Restaurants in Lynn

Sixty2 on Wharf is owned by Tony Bettencourt, the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts–trained former chef of the acclaimed Tomasso Trattoria in Southborough. Since opening in 2008, Sixty2 has seduced Salem stomachs with contemporary re-inventions of Italian classics. Bettencourt's meals use local and fresh ingredients shipped to the restaurant via seahorse-drawn gondola. The antipasti platter ($22) allows the chef to drop some knowledge on your plate, as he fills the plate with whichever antipasti options he deems best for the climate and current astrological alignment. Pasta dishes include the potato-filled cappellacci ($24 for full size) and the ribbon-like tagliatelle with a traditional meat-based Bolognese sauce ($26 for full size), while an assortment of entrees ($22–$30) include duck, lamb, chicken, and sea scallops seasoned and spiced to flavorful magnificence. The warm toffee-pudding dessert is a sweet salvo guaranteed to lob a taste grenade at any lingering post-entree hunger.

Wrapini's Houdinis work meal-making magic with a menu of wraps, paninis, pizzas, subs, and more—all prepared with the best meats and the freshest vegetables. Consolidate Thanksgiving into a single serving with the Mayflower wrap ($6.55)—containing real roasted turkey, herb stuffing, and cranberry sauce—or slip on your supping spurs for the Cranberry Bog Wrap ($6.55) and its patter call of chicken salad, cheddar, walnuts, craisins, greens and honey mustard on a spinach wrap. All wraps can also be grilled to create "wrapinis." Traditionalists can stick to classic "ini"-ism with Wrapini's paninis, such as the chicken-parm panini ($6.55)—served on focaccia bread and topped with marinara sauce and provolone cheese—or the Wild West panini ($7.95), a culinary Conestoga wagon of chicken cutlet, provolone, bacon, red onion, lettuce, tomato, barbecue sauce, and ranch dressing. Everyone can buy up to four Groupons, so give yourself a week’s worth of excuses to sneak away from the office during lunch.

Back when Cilantro opened in 2002, Boston Magazine praised the eatery for its "authentic, hearty, and diverse Mexican specialties," which they called "breaths of fresh air." More than a decade later, owner and executive chef Esther Marin still aims to keep her lunch, dinner, and dessert menus interesting, creating new recipes that infuse Mediterranean flavors into upscale Mexican dishes. Using only all-natural ingredients, she crafts entrees that range from cheese-stuffed meatballs in chipotle sauce to pork chops crowned with chihuahua cheese and pineapples. A selection of 48 tequilas wash down meals inside a dining room wrapped in exposed brick walls that keep diner’s conversations from escaping the restaurant.

Organic Garden Cafe's vegetarian, organic dishes have earned the eatery nods in Edible Boston, Boston Magazine's "Best of Boston 2009," and Northshore Magazine's Best of Northshore Awards from 2009 to 2011. As owner Robert Reid told Edible Boston, the menu consists largely of gourmet raw foods, but has evolved to include "transitional items" such as hot soups, which widen the eatery's appeal. Pizzas on buckwheat, carrot, or flax crusts and nut butter 'squash' ravioli are heated under a food lamp, so that the food remains 80 to 90 percent raw, yet "tastes like it just came out of the oven." He's also added more seasonal and local items, working with nearby farms such as First Light Farm in Hamilton for greens and root veggies.

The café's staff also whip up smoothies at its juice bar, such as the Yoda's Jedi smoothie with strawberries, bananas, dates, and spirulina. Customers can also add a boost to their drinks with smoothie enhancers such as flax oil, maca root, bee pollen, and poltergeist sweat.

Veteran executive chef, Joe Guarino of Red Rock Bistro, devised lunch, brunch, and dinner menus brimming with haute cuisine and fresh-caught seafood. Gazes wander to the restaurant's massive bay window and the expansive beachfront and picturesque skyline vistas beyond before settling on flatbread pizzas bubbling with gourmet cheeses or house-made ricotta gnocchi. Delicate sauces simmered from lemon and thyme, maple bourbon, sweet onion, and other flavors season fillets of seafood and hearty chops of steak and filet mignon. Thursday through Sunday, Red Rock celebrates life with live music, which ricochets from glasses, breaks up Super Soaker fights on the patio, and bounces out across open waters as musicians cook up the sound of blues, rock, and jazz.

Today, Victoria Station in Salem is unique—but it wasn't always. In 1970, inspired by the landmark Victoria Station in London, three Cornell Hotel School graduates created a restaurant with English touches, such as a bright-red phone booth and authentic train cars they'd turned into dining cars. They opened up in San Francisco, and the business grew. By the 1980s, there were about 100 Victoria Station locations in the United States and around the world. Johnny Cash did a stint as their spokesman.

But the company filed for bankruptcy in 1986. Its rise and fall is documented in Tom Blake's book Prime Rib and Boxcars: Whatever Happened to Victoria Station? The waterfront Salem location was the very last to open, and it's the only one left.

Today, the restaurant has gone in its own direction, drawing inspiration from both the restaurant's past and its current surroundings. Classic New England cuisine and old steak-house favorites mingle comfortably on the menu. The chefs coat haddock in a seasoned cracker crust to bake and serve with chardonnay and fresh lemon juice, and the slow-roasted prime rib that made the original restaurant famous still has a place on the menu. Diners can also order up house favorites, such as lobster mac 'n' cheese with five-cheese béchamel sauce and cornbread shallot crumbs, or they can opt for an Angus burger.

Vic's Boathouse, a bar and lounge, opened in 2010. There, diners can request a local or craft brew, order a martini, or pick from the pub menu. The bar hosts nightly live entertainment, including open-mic sessions, live musicians, and karaoke, which makes for lively evenings without the expense of hiring a DJ for family dinner.