Restaurants in Framingham Center

Appetito's sleek, modern interior, with its burnished wood bar and polished windows, is indicative of the contemporary sensibilities with which its kitchen interprets classic Italian fare. Handmade pastas, fresh herbs, and seasonal heirloom vegetables furnish brunch, lunch, and dinner menus. On weekends, diners can sit down to a hearty brunch dish such as the challah french toast, which oozes with strawberries and rum-splashed bananas. During the week, the dining room hums with energy generated by tables chatting amicably and digging into five styles of focaccia paninis or savory pasta dishes, such as gnocchi polloi with mascarpone.

Visitors to Tom Can Cook quickly confirm that Tom, whoever he is, isn’t just feigning confidence. He's a master of Asian cuisines, fusing Thai, Korean, Szechuan, and Vietnamese influences for a menu with dozens of different sauces and proteins. Spicy kimchi fried rice hosts morsels of chicken or beef, and the similarly Korean okdol bibimbap mixes meat with veggies and an egg in a stone pot or sturdy top hat. Cooks sauté roasted duck in curry sauce before adding in snow peas, pineapple, and basil sauce to make it siam duck choo chee, and boneless pork loin enjoys a dressing of spicy basil sauce and bamboo shoots in the wild boar basil dish.

Inside the dining room, patrons nourish their bellies at white tablecloths while casting glances at Asian screens, decorative floral gewgaws, and oblong hanging lamps stationed throughout.

Owner Kitty Huang draws on more than 30 years of restaurant experience to run Jin's Fine Asian Cuisine and Sushi Bar, which opened in Wellesley this year. Zagat recommends sushi combos for lunch and cocktails and Hunan spicy salmon at night at this "family-run outpost" that "attracts families as well as nearby suits." While dodging the floating double-breasted jackets wandering the dining room, families can pick up crabstick nigiri or Red Sox maki, a spicy king crab roll with mango and tuna toppings.:m]]

The methods are ancient, but the ingredients are fresh. That's the case at Ten-Ichi Dynamic Kitchen & Bar, whose culinary traditions of hot pot and sushi date back more than a thousand years, and whose dishes are composed of fresh vegetables, fish, and thinly sliced meats. During hot-pot meals, diners simmer noodles, boneless short ribs, and raw shrimp in a pot of hot broth, taking control of their meals the way escaped convicts take control of unlocked tricycles. Diners also share dim sum—small plates of open-faced dumplings, savory pancakes, and steamed-rice crepes. They feast on these meals in a dining room of sleek, marbled surfaces, right down to the sushi bar where chefs assemble maki rolls with spicy yellowtail and salmon tempura.

The concept behind Samba Steak & Sushi House started to take shape in the early 20th century, when Japanese immigrants in Brazil and Peru began mixing local culinary influences with food from home. Simple, health-conscious Japanese cooking techniques mixed with spicier South American flavors, producing dishes seen in Samba's menu of wild-caught seafood, locally sourced produce, and organic sushi rice.

Hibachi chefs roast lobster tails, calamari, and sirloin steak on tabletop grills while diners watch this time-honored practice. In contrast, the sushi chefs incorporate more fusion elements by packing nontraditional ingredients into the specialty maki, such as coconut flakes, marinated red onions, and melted mozzarella cheese.

The hibachi grills' occasional bursts of flame complement the high-ceilinged dining room's predominantly orange- and red-hued walls and the glowing eyes of the head chef. To keep this space full beyond mealtimes, the restaurant also hosts regular events, including DJ performances, karaoke nights, and sushi-making classes.

As guests pass under Lewis' Restaurant and Grille's festive blue marquee, they enter an inviting world of Americana, with a bar that has been in place for generations and a kitchen offering up the appetizing aroma of freshly baked pizzas and Angus beef burgers. Guests share plates of buttermilk pancakes and eggs benedict during Sunday brunches and savor the tastes of inventive burgers and sandwiches, such as caprese-salad burgers or chicken-pesto sandwiches drizzled with balsamic reduction, all week long. Upscale haddock and salmon entrees satisfy refined palates, and a spread of bar food pleases crowds with chicken-finger baskets, tots, and tuna melts.

Though it has welcomed in families and bar regulars for decades, Lewis' has recently updated its interior with new bamboo flooring in the dining room and crisp dollar bills in the bar's cash register. Patrons regularly join in special events hosted by the bar, such as Tuesday-night trivia, where first-placers win a cash prize.