The Italian restaurants can get a bit samey with their menus. Pubs, burger joints, & hotel bars are also pretty predictable. Love Dine Out Boston for trying new places. My go-to places for higher end dining are Harvest, Mistral, Ostra, & Giulia's. MIDA seems really promising & I enjoy Toscano as well.
Born and raised in Boston but also lived in D.C. and Miami area and visited NYC, Chicago, L.A., SF, Austin, Houston, Atlanta. Our food scene is good by national standards, but I'd still rank it below the other cities I mentioned where I've lived and visited. A lot of our ethnic cuisines are lacking. We have a large Vietnamese population yet it's hard to find quality Vietnamese food. I had better Vietnamese cuisine in South Florida despite the relative paucity of Vietnamese there. The Mexican food remains dismal despite the rapid growth of the Mexican population. Besides Baltimore, we probably have the worst food scene of any major city from D.C. and north.
Until recently, I lived in Boston. Talked to a lot of tourists and diners. Not one mentioned the lack of Michelin starred restaurants. Getting a star would just make a great restaurant more expensive and harder to get into. If you don't know where to go - you're not paying attention. Don't see why Boston would need to pay - it's one of the most visited cities in the country.
There is something very twisted about pay to play with a restaurant review service. What would be the top priority? Customer satisfaction or restaurant profit.
Pretty much this. In Chicago it’s impossible to throw a rock and not hit some restaurant doing something innovative or cool (and it doesn’t have to be high end). Boston is very… quiet.
Also, it absolutely is the food. I’ve had street food in NYC better than our best restaurants…Thats another thing we don’t have in this miserable city, street food. Even Soviet Russia had street food.
Interesting how many of these chefs and owners think that they would get stars if Michelin came to town. I have tried their food and service; they are not worth of even a single star. Being expensive is not the criterion for Michelin stars. And make sure that you understand that the attitude of Boston waitstaff does not merit stars either. Overall, Massachusetts would not fare well in the Michelin system.
No reason why you need to, if you're not super rich, with no idea where to find good food. Screw the rich, they and their money are on their own. From a retired Boston area cook.
I've often wondered why. Glad to see Mistral & its sister restaurant, Ostra, immediately mentioned. I'd add Harvest & Giulia's, both in Cambridge, as well. I've eaten at all four & they are worth a Michelin star, but this payola system isn't cute. Michelin is all marketing, anyway. Zagat, OpenTable, & TripAdvisor are sufficient. Massachusetts has Harvard & MIT. That's plenty of prestige.
Harvard is day care for ritchies. MIT and some others get through. Amherst college, routinely scores as the best place to study mathematics in the entire Union. Though you'd never know unless things like a Fields Medal interest you.
@@John-iq7ry Okay, fine, I'd say Mistral & Ostra are closer. I'd had friends enjoy expensive tasting menus in the city, but overall, Michelin star elitism isn't quite Old Money enough to impress pragmatic Boston Brahmims.
We have Zagats and Best of Boston and Yelp many other ways to access reviews of restaurants in Boston. It sounds like the Michelin restaurant inspectors are really expensive for a city to hire, and we have better things to do with our tourism promotion money.
I stopped at 12 seconds. 95% of us don't care. My favorite top 3 restaurants of all time are all Indian, and there's only one Indian restaurant in the US with a Michelin rating. This tells me their rating means nothing to me. Why does it mean something to you? Seriously. edit: spelling
BOSTON HAS NEVER, EVER BEEN ABLE TO KEEP ANY REALLY GOOD HEFS. ALSO, PATRONS, AT LEAST THESE DAYS CANNOT OR WILL NOT PAY FOR GREAT FOOD, NOT EVER. THYE ARE TOO CHEAP!
Anyone saying any Boston restaurant deserves a Michelin star has never been to a Michelin star restaurant…give me a break…evidenced by people in the comments who think Michelin stars are like yelp and one star is bad and five stars is great (not how it works). Boston clearly lacks the culture…they also don’t have the attitude (which is fine by me), you’re never going to get Michelin star service. Also it’s impossible to retain talent.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been participating in a MUCH larger pay-to-play scheme for a VERY long time. I refer to the "Film Tax Credit", funded at $76M in this year's budget. A small fraction of that -- say $1M/year -- would go a LONG way towards encouraging Michelin Star ratings for Massachusetts restaurants. Each dollar invested in bringing more revenue to Massachusetts restaurants will return MUCH more to the Massachusetts economy than spending that same dollar on producing a movie.
You people should learn to pronounce Michelin correctly first! And secondly, Goodyear "accidently" did invent vulcanization! But it was John Dunlop an Ulstermen, who invented the pneumatic tyre. And Robert Thomson an Englishmen, who put together the first "vulcanized pneumatic" tyre! So some suspicious "half truths" in your argument.
What do you think of Boston's food scene?
The Italian restaurants can get a bit samey with their menus. Pubs, burger joints, & hotel bars are also pretty predictable. Love Dine Out Boston for trying new places. My go-to places for higher end dining are Harvest, Mistral, Ostra, & Giulia's. MIDA seems really promising & I enjoy Toscano as well.
I find it very good and would dine in Boston more often, if it were not for the traffic and parking, so when I do dine out it is in the suburbs,
Born and raised in Boston but also lived in D.C. and Miami area and visited NYC, Chicago, L.A., SF, Austin, Houston, Atlanta. Our food scene is good by national standards, but I'd still rank it below the other cities I mentioned where I've lived and visited. A lot of our ethnic cuisines are lacking. We have a large Vietnamese population yet it's hard to find quality Vietnamese food. I had better Vietnamese cuisine in South Florida despite the relative paucity of Vietnamese there. The Mexican food remains dismal despite the rapid growth of the Mexican population. Besides Baltimore, we probably have the worst food scene of any major city from D.C. and north.
“Worth it for WHOM!”
For Pete’s sake, you’re GBH, a PBS channel, and someone like me with NO college degrees shouldn’t know that.
used to be super great - nowadays it is poor at best.
Until recently, I lived in Boston. Talked to a lot of tourists and diners. Not one mentioned the lack of Michelin starred restaurants. Getting a star would just make a great restaurant more expensive and harder to get into. If you don't know where to go - you're not paying attention. Don't see why Boston would need to pay - it's one of the most visited cities in the country.
Who needs Michelin when you have the Phantom Gourmet? 🤣
😂
RIGHT ON!
Hell yeah
We need Papa Gino's to go international
I’ve always thought the fact that a tire company is the arbiter of dining excellence was hilarious.
Michelin is a tire company. They couldn't drive to any restaurant in Boston without a certain someone offering to fix their flat.
There is something very twisted about pay to play with a restaurant review service. What would be the top priority? Customer satisfaction or restaurant profit.
If you've ever been to a Michelin rated restaurant, it's EASY to understand why there are no stars in the Greater Boston area!
I can't believe anyone, anyone, would think there would be a Michelin rated restaurant in Quincy! C'mon, stop it.
EXACTLY!👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
I am from Chicago and have spent a lot of time in California. The Boston food scene on every level is dull and disappointing. Sorry, I've tried.
Pretty much this. In Chicago it’s impossible to throw a rock and not hit some restaurant doing something innovative or cool (and it doesn’t have to be high end). Boston is very… quiet.
I don't care if Boston restaurants have any Michelin stars
Food here sucks full stop
very interesting. I didn't make the tire company connection before this
HA! IMAGINE "NOBU" IN BOSTON? OR? "THE FRENCH LAUNDRY"???? HA! HA! HA!
Let's make our own guide and name it after Sullivan Tire & Auto
Also, it absolutely is the food. I’ve had street food in NYC better than our best restaurants…Thats another thing we don’t have in this miserable city, street food. Even Soviet Russia had street food.
Chef doesn't understand his own staff will not tell him the truth
in order to retain their jobs.
He is not the sharpest knife in the draw.
Interesting how many of these chefs and owners think that they would get stars if Michelin came to town. I have tried their food and service; they are not worth of even a single star.
Being expensive is not the criterion for Michelin stars. And make sure that you understand that the attitude of Boston waitstaff does not merit stars either. Overall, Massachusetts would not fare well in the Michelin system.
Toro not having a Michelin star is crazy.
Anthony Athanas = all gone. MAISON ROBERT = Gone. THE NORTH END TRADITIONAL ITALIAN FOODS - GONE.. what's left?
Part of a Michelin star is being able to kiss Michelins butt and Massachusetts people are going to to do that.
Never heard of Michelin stars but then I’m from south of Boston.
No reason why you need to, if you're not super rich, with no idea where to find good food. Screw the rich, they and their money are on their own. From a retired Boston area cook.
“Worth it for WHOM!”
For Pete’s sake, GBH is PBS! Of all stations, PBS ought to know.
Signed,
A pseudo grammar nerd.
Boston waitstaff need some more training.
Boston chef's need to up their game as well.
Will take Boston a few years to get that first star restaurant.
We’ve had tons of wealth and prestige as a city for centuries, believe me, we are not destined for anything bigger than what we’ve already got.
I've often wondered why. Glad to see Mistral & its sister restaurant, Ostra, immediately mentioned. I'd add Harvest & Giulia's, both in Cambridge, as well. I've eaten at all four & they are worth a Michelin star, but this payola system isn't cute. Michelin is all marketing, anyway. Zagat, OpenTable, & TripAdvisor are sufficient. Massachusetts has Harvard & MIT. That's plenty of prestige.
Harvard is day care for ritchies. MIT and some others get through. Amherst college, routinely scores as the best place to study mathematics in the entire Union. Though you'd never know unless things like a Fields Medal interest you.
@ YOU don’t interest me. Mentioning the Fields medal isn’t going to impress me into suddenly caring about Amherst. Next.
I've eaten at Harvest dozens of times over the years. Don't get me wrong, it's great. But it's not anywhere close to deserving a Michelin star.
@@John-iq7ry Okay, fine, I'd say Mistral & Ostra are closer. I'd had friends enjoy expensive tasting menus in the city, but overall, Michelin star elitism isn't quite Old Money enough to impress pragmatic Boston Brahmims.
@@got2bjosh I agree. Well said.
We have Zagats and Best of Boston and Yelp many other ways to access reviews of restaurants in Boston. It sounds like the Michelin restaurant inspectors are really expensive for a city to hire, and we have better things to do with our tourism promotion money.
I stopped at 12 seconds. 95% of us don't care. My favorite top 3 restaurants of all time are all Indian, and there's only one Indian restaurant in the US with a Michelin rating. This tells me their rating means nothing to me. Why does it mean something to you? Seriously. edit: spelling
BOSTON HAS NEVER, EVER BEEN ABLE TO KEEP ANY REALLY GOOD HEFS. ALSO, PATRONS, AT LEAST THESE DAYS CANNOT OR WILL NOT PAY FOR GREAT FOOD, NOT EVER. THYE ARE TOO CHEAP!
Anyone saying any Boston restaurant deserves a Michelin star has never been to a Michelin star restaurant…give me a break…evidenced by people in the comments who think Michelin stars are like yelp and one star is bad and five stars is great (not how it works). Boston clearly lacks the culture…they also don’t have the attitude (which is fine by me), you’re never going to get Michelin star service. Also it’s impossible to retain talent.
I agree but what do you mean by culture? There are a lot of "cultured" people here, meaning educated and well read.
@ yeah that’s not culture. You gain culture through exposure. Here everyone looks the same and has the same opinion
Largely true, but gimme a break if you don’t think Ken Oringer’s Toto wasn’t deserving of a Michelin star.
Who cares about that 💩⁉️‼️
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been participating in a MUCH larger pay-to-play scheme for a VERY long time. I refer to the "Film Tax Credit", funded at $76M in this year's budget.
A small fraction of that -- say $1M/year -- would go a LONG way towards encouraging Michelin Star ratings for Massachusetts restaurants.
Each dollar invested in bringing more revenue to Massachusetts restaurants will return MUCH more to the Massachusetts economy than spending that same dollar on producing a movie.
It's the food.
Boston has never been a foodie city.
It's on the coast, but it's hard to find good seafood in Boston.
it's so easy to find good seafood in Boston though
@theemiriiii
Where?
The seafood itself is good (New England oysters are the best in the world), but preps are unremarkable.
You people should learn to pronounce Michelin correctly first! And secondly, Goodyear "accidently" did invent vulcanization! But it was John Dunlop an Ulstermen, who invented the pneumatic tyre. And Robert Thomson an Englishmen, who put together the first "vulcanized pneumatic" tyre! So some suspicious "half truths" in your argument.
Nobody cares about your tire stars.
Cook decent food!!!!