A stone’s throw from chain-ridden Park Square, chef Charles Draghi and partner/sommelier Joan Johnson serve traditional Northern Italian cuisine with rare wines to match, drawing a loyal crowd. A focus on pristine, sustainable seafood and meats, perfect local produce and house-grown herbs, and the rare-in-Boston culinary wonders of Draghi’s Piemontese ancestry make his daily-changing menu consistently rewarding. In a town with countless Italian pretenders, here’s one place actual Italians return to again and again. Unflashy substance, craft and care never tasted so ravishing.
Erbaluce
69 Church St., Boston • (617) 426-6969
erbaluce-boston.com
Other Winners
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Italian
2014 Winner: Prezza
In the turn-’em-and-burn-’em North End, few restaurants offer amenities like a full bar, reservations or dessert...
- 24 Fleet St., Boston
- (617) 227-1577
- prezza.com
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Italian
2016 Winner: Erbaluce
Chef/owner Charles Draghi and partner Joan Johnson serve extraordinary traditional Piemontese cuisine with rare Northern Italian wines at their hidden Bay Village indie, elevated by meticulous sourcing (notably of sustainable local seafood), abundant fresh fruit and herbs, and exacting Old World technique...
- 69 Church St., Boston
- (617) 426-6969
- erbaluce-boston.com
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Italian
2017 Winner: La Morra
Husband-and-wife team Josh and Jennifer Ziskin hum along with uncommon consistency at their romantic restaurant plopped just outside Brookline Village...
- 48 Boylston St., Brookline
- (617) 739-0007
- lamorra.com
Photo Credit: Luke Wunsch-Edwards -
