro du Midi, Chickadee, Comfort Kitchen, Field & Vine, Grill 23, Gustazo, La Padrona, Mistral, Mooo…., Pammy's, Saltie Girl, Select Oyster Bar, Short & Main, Somaek, Sorellina, Spoke Wine Bar, Sushi Sang Lee, Talulla, Three 1 One, Toro, Uni, Washoku Renaissance, Woods Hill Pier 4 (also a possible green star). Devra First can be reached at
Boston Globe
07-05-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
A love of cooking, passed from mother to daughter
Advertisement It makes sense, too. None of us would be in this kitchen today without Rivera. 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 Motherhood is what brought her, husband Miguel, and their three small children to the United States in 1992 from Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. Pregnant with their fourth, Rivera developed placenta previa, requiring medical care she couldn't get at home. 'I came here and went straight from the airplane to the hospital,' she says. Six months later, a healthy boy named Eliezer was born. Amarilys, the third child after siblings Miguel and Brenda, was in first grade at the time. She spoke no English when she arrived. No one in the family did. They eventually settled in Belmont. 'When Amarylis was not in school, she was going into the kitchen with me, watching me cook,' Rivera remembers. 'When we were together, all the family, with the uncles, aunts, and everyone coming, I had the big pot and we would cook a lot every time.' No matter what else was on the menu, there was a constant: arroz con habichuelas, or rice and beans. 'Every time, it was rice or rice and beans with something else.' Advertisement Gladys Rivera's rice and beans, prepared at La Padrona. When executive chef Amarilys Colón was growing up, the dish was always on the table. Lane Turner/Globe Staff For Colón, the dish is a tie to both childhood and her Puerto Rican heritage. 'Everybody always wanted to be in the kitchen, and I'll always remember the loud, fun chaos. We have a big family in Puerto Rico, and we'd have big get-togethers at my grandmother's house,' she says. 'When I was little, I wanted to be next to my mom all the time, so I got the first smells all the time, the first tastes of everything. It was always centered around rice, pork — we call it pernil — and a lot of root veggies.' When Colón was growing up, rice and beans were on the table so often she can remember asking her mother to please make something else for a change. Now it's just the opposite: ' Can you make the rice and beans? For me, it's 100 percent about staying connected to my roots. If we make a batch of beans, the aromas remind me of my grandmother, my aunts and uncles, certain experiences,' she says. 'I come from something pretty cool.' Food was always important to the chef, and central to family life, but it wasn't until she was in her mid-20s that she decided she wanted to make it her career. 'Something in me clicked and I wanted to get closer to food, whatever that meant. I didn't know what that meant at that point,' she says. Advertisement She was working as a manager at Starbucks, making good money. 'I remember having a conversation with my mom, like, 'Mom, I'm going to take a huge pay cut and I'm going to be a line cook.'' Colón laughs. 'She thought I was crazy.' But Rivera adds, 'I said, whatever she wanted, because she is like that.' Determined. 'She worked so hard — hard . She did everything by herself. If she likes something, she goes through it: I want that, I'm going to do that.' La Padrona executive chef Amarilys Colón tastes beans made by her mother, Gladys Rivera. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Colón began working at Vicki Lee's in Belmont, a front of the house management job, with the condition that she would get into the kitchen any chance she got. She cooked for catering events and eventually got prep time in the kitchen; if she came in early enough, chef Jason Reed would call her into the back to fillet fish with him. She sought out stages, or kitchen internships, wherever she could. She had started working part-time at Figs in Beacon Hill when one of the regulars at Vicki Lee's offered to connect her with a high-profile local chef she knew. Colón said yes. That chef was Jody Adams, of restaurants including Trade, Porto, and, as of last May, She needed some help at Porto, so Colón started there. 'It was my first official, guns-blazing kitchen experience, in 2017 or 2018,' Colón says. 'I started as a line cook. They put me on the hardest station. It was pasta. That's where I got all my burns, all my cuts, all my beautiful scars. I took the T in and I'd listen to music to hype me up. I'd think: I'm going to nail tonight's service. I have to do it.' Advertisement She did it, working her way up to sous chef, then executive sous chef. And then came La Padrona. 'She came, and she was so green, but clearly there is a fire in her and a determination. She went through a really rough up and down at Porto and just kept working,' Adams says of Colón. 'My job now in all of the restaurants is to meet, eat, and mentor. And to really push our chefs to be the best they can be in paying attention to the details of what they do — what's really successful, but also where their challenges are.' Back in the kitchen at La Padrona, Rivera stirs the pot of beans, rice ready and waiting. Each turn of the spoon brings with it a waft of aromas: the smoky browned ham; the spice blend sazón, bright orange with annatto; sofrito, the mixture of peppers, herbs, and garlic that is a backbone of Puerto Rican cuisine. Whatever else goes into the dish, its flavor is always there, underlying and propping up the other ingredients. 'She is my biggest supporter, my rock, and while she knows what I do, she rarely gets to see it up close,' Colón says of her mother. Having her here in the kitchen is special. 'It was a moment of pride, love, and gratitude, showing her where I am now, and how far her unwavering support and love have carried me.' Advertisement Then we sit down to eat. Devra First can be reached at
Boston Globe
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Snappy Dogs hot dog stand opens for the season in Hopkinton
For many, Snappy Dog is more than just a place to grab a hot dog — it's a gathering spot. Customers greeted each other with hugs and warm hellos. 'The whole week has been like a class reunion,' says Volpe Hachey, who trained at Le Cordon Bleu in London and has plenty of restaurant chops. She brings a culinary edge to the menu, conjuring up seasonal toppings and condiments from scratch, which is also the draw — spicy slaw, pickled carrots and jalapeños, Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce, watermelon rind chutney, wasabi and basil mayonnaise, zucchini relish, grainy mustard, and more. A special was once the French Dog — a Pearl adorned with candied bacon, candied violets, and maple syrup. 'I got a marriage proposal out of it,' she jokes. 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 Snappy Dog stays open until the weekend after Thanksgiving, wrapping up the season with something festive, like the Pearl dressed with cranberry sauce and turkey gravy. It's a lot of work and hours of prep on days off, says Volpe Hachey, 'But it's also a labor of love.' 61 Main St., Hopkinton. Open Thursday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Advertisement Snappy Dogs hot dog trailer co-owners Teresa Boyce (left) and Lisa Volpe Hachey stand for a photo on Route 85 in Hopkinton. Evangeline Hachey Ann Trieger Kurland can be reached at
Boston Globe
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Marky's Caviar comes to Brookline; Gary's Pizza opens in the South End
Here, you'll find Roman-style pizzas: crunchy, rectangular slices piled with spring asparagus and truffled pecorino, spicy soppressata, and prosciutto and fig, to name a few, sold by the slice, half, or whole pie. Also on the menu: a wagyu meatball sub, focaccia with chickpea mash, gelato, and panna cotta. Order takeout or delivery (no seating inside) Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. 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 Just Salad has arrived at Cambridge Crossing (218 Jacobs St.); it's the first Cambridge location for the chain, which serves wraps, bowls, soups, smoothies, and of course, salads. Advertisement Coming soon : In more healthy news, Life Alive will open in Burlington this summer (91 Middlesex Turnpike). It's one of the brand's larger locales, with 90-plus seats: all the more space to nibble a falafel grain bowl or roasted corn fritters. Plus, this will also be one of their few locations with an espresso bar. And, in the Seaport, Island Creek Oysters opens a seasonal restaurant, Island Creek Raw Bar (99 Autumn Lane), early this summer, shucking the bivalves you know and love. Advertisement Sausages : Visit Cambridge's First Street Market (57 First St.) on Sunday, April 27, for a Best of the Wurst Fest: Wield a sausage passport for access to a luscious link lineup from State Park , Gufo , Formaggio Kitchen , Puritan Oyster Bar , and more, with an array of mustards and beer. The festivities begin at noon; adult tickets are $25, and $10 for kids under 12. Kara Baskin can be reached at
Boston Globe
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
East Village restaurateur Jae Lee brings Korean gastropub Nowon to the Seaport, with juicy burgers and 1990s hip-hop
Tell me a little bit about Nowon. Nowon is a Korean American gastropub, or pocha. I hate to use the word 'fusion' because my old boss used to say, 'fusion is confusion.' But you're going to find American dishes like burgers and fried chicken, done so with Korean flavors. 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 Why open in Boston? I opened the first location in Lower Manhattan, or specifically the East Village of New York City, in 2019. Then, I opened up in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in 2023. This opportunity in Boston came about with a restaurant group here who wanted to add a Korean restaurant to their portfolio [Flying Lion Hospitality]. They operate restaurants in Boston, such as Madras Dosa in the Seaport. They had an Indian American restaurant in the East Village, in the same neighborhood as my restaurant. We became good friends. I lived on the same block, so I would go to their restaurant, and they would come to my restaurant. When they were looking at new opportunities in Seaport, they realized that there were no Korean restaurants here, and they were very interested in [opening] a Korean concept, so we started to make something happen. Advertisement I came to check out [the Seaport], and I fell in love. I'd been here two years ago, and couldn't believe it — it had been so developed. There was a lot of energy. I could just tell: In places like the Seaport, you need good food, and you need places where people can go after work. I'm living in New York, but I'm going to be coming here frequently to help develop the menu, to check on the staff, to say hello to our guests, to make sure that we're blending in and that we're becoming what Seaport needs us to be. Did you love to cook growing up? I was born in South Korea. I moved here when I was 8 years old and lived in Queens and on Long Island, and what's really interesting is that I didn't like cooking at all when I was growing up. My mom is an incredible chef. My grandma on my mom's side owned a very famous local restaurant in Korea. My mom grew up cooking in restaurants since she was a little girl. She had a love of cooking, and I think eventually I realized that I had a knack for it as well. Sometimes, you don't know you have a gift for something, you don't know if you're passionate about something, until you try it. Advertisement I started cooking right when I got into college, because I wanted to move out of my parents' house in the suburbs. I got accepted to Hunter College in Manhattan, on the Upper East Side. I told my dad I wanted to move out and be closer to college. I'm the oldest son. My dad said, 'If you want to move out, you can do that, but you have to get a job, pay your own rent, and we'll take care of your college tuition.' I told him I didn't know where to find a job, and he said: 'Don't worry. I got you a job already.' It was at a ramen shop in the East Village. He's a carpenter, so he's built a lot of restaurants' interiors. His friend owned the restaurant. I take it you enjoyed the work. I fell in love. I knew it was the job for me when time would just fly by. There were no boring moments. There was always something to do: the teamwork, the hard work, seeing the smiling faces of our guests who came in. It was just the best feeling, and I was the youngest cook. The older staff would always look out after me and teach me. That's when I decided I wanted to be a chef. What's the biggest lesson you learned on the job? You can't fake hard work. That means you show up on time or early. You work together as a team. You have to clean toward the end. There's no easy way to clean: You have to lift heavy things, big pots of broth and boxes of noodles. You just have to do it — there's no way around it. Advertisement Ultimately you launched a pop-up. The pop-up wasn't doing well in the beginning, but within a few months, a food writer from Gothamist secretly came in three times and wrote an article saying I was serving one of the best New York City burgers. I'd added a Korean flair to it, with homemade kimchi. It was a smash burger, juicy. … I had been selling about five or 10 burgers a night. The article came out, and I was selling hundreds a day, and it just didn't stop. I realized it was time for me to open up a restaurant in the neighborhood. What will be special about your Boston menu? Even though it's the same restaurant, it can't be exactly the same in different cities. Every city is going to have its own needs. For example, here in Boston, we're going to be opening up at lunch, and we don't do that in New York City. We're going to be doing lots of corporate catering and late nights here. Whatever the neighborhood needs, that's my job. We want to work with local fish purveyors and see what we can put on year-round. We don't exactly know what that's like yet. For example, the market price for lobster is just insane. I went to one local restaurant, and the lobster roll was $69. We want to serve our own version of clam chowder: a little spicy, savory, umami-driven. At lunch, we're going to get a little creative in the sense that we'll do something we're not doing in New York: rice bowls and healthy options, like our version of avocado toast. We want to serve things that are familiar to you, done well and delicious. Advertisement How would you compare the Boston and New York food scenes? I don't think it's as saturated as New York City. In New York City, you'll find four Italian restaurants in a 1,000-foot radius, maybe more. And, you know, the Seaport is so new. We're the first Korean spot in the Seaport, I think. It's interesting — not exactly the same — but we had David Chang's fried chicken place, , in the Seaport, and it didn't last. I'm not telling you to watch out, but: What do you think will make Nowon endure? What's the secret? I tell my team that having a good restaurant is not rocket science. It's great hospitality, great food, great energy, and a memorable experience. That's really it. Those are the four philosophies. When it comes to the brand identity, it needs to be meaningful. There needs to be cohesiveness. We're a Korean spot; it needs to be Korean-inspired. If I start having a bunch of non-Korean dishes on the menu, it just wouldn't make sense anymore. I would lose identity. We're still a young restaurant that's trying to figure it out. But what I'm learning about identity is to keep it simple, train the team, and drive the same energy, no matter where you are. Which restaurants do you enjoy up here? Actually, I ate at Advertisement I know that there's a really distinctive soundtrack in the New York store. What about up here? We're going to play late '90s, early 2000s hip-hop and R&B, and music videos from that era as well. I want people to come in and be taken back in time with burgers, tots, fried chicken. These are very simple things that you grow up eating as a child. As an adult, you enjoy the same things subconsciously, because it's tied to your upbringing. And when you hear the music, when you see the music videos in the background, it'll all come together. It's an emotional roller coaster. Who is your favorite late '90s artist? I'm an early 2000s guy. I love 50 Cent. I love Eminem. Those are my top two, right there. Are there any foods that you just won't eat, or any ingredient that you really try to stay away from? As a chef, I stay away from micro herbs. I think they're highly overrated. Just use herbs the way they're supposed to be grown. We don't need micro anything. Just use what nature just gave you. You don't need fancy flowers to make food look pretty. What would you choose for a last meal? My last meal would be my mom's kimchi stew. When I'm stressed, when I'm going through a hard time, a bowl of that and I'm energized. Interview was edited and condensed. Kara Baskin can be reached at
