The North End is Boston’s Little Italy, an area of sheer bliss for any Italian food lover. This is Boston’s oldest neighborhood, with buildings dating back to the 17th century. In the 1800’s, it was the first stop for many Italian immigrants; generations later, you can still hear Italian spoken in shops and on the streets.
Today its narrow and twisty streets are chock-a-block with cafés, restaurants, bakeries, gelato shops, bars and Italian specialty stores. It’s an adventure just to stroll through the neighborhood and read the menus displayed outside the restaurants. But as true aficionados know, “Italian” is too generic a term. Here, you can narrow down what type of food experience you want by region: Napoli, Sicily, Abruzzi, Lombardy, Piedmont and so on.
Cozy, romantic, and upscale, Mamma Maria has been serving Northern Italian cuisine in its gorgeous row house setting for more than 40 years. Five dining rooms of differing sizes make the space feel very intimate, and the familial service is always topnotch. Though the menu changes daily, diners can usually count on the delicious and classically-prepared osso buco with saffron risotto, considering its popularity among local eaters.
While Mamma Maria feels like a hidden gem, Ristorante Villa Francesca feels like a warm embrace, especially when its full-size windows on the street are wide open, and passersby get to glimpse the tempting Italian seafood on patrons’ plates. The prix fixe seafood dinner is one of the best deals around, offering dishes like lobster ravioli and cioppino (a mixed seafood stew of clams, mussels, calamari, fish and shrimp), plus a dessert for a very reasonable price.
Perhaps less upscale, but no less beloved, is Regina Pizzeria, which has been serving up pies since 1926, each one cooked in its brick ovens. For many, the North End simply means a slice at Regina’s, and though there are other branches, the North End outpost is a classic, where nothing but pizza, sbeer and wine) is available.
Some restaurants in the North End don’t serve dessert, allowing the numerous pastry shops and cafés to own that course. Mike’s Pastry on Hanover Street is world-renowned for its cannolis, and just one block away, also on Hanover, is Modern Pastry, which can hold its own against Mike’s and usually has much shorter lines. Though, in this part of the city, it’s easy to stumble upon a gelateria, pastry house or low-key Italian joint that serves up superior versions of hearty foods you’ve been eating your whole life. That’s why locals and tourists alike flock to the Italian-centric North End.
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Food & Drink in Tyngsboro
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Left Bank Restaurant at Stonehedge Inn & Spa
Upscale Three-Course Dinner for Two or Four at Left Bank Restaurant at Stonehedge Inn & Spa (Up to 53% Off)
Inn restaurant with a four-diamond rating from American Automobile Association and Grand Award from Wine Spectator
Tyngsborough
$115 $55
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Feng Shui embraces the culinary traditions of both China and Japan while updating its menu seasonally, garnering praise from the Boston Business Journal and New England Cable News for its extensive selection. Stir-fried orders of chicken, beef, and seafood arrive laden with ginger or signature sauces, and sushi chefs roll maki with traditional tuna and salmon or such innovative combinations as strawberry and wasabi aioli. Other menu items includes creamy crispy deep-fried jumbo shrimp with coconut sauce and spicy orders of Mala chicken, as well as signature sushi rolls like red sox maki and tempura lobster.
150 Westford Road
Tyngsborough,
MA
US
Families descend upon Goss Farm’s rolling fields filled with ripening vegetables and farm animals for sundry delightful autumn activities. With a path trimmed and cut to represent the loving logo of Children's Hospital Boston, a nurse cradling a child, the 5-acre corn MAiZE tests visitors' navigational skills with labyrinth-like twists and turns, which disorient guests more effectively than guzzling a bucket of cough syrup. Additionally, Goss Farm will donate a portion of the proceeds from the weekends of September 24th and October 15th to the Children's Hospital of Boston.
446 Pleasant Street
Dunstable,
MA
US
At The Depot Grille and Bar?s onsite smokehouse, pitmasters slow-smoke racks of ribs, piles of pulled pork, and bundles of brisket. Flavored with housemade rubs and sauces, each meaty main course is served with corn bread and from-scratch sides such as pulled-pork chili or smoked baked beans. Barbecue flavors permeate many of the eatery?s other dishes, from barbecue-chicken quesadillas to specialty pizzas topped with smoked sausage or house-barbecue spices. Feasts unfold inside The Depot?s spacious dining room, where each booth is equipped with its own flat-screen TV.
112 Main St.
Pepperell,
MA
US
It would be wrong to assume that Left Bank Restaurant at Stonehedge Inn & Spa is nothing more than a hotel eatery?since its inception, the upscale restaurant has proved its mettle time and again with dozens of awards. It maintains a four-diamond rating from the American Automobile Association, and its robust wine cellar has won Wine Spectator magazine's Grand Award?its highest award available?for 17 years running. The hotel relies on the talents of executive chef Donna Whelden to prepare a culinary menu to match his legendary wine list.
160 Pawtucket Boulevard
Tyngsborough,
MA
US
It would be wrong to assume that Left Bank Restaurant at Stonehedge Inn & Spa is nothing more than a hotel eatery?since its inception, the upscale restaurant has proved its mettle time and again with dozens of awards. It maintains a four-diamond rating from the American Automobile Association, and its robust wine cellar has won Wine Spectator magazine's Grand Award?its highest award available?for 17 years running. The encyclopedic array of fine vintages seems daunting at first, but proprietor Levent Bozkurt helpfully divides the list by both region and varietal, making it easy to track down a favorite flavor, producer, or grape pen pal that stopped writing.
Levent relies on the talents of executive chef Donna Whelden to prepare a culinary menu to match his legendary wine list. The chef steps up to the challenge with Lobster Thermidor and Grilled Beef Tenderoin with Mushroom Bread Pudding.
160 Pawtucket Boulevard
Tyngsborough,
MA
US
The comforting flavors of home cooking with the convenience of dining out: that's what's offered at Caffe il Cipresso. The cozy Italian eatery whips up dishes to order, ensuring classics such as veal marsala, lasagna Toscana, and linguine alle Vongole arrive at tables packed with fresh flavors. That same care is extended to the dining details—the kitchen staff also bake their bread daily and create all their sauces from scratch, policies that earn them rave reviews from guests and taste buds that can type. The restaurant also provides on-site catering, and hosts private parties.
130 Middlesex Rd
Tyngsboro,
MA
US
