2024: My Top Four Favorite Restaurants & Three New Favorites

As 2025 approaches, it's time once again to reflect upon the past year, to remember and savor pleasant memories. It's the time for my Annual Year-End Favorite lists, from restaurants to wine. And I'm starting this year with my Top Four Favorite Restaurants of 2024 & Three New Favorites. These end-of-the-year lists should provide a comprehensive summary of my favorites, allowing my readers to more readily locate such gems, the best of my recommendations. 

I'll note that last year this list included only my Top Three Favorite Restaurants. However, this year, another restaurant has risen to the top of my attention, thoroughly impressing me with its consistent excellence. It's more than worthy of being on this list, but the other three restaurants already on the list remain worthy as well. So, this year, I chose to make this a Top Four list, to accommodate this new Top Favorite.  

This list is also in no particular order, and is purely a subjective list, based on my own preferences, and makes no claims about being the "best" of anything. However, all of the restaurants here earn my heartiest recommendation and I hope you'll enjoy them as well, as so many others have done. For more Restaurant reviews, you can just search my blog posts for the past year.

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My Top Four Favorite Restaurants are those exceptional spots which are consistently excellent, offering great food and drink as well as top notch service. These are the four places which first come to my mind when I want a celebratory dinner, or just want a sublime dining experience. They receive my unqualified highest recommendation. These are also the restaurants I most frequently recommend to others when I'm asked for my top restaurants. And those people who then go to these restaurants usually become big fans of these restaurants too.  

Krasi Meze & Wine (Boston)

Part of the Xenia Greek Hospitality group, this Greek restaurant is amazing, where nearly every innovative dish is exceptional. Their menu consists of a wide selection of small plates, perfect for sharing, and offers creative Greek cuisine, with roots in tradition but it's not afraid to experiment. Their Greek wine list, the largest in the country, is superb with so many delicious and interesting options. Service is excellent, and the servers are very knowledgeable of the food and wine. Krasi never disappoints.

Nightshade Noodle Bar (Lynn)

Offering inventive and delicious French/Vietnamese inspired-cuisine, with their own unique spin, this restaurant offers Tasting Menus, ranging from 7-30 courses. Their dishes are exceptional, bursting with flavor, and creatively composed. Plus, they have an excellent wine list and cocktail program. I like their homey vibe, service is always excellent, and they have an open kitchen, which I've always loved. They recently instituted a 30 course tasting menu and one of my desires for 2025 is to partake of that epic dinner. Be adventurous with your palate and you'll be amply rewarded. 

A Tavola (Winchester)

This excellent Italian restaurant in Winchester first made my Top Three list last year, and it continues to impress. Chef Joe Carli is very talented and personable, and his Italian cuisine is as good as anything you'll find in the North End. The restaurant is still relatively small and intimate, although this year they enlarged their space a bit, adding a small bar and some additional tables. Much of the sourcing is from local farms. I especially love their superb home-made pasta dishes, as well as when they have Duck Wings as a special. Their wine list concentrates on Italian wines, and there are many good choices. You also should check out their event list, which includes fun and tasty wine dinners and cocktail classes, like the A Tour of Italian Noble Grapes and BBQ & Bourbon events I attended this year. 

Il Ponte (Woburn)
Chef Beni Kurti of Il Ponte has brought his deep passion, lengthy culinary experience, and charm to Woburn. It's a homey restaurant, with a casual elegance, and the Italian cuisine is top notch, from home-made pasta dishes to exquisite Neapolitan pizza. During this past year, I've thoroughly enjoyed so many different dishes here, such as the Lamb Lollipop Milanese (pictured above_. Their Swordfish Puttanesca, which is a Special all the time, is amazing, an ample piece of tender and moist Swordfish with a compelling puttanesca sauce. Service is excellent, the servers being genuinely personable and attentive, without being obtrusive. It's consistently superb and every person I've recommended has raved about their own dining experience. Besides dining there numerous times this year, I also celebrated my birthday there and it was a memorable event. Il Ponte also recently added a special Gelato machine, and the gelato is silky and delicious. There's no need to drive into Boston for Italian cuisine with restaurants such as Il Ponte north of Boston.  

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I want to now address those restaurants, which were new to me this year, and impressed me. These are definitely restaurants I want to dine at again, and which are worthy of a hearty recommendation. 

XOXO Sushi Bar (Chestnut Hill)

This high-end Sushi spot opened in March and it's a superb spot, offering some of the best Sushi in the area. They serve Edomae-style sushi, which includes the used of aged and preserved fish, and they even have an intriguing glass case behind the sushi bar showing the aged fish. They serve other Japanese specialties as well, and they are as delicious as their sushi offerings. Their beverage program, from Sake to cocktails, is excellent as well. This is a restaurant well worth a splurge. 

Greco (Burlington)

I was very excited this past year when a branch of the Greco chain opened at the Burlington Mall. I've been a fan since the first Greco opened in 2017 on Newbury Street. It's a fast casual restaurant, specializing in Gyros and Loukoumades (Greek donuts!). Everything is made fresh, so you can enjoy whatever your food preference. You can opt for a Pita, Plate or Salad, with both meat and veggie options. The Greco Fries, with French fries topped by feta cheese, are delicious. And you have to end your meal with sweet Loukoumades, available own three flavors. 

Pinoy Kabayan (Boston)

There's only 3 Filipino restaurants in the Boston+ area, and Pinot Kabayan is the only one in Boston proper. This new restaurant is a fast-casual spot which does plenty of take-out. The food is authentic, delicious and reasonably priced. Many of the dishes are very approachable, such as Tocino (sweet cured pork) and Tapa (Filipino jerky) while other dishes are for the more adventurous. For example, Dinuguan, which roughly translates "bloody soup or stew," is commonly made with pork, offal and pork blood. However, I found it delicious, especially atop some garlic rice. I eagerly look forward to dining there again soon.

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There are a few other new restaurants I've dined at this past year, but for which I haven't yet written reviews, but which are still worthy of recognition. They include Sogne (Woburn, Italian cuisine), Fiorella's Cucina (Burlington, Italian cuisine), Adega Restaurant (Woburn, Portuguese), Bar Mezzana (Boston, Italian cuisine) and Feather & Wedge (Rockport, Seafood). Reviews of these restaurants are likely to come in 2025.

What were some of your Favorite Restaurants this year?

Pinoy Kabayan: First Impressions of the Only Filipino Restaurant in Boston

Last week, as I spent much of Tuesday in Boston, I made plans to have dinner at Pinoy Kabayan, the only Filipino restaurant in Boston, which opened about a year ago. Outside of Boston, there’s also Bright Light, a Filipino & Jamaican restaurant in Quincy, and Johnny Boy, a Filipino Sandwich Pop-Up in Somerville. Why aren't there more Filipino restaurants in the Boston+ area? 

Back in 2011, I wrote about the dearth of Filipino restaurants across the country. There was only one Filipino restaurant near Boston, a place in Quincy. And across the country, there were less than 500 Filipino restaurants, and in comparison, there were over 43,000 Chinese restaurants. As of 2023, there were about 1400 Filipino restaurants in the U.S., nearly tripling in number in about 12 years. In comparison, there were over 45,000 Chinese restaurants. Population-wise, there are about 5.4 Million Chinese in the U.S. and 4.2 Million Filipinos, so there definitely should be far more Filipino restaurants in this country. 

Why are there so few Filipino restaurants in the U.S.? There are many theories but no definitive conclusions. Since 2012, in my annual Rant: Forget Useless Predictions, I have often called for More Filipino Restaurants & Dishes. I don't have much experience with Filipino cuisine, but I have greatly enjoyed what I have previously eaten. So, it was also helpful that I dined at Pinoy Kabayan with a good friend of Filipino ancestry, to assist me in navigating the menus.

Pinoy Kabayan is owned by Janeth Millare Javier and Reynaldo Javier, both from the Philippines. Janeth spoke to us about the restaurant and their food, and she was personable and passionate. The fast-casual restaurant is primarily take-out, but there's also seating for about 16 people.  

There are roughly two levels to the menu offerings, the first being the dishes which are usually always available, and then some more specialty dishes which are offered only a different times. The first level menu includes a few Appetizers (Lumpia, Fish Ball, & Kikiam), Salads (Atchara & House Salad), Ulam/Entrees (Adobo, Mechado, Tocino, Tapa, & Longganisa), and Kanin at Pancit/Rice & Noodles (Kanin, Sinangag, Steamed Veggies, & Pancit Guisado). 

They also serve a few Breakfast dishes all-day, including Tap-Si-Log, Long-Si-Log, To-Si-Log, and Spam-Si-Log. These are portmanteaus for the components of each of the dishes, which include a protein, sinangag (garlic fried rice), and itlog (fried egg). 

These are all dishes which most food lovers would enjoy, very approachable Filipino dishes to give people an insight into the delights of Filipino cuisine. And it certainly makes me wonder once again why there aren't more Filipino restaurants in the Boston+ area. 

In a chiller unit, you'll find more Filipino dishes, those which aren't always available, and which can be purchased for take-out, although they would warm them up for you if you decide to dine there. You can check out their Facebook and Instagram pages for info about special Filipino dishes that are available for a limited time. 

Some of these dishes may be for more adventurous palates, but are worth sampling. Other dishes would appeal once again to most food lovers. You might find Lechon Paksiw, pork stewed in vinegar and aromatics, or Pork Humba, braised pork belly in a sweet and salty sauce. Or Galonggong, fried Mackarel Scad that's simply seasoned. I tried the Dinuguan from this chiller case, which I'll describe shortly. 

The meal began with some Lumpia Shanghai (4 pieces $6, 6 for $9, 12 for $15), which are thin, fried spring rolls with pork and veggies. The pastry skins for the lumpia were very thin and crunchy, and the savory filling was tasty, spiced nicely. In the Philippines, they make many different types of Lumpia, including some dessert versions. These Lumpia didn't come with a specific sauce, but at the table was a selection of condiments. 

One of those condiments is Banana Sauce, also called Banana Ketchup, which was invented in 1942 by a Filipina food technologist, Maria Y. Orosa. Due to World War II, there was a shortage of tomatoes but there still were many bananas, so this sauce was created to fill the need for ketchup. In general, banana sauce is made from bananas, sugar, vinegar, and spices. It may also be dyed red to resemble tomato-based ketchup. Lumpia are sometimes dipped in banana sauce, and I tried some. It was a mild flavored ketchup, not overly sweet, and did go well with the lumpia.

Each Ulam (Entree) is $15-$16 (Ala carte) or available as a Combo Meal, with rice or noodles & steamed veggies, for $14.50-$16.50. You can also get a Combo Meal with 2 entrees for $18.50-$22.50. I opted for the Combo with 2 entrees, and I chose the Tocino and Tapa, along with Sinangag. It was a hearty plate of food, and overall it was delicious and reasonably priced. 

The Tocino (sweet cured chicken or pork--and I opted for the pork) is from a Spanish word for "bacon." Traditionally, the dish is made from pork shoulder or pork belly, which is cured and then marinated in spices and sauces, commonly including pineapple juice. I enjoyed the sweet and tangy flavor of these tender pork slices, which reminded me in some respects to the boneless spare ribs you get in some Chinese restaurants. 

The Tapa is a Filipino jerky, which can be made from made different meats or fish, although the restaurant makes it as a Beef version. This beef was also tender, with a more savory taste of spices. It's definitely not as dry and chewy as most American jerky of which you might be familiar.  

For my side, I chose Sinangag, the garlic fried rice, which is basically made only with garlic, and topped with some scallions. It tasted nice and was a fine accompaniment to the entries, especially the Dinuguan. 

My dining companion ordered the Sinigang, a sour and savory soup, often flavored with tamarind. It is commonly prepared with pork, fish, or shrimp although the above version is made with just vegetables. I tasted the broth which was pleasantly sour, but balanced with savory notes too.

Then we come to the Dinuguan, and the owner, Janeth, was an initially a little hesitant about serving it to me. A rough translation of "Dinuguan" is "bloody soup or stew," and it's commonly made with pork, offal and pork blood. The use of offal and pork blood would obviously turn off many people who aren't familiar with such dishes, or who don't have an adventurous palate. For myself, I've enjoyed other blood-based dishes before, such as Spanish Morcilla, blood sausage, so I was willing to try the Dinuguan.  

I spooned some of the Dinuguan atop my garlic rice, and it was a delicious combo. The Dinuguan was hearty, with pieces of tender pork and an intriguing, thick sauce, nicely spiced, with plenty of umami and a touch of tartness. If you didn't know it was made with blood, you probably wouldn't guess it from the taste alone. This is a dish that I'd order again and I'd recommend my friends with adventurous palates to give it a try.   

I can't wait to return to Pinoy Kabayan to sample more of their menu, and I would strongly recommend it to all of my readers. The food is delicious, hearty, reasonably priced, and it's great to experience Filipino cuisine, which is so rare in this area.