Myers + Chang, the dim sum diner from restaurateurs Christopher Myers and Joanne Chang, is a beloved South End standby for many reasons: warm service, a relaxed and social vibe, and above all consistently good food. The menu of Asian small plates includes sticky tea-smoked spare ribs, fiery tiger's tears salad, nasi goreng, and other dishes we can't live without.

All the seats at the zigzagging white counter are taken, and why not? Barbara Lynch's Fort Point Italian place is buzzing with energy, the perfect spot for a bowl of house-made pasta (strozzapreti with braised rabbit and picholine olives, tagliatelle with bolognese) and a big glass of red wine.

Chef Ernie Campbell created a hit on wheels with his Jamaica Mi Hungry food truck, warming Boston with curry goat and beef patties on coco bread. In 2019, he turned it into a brick-and-mortar restaurant operating under the same name next to the Jackson Square T station. Come for the fiery, moist jerk pork shoulder with dill slaw and plantains; stay for the warm, friendly energy of Campbell and crew.

At this two-story brasserie in Back Bay, feast on classics (onion soup, duck a l'orange) and not-so-classics (Berbere roasted squash) from chef Matthew Gaudet. The surroundings are tres French — tile floors, tin ceilings, Gare du Nord-esque clock — and between the cafe, lunch, dinner, and the bar, the place is open practically round the clock.

At the corner of Mass. Ave. and Tremont in the South End, you'll find MIDA, the cozy and welcoming restaurant that chef-owner Douglass Williams has steadily turned into one of the city's most delicious places for Italian food. Don't miss pasta dishes like cacio e pepe gnocchi and spaghetti with crab, tomato, and chile butter, along with a super-sexy tiramisu. 

From the team behind Bergamot (the name is a shortening of "Bergamot Inman Square"), BISq specializes in wine and lovely small plates, with an emphasis on charcuterie. (Don't miss the fried chicken.) Convivial and relaxed, it feels like a mellow party where some of the guests happen to know a lot about beverages.

The family that owns Sichuan Garden at Brookline Village transformed its bar into a tropical paradise. Star bartender Ran Duan oversees a drinks program that extends from flaming cava punch to tall, foamy glasses of sherry blended with rum, sesame, lime, and pineapple. There's plenty of Sichuan fare — dan dan noodles and dumplings with chile vinaigrette, dry hot chicken and double-cooked bacon — but old-school Chinese-American classics are here too.

Styled after a bacaro, one of Venice's hideaway wine bars, SRV —  shorthand for Most Serene Republic of Venice —  offers up more than just well-priced cocktails and seriously tasty bar snacks called cicchetti. The two dining areas thrum with mellow '90s hip-hop as handmade pasta (squid ink bigoli with calamari ragu) and dishes such as fried artichoke with tonnato sauce and lamb involtini arrive at the table. 

A Chinatown standby, Peach Farm is known for its live-seafood tanks and late-night hours. Sit at one of the tables draped in pink cloths and tuck into eel in black-bean sauce, salt-and-pepper squid, sizzling flounder, and stir-fried pea-pod stems.

A Dorchester favorite for margaritas, mezcal cocktails, and tacos beyond the ordinary: duck with vanilla-plantain puree, lamb barbacoa with yogurt tzatziki, fried scallop with pickled jalapeno and celery mayonnaise. Now with a branch in the South End, too.

A fire crackles in the fireplace as a statue of the harvest goddess Demeter looks out over this Italian-inspired trattoria: Cantabrigians are contentedly consuming scallop crudo, pork Milanese with arugula salad, and chef Chris Willis’s beautiful handmade pasta dishes, such as lumache with Bolognese and gochujang. A quintessential neighborhood restaurant that might make you want to move to this neighborhood, between Central and Harvard squares.

Grill 23 is the gold standard for local steakhouses. The perfect meal: a Vesper cocktail, a stellar crab cake, and a prime rib eye aged for 100 days, accompanied by a bottle from the stellar wine list. Save room for a towering slice of coconut cake.

At this Sharon restaurant, chef Avi Shemtov, who founded the Chubby Chickpea and Tapped Beer Truck, serves up food inspired by Israel: small plates such as hummus, roast cauliflower with tahini and honey, couscous arancini, and short-rib poutine, plus a few larger ones (Yemenite fried chicken, battered in chickpea flour). You’ll find local beer and a convivial scene at the bar.

Come to Talulla for a bespoke experience from a husband-wife team. Chef Conor Dennehy serves precise, pretty plates centered around local, seasonal ingredients: turnip soup with seared scallop and chile oil; Parisian gnocchi with duck confit, parsnip puree, and pesto made from carrot tops and pumpkin seeds; cod with dashi, daikon, and leek. Danielle Ayer oversees the wine and lovely hospitality. The restaurant is named for their daughter.

This wonderful bakery-cafe from Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick of Oleana is a local treasure. Come for shakshuka and Turkish-style breakfasts, mezze and flatbread sandwiches for lunch, and gorgeous pastries and cookies all day long.

This tiny seafood bistro located in a Back Bay brownstone showcases dishes from chef Michael Serpa, formerly of Neptune Oyster, and now also behind nearby Grand Tour. Come for raw-bar plateaux, crudo, and ceviche; blue prawns a la plancha, Gloucester swordfish with rose harissa, and Maine lobster salad with Thai-style dressing; and a soulful wine list.

It's no surprise to find the food so headily fragrant, so beautifully flavored, at a restaurant from Cassie Piuma, who came up at Oleana. But it's still a pleasure. The likes of pumpkin fritters, shakshuka, and lamb kofte sliders make one want to return to this Somerville spot again and again. 

One of the first places you think of when you want to celebrate an occasion. Boston native Barbara Lynch's restaurant keeps drawing diners with an elegant menu reflective of New England. The prune gnocchi is one of the city's classic dishes.

In Dorchester's Four Corners, this cozy restaurant sells delicious, flavor-packed vegan food, smoothies, and juices. A message written above a window reads: “Everything made with love.” Partners Jahriffe Mackenzie and Nahdra Ra Kiros really mean that. Oasis is part of their vision for the community, which they want to be as healthy and vibrant as their food.

The hideaway cellar on quiet Craigie Circle has been home to a run of fine Cambridge restaurants that led to Forage. The little bistro emphasizes relationships with area farmers, fishermen, and foragers (naturally), with a menu stocked with roasted roots and salads of local lettuce, perked up with dandelion vinegar and mushroom ketchup, crabapple and beach plum in the cocktails.

Chef Colin Lynch and team are swiftly colonizing the South End: Italian coastal fare at Bar Mezzana; Shore Leave, a tiki bar; No Relation, a sushi omakase counter; and now Black Lamb, which shows us that duck frites was a bistro update waiting to happen. A classic neighborhood restaurant, it plies locals with the kind of easy fare diners crave day to day: oysters, salads, burgers, lobster rolls, boozy brunches, and a cocktail list that’s familiar without being boring.

This Chinatown restaurant is wildly popular for its soup dumplings, pliant wrappers filled with meat and steaming broth. But it's also worth standing in line for its long menu of Taiwanese and other specialties. Look for the bright blue sign. 

Chef Tony Maws riffs on rustic French food, using the best local, seasonal, and organic ingredients. The menu is determined by what's available each day, and the chef's whim. Dishes incorporate noses, tails, and every part of the animal in between.

Chef Tiffani Faison creates a haven for Southeast Asian flavors in the Fenway. Tiger Mama's menu is an umami obstacle course, from chile-spiced short-rib crudo to mala mushrooms. What you order, you savor; what you don't, you wish you had —Faison and crew have a knack for balancing bitter, pungent, sweet, sour, smoky, hot, and luscious all at once. 

Bar Lyon is modeled after the bouchon, a traditional Lyonnaise bistro. It feels just so, without being too-too: tile floors, zinc bar, gleaming open kitchen at back, and a beautifully classic menu and French wine list. Start with gougeres and a cocktail at the bar, then move to a banquette for terrine en croute, coq au vin, and bavette steak au poivre with potato confit. The must-order dish is the Lyonnaise specialty quenelle de brochet, a quenelle of pike with crawfish tails in lobster veloute; if you're feeling more casual, there's always "Le Burger."

Asia meets Spain at this Central Square original from chef Tracy Chang, who gained a local following with her Guchi’s Midnight Ramen pop-ups. She dishes up jamon iberico, tortilla espanola, squid ink oyster bao, and fried rice. Perhaps best of all, you can get the excellent Guchi’s ramen at a more noodle-friendly hour than midnight.

What to do after a James Beard award-winning turn helming the kitchen at longtime favorite Myers + Chang? Something completely different. Chef Karen Akunowicz opened Fox & the Knife in South Boston, embracing her love (and recognizing ours) of Italian cuisine. She lived in Modena for a time, and the menu showcases techniques she learned there, via heartfelt pasta dishes and entrees like chicken under a brick. Don’t miss the focaccia stuffed with Taleggio, one of the best cheese pulls in town.

What happens when Thai expats get fed up with the lack of good Thai food in the area? If you’re lucky, they open a place of their own. That’s how DakZen came to be in Davis Square. Fast-casual, affordable, cheerful and sweet, the little spot serves dishes such as khao soi and boat noodles that taste like they do back home. You’ll want to stop by every week.

At this multi-floor Financial District oasis, you'll savor sushi, bento boxes, and the formal Japanese cuisine known as kaiseki, along with magical views of the Custom House and other downtown rooftops. Youji Iwakura, a Berklee College of Music student turned chef, sharpened his skills at Basho and Uni before opening this tranquil spot, complete with a top-floor roof deck and an admirable selection of sake and Japanese wine.

This Quincy dim sum spot is one of the area's best. Winsor serves all day long, but come early on the weekends to snag a table before the crowds show up. Then eat your fill of har gow and shumai, steamed rice rolls, wok-fried rice cake in XO sauce, pork buns, deep-fried sesame balls, and much more. Everything is fresh, whether ordered from the menu or off the carts that roll round.

Tacos, raw bar, tequila, and a kicky social media presence: Loco Taqueria brings guacamole, sheet-pan nachos, all manner of tacos, and more to Southie. The sense of humor is as much a draw as the margaritas and Mexican flavors.

This brick-and-mortar restaurant comes from the siblings who started food truck Mei Mei Street Kitchen. On the menu, expect dishes such as the Double Awesome (an egg sandwich on scallion pancakes), curried sweet potato, "magical" kale salad, and an array of dumplings. The restaurant is a devoted supporter of sustainable, local producers.

Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette's South End tapas bar is loud, crowded, and fun. As the sangria flows, traditional Spanish small plates are served alongside dry-aged mini burgers, grilled corn slathered with alioli and cotija cheese, and more.

This is a temple for perfect, pricey sashimi and sushi unlike the sashimi and sushi you've had elsewhere. Flavor combinations are novel and refined — diver scallop with sage tempura and olive oil bubbles, for example, or foie gras nigiri with cocoa pulp and a chaser of aged sake. Eating here is not just eating. It's an experience. 

Chef-owner Rachel Miller worked in the kitchen of places like Clio and Bondir before starting Nightshade, a celebration of her love for Vietnamese cuisine. In an intimate, plant-filled space, the kitchen turns out papaya salads, bone marrow fried rice, soulful noodle soups, and more. The bar is also strong.

After a temporary closure, the beloved Roxbury hangout is back, serving ginger tofu bowls, jerk chicken sandwiches, coffee, and more in Nubian Square. The organization also offers a soup kitchen, a food pantry, meals for elderly clients, and cooking classes for youth, and runs an urban farm. Don't forget there's weekend brunch, too.

This tiny Somerville spot feels more like a dinner party thrown by friends than a restaurant. Chef JuanMa Calderón prepares dishes learned from his mother in his native Peru — arroz con pollo (chicken and rice), lomo saltado (stir-fried beef) — with a sure hand and plenty of heart. Don’t miss the ceviche, the causas (cold terrines of mashed potato layered with various fillings), or the complex and soulful stews.

Just as Olives defined Charlestown dining in its heyday, Brewer's Fork does today. Everyone wants a restaurant like this in their neighborhood, serving gastropubby small plates, wood-fired pizza, and pint after pint of great beer.

Chefs Ken Oringer and Tony Messina expanded this subterranean sushi bar and turned it into something truly special. There is plenty of fresh, delicate fish to please purists, plus a dense, creative menu of small and large plates that pair traditional Japanese ideas and techniques with vibrant flavors from around Asia and beyond. Follow elegant sashimi plates with Chiang Mai duck carnitas, Korean rice cakes with oxtail, and more.

A chef from Japan opened Yume Wo Katare — the name means "tell me your dreams" — bringing long lines and generous portions of porky ramen to Porter Square. The staff cheers you on when you finish your giant bowl of noodles (and even if you don't), and at the end of the meal, you can share your dreams with the other customers if you wish.

Chinatown 2.0. Shojo serves excellent cocktails and modern takes on Asian food, from bulgogi beef bao to fried chicken with Hong Kong-style waffles to the now-classic mapo tofu-topped Shadowless Fries. Expect loud hip-hop and a good time.

Cafe Sushi is a fine neighborhood sushi spot, dishing up California rolls and teriyaki. But it's also much more, as you find out when you sit at the bar and order the omakase, chef's choice of sushi and sashimi. Chef Seizi Imura and crew create exquisite bite after exquisite bite. 

Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer's Little Donkey is a restaurant with no rules, with a menu that refuses to be locked into any specific cuisine. It's food that makes you cock your head, scrunch your brow, and ask: What exactly are we tasting? The answer could be matzo ball ramen or farro kimchi fried rice or Vietnamese bologna with squid or a fried chicken sandwich. The creativity and complexity of the flavor combinations often wow. 

From Philip Kruta and Jeremy Kean, who cofounded the Whisk pop-up, this Jamaica Plain spot is cafe by day, fermentation-obsessed restaurant by night. A panoply of complex flavors power left-of-center dishes like curried dates with brioche waffle and yogurt with za'atar; spaghetti and clams with aged soybean; and koji risotto.

In the Union Square space that used to be Journeyman, and in many ways its spiritual successor, Field & Vine is run by chef Andrew Brady and Sara Markey, partners in work and life; the food is seasonal, sustainable, and ingredient-driven. In a space that looks the creation of a woodland elf turned celebrity chef — branches festooned with twinkling lights, hanging bunches of herbs and garlic, an open kitchen — Brady turns out salt-baked potatoes with creamy black-garlic sauce, shiitake hand-pies, cheddar cornbread with slow-roasted pork shoulder, and more.

One of Newton Centre's best spots for craft cocktails, creative cuisine from chef Lydia Reichert, and a cozy bistro setting. Snack on smoked bluefish pate and chorizo croquetas, share handmade pastas like egg ravioli with mushrooms or lobster casarecce, move on to main courses (grilled artichokes with polenta, spice-crusted venison), and end with something sweet, like warm beignets with milk jam.

With barely a half-rack of exceptions, real barbecue is hard to come by around these parts. Leaning on experience with a decorated competition 'cue team, chef Andy Husbands is changing that. His meat-and-whiskey outposts serve up some of the finest smoked meats around — even routinely nailing a succulent Texas-style brisket.

In a handsome dining room decorated with dark wood, rich fabrics, and golden chandeliers, chef-owner Tiffani Faison serves up a serious salute to Italian-Americana, with a little cheek on the side. Garlic bread is served wrapped in red-and-white-checked paper inside a bag; there’s lobster bucatini and pizza lasagna, steaks and chops, and a martini cart. For dessert, pastry chef Dee Steffen Chinn has you covered with the likes of Royal Chocolate Cake for Two, Kween.

One of the places that really kicked off the revival of the New England seafood restaurant. Given its name, it makes sense that oysters would be the restaurant's greatest strength, featured in many varieties. You'll also find chowder, lobster rolls, cornmeal-crusted skate with uni beurre blanc, and more.

At this Cuban restaurant near Porter Square in Cambridge, the food and the mood are warm and festive. Enjoy tapas such as ceviche, empanadas, and oxtail tacos and classic main dishes (ropa vieja, the seafood stew mariscada) while sipping daiquiris and mango mojitos.

This Back Bay restaurant serves modern French food prepared with local ingredients. You'll find Scituate lobster with gnocchi and spiced duck breast, along with more-everyday fare like a killer French onion soup and tagliatelle Bolognese. The wine program is excellent, as are desserts.

This Dorchester Indian restaurant, open for more than 20 years, also has branches in Roslindale and Cambridge. The menu begins with papri chaat and samosas; includes tandoori items, complex curries, and biryani; and features a wide variety of veg dishes and house-made breads. The lunch buffet is always a good deal.

Pedigree and polish perch on the edge of the Seaport at this restaurant run by No. 9 Park vets. At dinner, chef John daSilva’s small plates glorify vegetables, house-made pasta, and a ridiculously tasty porchetta; lunch means pillowy pita filled with all manner of good stuff. Dishes are infused with the flavors of the Middle East and North Africa; cocktails are named after birds. It looks too cool to be fine dining, but don’t be fooled: It is.

Chef Peter Ungar, who worked at Aujourd’hui and French Michelin-starred restaurants such as Le Grand Vefour, opened this 20-seat spot inside a Somerville brewery, serving inventive, sophisticated multicourse tasting menus.

At this toasty North Cambridge nook, servers deliver complimentary treats like sourdough bread with house-cultured butter and granola bars. Unwind over a four-course menu by former "Top Chef" contestant Carl Dooley, who often presents the seasonal plates himself with chummy commentary. Korean-style beef carpaccio? Halibut with couscous, preserved lemon, and green chermoula? The menu changes regularly, but the atmosphere and quality never falter.

A North End classic worth lining up for, and line up you will. Daily Catch is so small it feels like you're sitting in the kitchen, watching your food being made: Eat heaping, garlicky bowls of squid ink pasta and lobster fra diavolo while sipping cheap wine out of plastic cups. Perfect.

With Tanám, the area finally gets the Filipino restaurant it has been waiting for. It features what chefs Sasha Coleman and Ellie Tiglao call “narrative cuisine”: Meals aim to tell a story about food, culture, and identity. The Bow Market restaurant in Union Square is an intimate space that encourages interaction, seating 10 at one shared table. You will get to know your neighbors and the staff over themed, multi-course meals as well as utensil-free kamayan feasts spread out on banana leaves.

The quintessential neighborhood spot in Dorchester's Peabody Square. Come for trainwreck fries, grass-fed burgers, and mac and cheese, plus maybe a sticky toffee pudding and a cocktail or two.

More than a decade after it opened, this South End enoteca from chefs Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer is still going strong. It specializes in salumi, small plates, handmade pasta (uni carbonara is always a winner), and pizza, but it's worth a visit for the Italian grinder alone.

At this tasting-menu-focused restaurant on the edge of Back Bay, chef Alex Crabb and crew serve up culinary adventures, each iteration more inventive than the last. A seat at the bar overlooking the open kitchen offers a night of culinary theater at a restaurant where the food is serious, but no one takes themselves too seriously.  

Reserve ahead. It’s hard to get a table at this cozy and beloved Italian restaurant, where chef Michael Pagliarini serves beautiful small plates, monkfish piccata, and the highlight: handmade pasta, from paccheri alla Bolognese to agnolotti del plin with turnips, hedgehog mushrooms, ricotta, and lentils.

A Mexican restaurant that was far ahead of its time when it opened 20 years ago in Somerville's Powder House Square. Tu Y Yo focuses on family recipes, citing the name of the cook and the date the dish is from: Maria Luisa Gallardo de Sandoval's stuffed jalapenos from 1950, for example, or Dolores T. de Mitates's 1928 shrimp in poblano-walnut sauce. The kitchen introduced many in the Boston area to ingredients like huitlacoche and chapulines, as well as the joys of the michelada, beer with lime, hot sauce, and spices.

One of the first new-wave Boston oyster bars, this North End institution has long been known for having one of the best lobster rolls in town. (Are you partial to the hot or cold version? There's no wrong answer.) Neptune also serves as a model for the many restaurants that have opened in its image. It's been around forever, but there's often still a line to get in the door.

For more than 130 years, this was Locke-Ober, where power brokers rubbed elbows over steak dinners. Now it is Yvonne’s, featuring small plates and a sexy atmosphere. With food from chef Juan Pedrosa, it is the rare establishment that successfully bridges bar, restaurant, and club. Well-made cocktails, sophisticated snacks, and meaty platters designed for sharing are among the attractions.