Restaurants in Burlington

Sibling Rivalry's chefs and brothers, David and Bob Kinkead, push their lifelong, spirited competition into the kitchen, as they spar to create individual interpretations of seasonal ingredients. The warring cooks deliver choices centered around culinary staples such as beef, with David's grilled hanger steak taunting Bob's slow-braised beef short ribs, or seafood, such as sautéed sweet Maine shrimp facing off against crispy fried squid. The menu constantly changes with ingredient availability, double-dog-dares, and one-upmanship pushing the dishes to new heights, resulting in inventive cuisine such as crispy pressed half duck with parsnip purée and dried-cherry sauce.

While diners wash down bites with sips of wine and creative cocktails, their eyes dance across a dining room filled with hues of copper, beet, and crimson. Chef's bar seating entreats diners to gaze upon the busy inner workings of the kitchen, where they can see brotherly love, culinary combat, and furious games of I'm Not Touching You.

The Talk's owners keep their family recipe book wide open, just like the thick steel bank vault in their dining area, which also boasts a wine bar made of polished granite and wraparound booths that hug tables. Chef Billy Holt and his kitchen staff wrap their hands around fresh ingredients when preparing heirloom dishes, such as veal piccata, eggplant parmesan, and chicken marsala, as well as sea scallops broiled with seasoned bread crumbs and pan-seared trout with sun-dried tomatoes.

Sincere servers dart around the dapper dining area, jotting down orders, balancing trays, and seating private parties behind the vaulted door of the Vault room. In the dining room, guests lounge in beige booths and gaze at black-and-white photos or read the vinyl wall print that reads La Dolce Vita. The Talk also boasts awards such as "Best of the Best" in 2010, 2011, and 2012 from Market Surveys of America, and was voted the number one choice for dinner by Reader's Choice Awards in 2011.

Penguin Pizza’s dough-melding staff prepares each of its 22 specialty thin-crust pizzas by hand. The same treatment is applied to custom pies, which can be topped with the menu’s “usual” ingredients, such as onions, pepperoni, and mushrooms, or its “unusual” fixings, such as smoked salmon, pulled pork, or duck confit. The casual eatery complements its pizzas with a line-up of draft beers and orders of homemade chili, spaghetti and meatballs, beer-battered pickles, and spicy wings that allow diners to taste the heat without trying to get a tan on their tongues. Though not included with this Groupon, Penguin Pizza features 335 beers.

As you sit down on one of the The Red Hat's green vinyl barstools and lift a mug of lager to your lips, you might be replicating the movements of a patron from more than 100 years ago. Except that he or she would have snuck a nervous glance at the back door between every sip. The historic establishment survived the Prohibition era in Scollay Square—an area known for its bawdy vaudeville theater and risqué entertainment—by functioning as a reputable restaurant by day and a speakeasy by night.

Though the taps now flow freely in the daylight, some things at The Red Hat haven't changed. The menu still provides sailors, dockworkers, and local shoppers with hearty, comforting dishes of wings, fried fish, and other pub snacks. As Mike Dunphy of Beacon Hill Patch put it, "The Red Hat is a rare reminder of Boston's yesteryear, bringing an earthy spice to the more refined palate of Beacon Hill—an unpretentious watering hole to gain some courage for the climb." The exposed brick, wood-paneled walls, and old-timey memorabilia also give the space a turn-of-the-century feel. So do the nostalgic street-scene murals depicting the days when Saturns were Studebakers and people walked their Electrolux vacuums instead of pet dogs.

Brightly colored walls, a permanent display of paintings by Dominican artists, and flavorful tropical dishes helped net Merengue a nod for Best Caribbean Restaurant in Boston Magazine's Best of Boston 2008. The kitchen yields a spread of meat and seafood items that range from fried pork skins and steak tips cooked in creole sauce to shrimp gumbo and a grilled red snapper in garlic-and-parsley sauce. Merengue’s two dining rooms seat 90 people, and a private room with WiFi and a PowerPoint screen projector provide ample meeting-room space. Catering menus for weddings and banquets offer a variety of serving styles, including formal seated dinners, self-serve buffets, and spoon feedings performed with accompanying airplane sounds.

Those seeking Grappa Restaurant might be surprised by where they find it—nestled inside a small building that used to be a house, in the middle of an industrial-warehouse street, between two commercial districts. But behind the front door lies a different atmosphere—only 11 tables sit inside the 700-square-foot space, surrounded by walls striped in pale yellow and blue and decorated with Botticelli paintings. At the center of the room, venetian Fortuny lamps cast light from behind white and yellow silk emblazoned with gold designs. The petite restaurant reverberates with classic pop tunes by singers such as Frankie Valli, often accompanied by crooning from the restaurant's three servers—Will, Carol, and Natalie—who also urge the regular clientele to join them.

Grappa Restaurant's chefs base their menu of traditional Italian food on dishes from the owner's childhood, when her grandmother and mother would fill the kitchen with aromas of seared veal, chicken, and marsala-wine sauce. The chefs conjure these familial scents and flavors as they stuff veal or chicken saltimbocca with ham and mozzarella; toss fettuccine bolognese with chicken sausage, meat sauce, and basil-almond pesto; and drape spinach-and-ricotta ravioli in housemade tomato sauce. Servers often end meals much like sophisticated elementary-school students end food fights: with traditional Italian desserts such as housemade ricotta cannolis.