TOP THINGS TO DO IN BOSTON

With six locations, this Boston restaurant has become a city institution based on their reliably fresh and delicious seafood dishes. From their signature New England clam chowder to oysters, lobster, and fresh-caught fish to landlubber selections like chicken and steak, this is a Boston restaurant that is worth seeking out.

Located in Wellesley, Blue Ginger brings urban dining and sophistication to the Boston restaurant scene. Chef Ming Tsai's innovative mixing of Eastern and Western flavors results in a taste sensation beyond comparison. Showered with honors from Boston Magazine, the James Beard Foundation, Esquire Magazine, and more, Blue Ginger has becomes one of the most popular of all Boston restaurants.

This Boston four-star bistro serves satisfyingly simple, hearty meals, prepared from seasonally fresh local ingredients. An elegant Boston restaurant translation of the homey, family-run country bistros of France, this Boston restaurant’s open kitchen—one of Boston's first—creates a lively, fun touch, and gives Gordon Hamersley a chance to show his patrons how much he just plain loves to cook.

L'Espalier is often credited with being the first independently-owned restaurant to bring haute cuisine to Boston. Located in a historic Back Bay townhouse, this Boston restaurant has remained the only independent restaurant in New England to receive Five Diamonds from AAA for the last six years. Under chef Frank McClelland stewardship, L'Espalier has consistently been rated one of the top Boston restaurants in the Zagat Survey.

The Waterfront Cafe is the only true Italian pub in the North End. This Boston restaurant is known for its huge portions at low prices. Located just off the Freedom Trail on Commercial Street in the heart of the Fleet Center Business District, the Waterfront Cafe is a favorite Boston restaurant for lunch and dinner in a casual, welcoming environment.

Celebrating a decade as Cambridge’s most unique and beloved French dining room, this Boston restaurant’s mixture of signature dishes like flammekueche (Alsatian pizza) and French bistro classics like escargot and bouillabaisse make it a favorite among Boston restaurant diners. A warm copper bar with a brick oven and a great selection of French wines, a mid-sized room for private parties, superb service, and discount parking nearby are just a few of the reasons why Harvard Square has embraced Sandrine’s Bistro since 1996.

With locations in Boston, Cambridge, and Waltham, The Elephant Walk Boston restaurants serve complete menus of both Cambodian and French Cuisine that include both traditional and original dishes created by their chefs, the mother-daughter team of Longteine and Nadsa de Monteiro. Not a trendy "fusion" Boston restaurant serving a forced amalgam of disparate culinary traditions, The Elephant Walk's Cambodian and French dishes coexist discretely and naturally on a single menu as the authentic culinary expression of the de Monteiro family legacy.