Coppa, with its close quarters and packed South End patio, is still crushing it with Italian small plates, local and imported salumi, wood-fired thin-crust pizzas and Italian-sized (i.e., not oversized) pastas. For a place from Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette that also serves a sea urchin-and-tongue sandwich, the polpette are a pretty straight-up affair: pork and beef in red sauce with Parmigiano. Credit current chef de cuisine Brian Rae for wringing deeply satisfying flavors from a classic palette.
Coppa
253 Shawmut Ave., Boston • (617) 391-0902
coppaboston.com
Other Winners
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Meatballs
2016 Winner: Prezza
Throw a rock in the North End and you’ll hit a restaurant serving that most American of Italian-American dishes, spaghetti and meatballs...
- 24 Fleet St., Boston
- (617) 227-1577
- prezza.com
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Meatballs
2017 Winner: SRV
Follow the pretty crowds to this swinging South End slinger of Venetian fare...
- 569 Columbus Ave., Boston
- (617) 536-9500
- srvboston.com
Photo Credit: Morgan Ione Yeager
