With all of Boston’s recent restaurant closures, Chowder’s been suffering from a bout of recession fatigue. The remedy? Go where the rich people go, and act like our wallets are fat with cash. And so we boarded the Friday night fast ferry from Hyannis, checked into the lovely Union Street Inn (Marble bathrooms! Frette sheets! Toiletries from Fresh!), and proceeded to eat our way through Nantucket town and ‘Sconset. Here’s what’s new for the 2009 season:

Corazon Del Mar, a fresh spot from The Pearl and Boarding House proprietors Seth and Angela Raynor, brings Latin flavor to town. A ceviche bar plays up the island’s seafood—don’t miss the fluke carpaccio with chives, lime, and chili sauce, or the raw oysters with pineapple mignonette—as do dishes like fish tacos and moqueca, a Brazilian fish stew. The respectable tequila and cocktail selections keep the upstairs bar hopping, too. (We’ll vouch for the strength of the Pisco Sours.) Continue reading “Restaurant Report: Nantucket Edition” »

The Millennium Bostonian Hotel sits on a prime patch of real estate–directly across from Faneuil Hall, a stone’s throw from the North End–but no one seems to know about it. Or, at least, here’s the standard reaction I got when I mentioned I was going to check out North 26, the new restaurant there:

“The what?”

“The hotel near Faneuil Hall.”

“Oohhhh yeeeeeeah. That place.”

So, there’s a marketing problem.

There’s another problem: The restaurant doesn’t deliver quite what it promised in early press releases–a modern New England cuisine using organic and sustainable ingredients.

Continue reading “First Bite: North 26” »