Best of Boston

It’s one thing for a restaurant to generate buzz during its first year in business. It’s quite another to be the talk of the town after five years. But talk this town does, about chef/owner Barbara Lynch’s No. 9 Park, a restaurant as perfect today as the day it opened. We’re not the only ones who think this. So do the fans who line up nightly for a seat in the stylish Beacon Hill dining room, and so does the James Beard Foundation, which this year named Lynch the best chef in the Northeast. What everyone is buzzing about is the masterful French and Italian creations coming from Lynch’s kitchen (and, in particular, the melt-in-your mouth signature prune-stuffed gnocchi). Delivered by the city’s best-trained, casual-but-professional wait-staff, and paired with an impressive wine list created by wine director Cat Silirie, dinner here is a delight from start to finish.