Get Ready to Eat, Drink, and Celebrate at the 2023 Best of Boston Soirée
Here's what you'll be eating at Roadrunner in Brighton on August 9.
La Royal, the 2023 Best Peruvian winner, will be serving ceviche at the event. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Our annual Best of Boston soirée is just one week away, and we can’t wait to see you at Roadrunner in Brighton on August 9 to celebrate our fantastic Best of Boston 2023 winners—it’ll be an action-packed evening of food, drinks, and entertainment. (Still need a ticket? Grab it right here.)
Over here in the Boston restaurant section, we’re particularly excited about the food, of course. So many of our current and past winners will be in attendance, serving all sorts of tasty treats. We don’t want to spoil all the surprises, but we got in touch with a few restaurants in the event lineup to see what they’ll be feeding the crowds (hopefully including you!) next Wednesday. Here’s a sneak peek:
- Barra (2023 Best Mexican Restaurant): This fabulous Mexican restaurant and bar in Somerville’s Union Square will be serving its refreshing cactus salad, which mixes nopales with cherry tomatoes, avocado, cheese, crispy tortilla strips, red onions, and oregano dressing.
- La Royal (2022 Best New Restaurant and 2023 Best Peruvian Restaurant): The team behind La Royal serves stellar ceviche at the Cambridge restaurant and its older sibling in Somerville, Celeste, so we’re thrilled they’ll be serving ceviche de pescado at the event. (By the way, did you know that La Royal has a new patio and new weekday lunch service?)
- La Saison (2021 Best Croissants, 2022 Best Bakery, and 2023 Best Slice of Cake): Stationed in the VIP section, this Cambridge bakery will be offering a variety of gluten-free and dairy-free cookies: almond, hazelnut, and pistachio-rosewater.
- Mahaniyom (2022 and 2023 Best Thai Restaurant): The Brookline Village stunner will be serving beef hang lay tacos. Hang lay is a northern Thai curry with rich flavors and spices, the team tells us, traditionally served as a festive dish. Here, it’ll be served in taco shells with pickled radish and cilantro. Consider this a sneak preview: The dish might appear on the menu at Merai, Mahaniyom’s forthcoming sibling, which is slated to open later this year.
- Row 34 (2014 Best Neighborhood Restaurant, Fort Point/Waterfront, 2017 Best Seafood Restaurant, 2018 Best Beer Program, 2021 Best Lobster Roll, and 2023 Best Raw Bar): The seafood-loving crew will be shucking oysters from a mobile raw bar boat.
- Suya Joint (2023 Best West African Restaurant): The Nubian Square gem will be serving vegetarian-friendly vegetable samosas as well as beef samosas with dipping stew.
- Xenia Greek Hospitality (culinary director Brendan Pelley is the 2023 Best Chef, General Excellence winner): The restaurant group behind Bar Vlaha, Krasi, and more will be serving taramasalata with caviar on a potato chip with chives. (Have you read our recent feature on Bar Vlaha, which is currently one of the hottest tables in town?)
- Yafa Bakery & Café (2023 Best New Bakery): The team from this Somerville bakery, which showcases flavors of the Middle East, will be serving a selection of its most popular treats, including walnut baklava with cardamom and cinnamon; palma with chocolate and coconut; and almondo.
Check out the full restaurant lineup here—in addition to the folks above, lots more will be in attendance, including JM Curley, Sweet Cheeks Q, Neptune Oyster, and Mida. There’ll also be plenty of cocktails to try; Casa Noble Fine Tequila is presenting the event.
The location for the Best of Boston extravaganza, Roadrunner, is the 2022 and 2023 Best Large Music Venue winner. The spacious venue (50,000 square feet!) from the Bowery Presents opened in early 2022 at Boston Landing and is New England’s largest indoor general admission venue. Taking public transportation? The Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line or buses 57, 64, and 86 will drop you nearby, while the Green Line’s B branch will bring you about a 15-minute walk away (Allston Street or Harvard Avenue stop). For parking, try nearby paid garages at 40, 71, 80, or 100 Guest St.
Here’s that ticket link again, and we look forward to seeing you next week!
