Boston’s 2018 Eater Award Winners

The best chefs, restaurants, and bars of the year

by Rachel Leah Blumenthal @blumie Dec 5, 2018

We are thrilled to announce the winners of the ninth annual Eater Awards, celebrating the chefs and restaurants that made the largest impact on all 24 Eater cities over the past 12 months.

As noted throughout the voting period last week, each city is giving out awards in five categories, and each category features an editors’ choice winner, as chosen by each city’s editorial staff, and a readers’ choice winner, as voted on in last week’s polls.

Editors’ choice winners will be receiving a traditional Eater tomato can trophy and a feature story in the coming year, and readers’ choice winners get plenty of bragging rights. Nominees were picked by Eater editorial staff from among all restaurants that opened since shortly before last year’s awards — late 2018 openings will be considered for next year’s awards — and in line with Eater Boston’s standard geographic radius for coverage, this year’s nominees come from Boston proper and a little bit beyond.

Here now are the establishments — from a lively Peruvian destination to a restaurant that melds Mediterranean cuisine with New England ingredients, from a casual Thai hot spot to an intimate wine bar — that have taken the Boston food world by storm this year.

Restaurant of the Year

Celeste
21 Bow St., Union Square, Somerville

Lomo saltado at Celeste Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

First: Head to the Celeste website and hit “play” on the Celeste radio. Now we can begin.

Created by a passionate team with roots in the arts — a filmmaker, an architect, a writer, an artist — Union Square’s new Peruvian spot Celeste is more of an experience than a restaurant. Sure, you’ll eat and drink, and it’s all wonderful, from the gorgeous ceviches to the fragrant lomo saltado, not to mention the pisco- and mezcal-based cocktails or the carefully chosen beer and wine selections. (Try Oyster River’s pét-nat, Morphos, a bubbly mainstay on the wine list that complements everything, including Celeste’s celebratory vibe.)

But it’s not just about the food. A lot of restaurants these days spout buzzwords about “community” when opening — restaurants can’t just be restaurants anymore; they also have to be gathering spaces, art projects, a home away from home. Many restaurants try, but Celeste achieves this, and in a tiny, improbable space, no less.

It’s a natural extension of the pop-up restaurant that co-founders JuanMa Calderon and Maria Rondeau ran out of their home. The moment you walk in, you’re a friend of the team. You’re in their bright, pristinely decorated living room, and it’s also an art gallery, a listening booth, a friendly oasis in a rapidly changing neighborhood. Order a pisco sour, sit back, and take it all in.

Chef of the Year

John daSilva of Chickadee
The Innovation and Design Building, 21 Dry Dock Ave., Seaport District, Boston

Many locals first got to know John daSilva’s food when he was at the helm of the small, lovely kitchen at Somerville’s Spoke Wine Bar, but before that, he was at Barbara Lynch’s No. 9 Park, where he and Chickadee co-owner Ted Kilpatrick forged a connection that would eventually beget the shiny Seaport District restaurant named for Massachusetts’ state bird.

At Chickadee, daSilva marries Mediterranean cuisine with New England ingredients; the pastas, in particular, are a highlight on the dinner menu (but don’t think of this as an Italian restaurant — at lunch, it’s all about the pitas and dips). Fans of daSilva’s work at Spoke should start with the squid ink fusilli, featuring a delicate ink and olive breadcrumb topping that is a callback to those Somerville days. But the rest of the menu delights, too, as daSilva showcases unexpected pairings that taste like they were always meant to be together. Take the roasted porchetta, for example, which is garnished with fried peanuts and a light anchovy-based sauce called colatura. In the summer, there was also watermelon and jalapeno on the plate; now, it’s Brussels sprouts and pear. It’s a truly unique dish that comes together so easily, you’ll wonder why you never thought to combine those ingredients.

Design of the Year

Nahita
100 Arlington St., Back Bay, Boston

Nahita Nahita [Official Photo]

Nahita is a truly international endeavor: The cuisine is Latin-American-meets-Asian, with a focus on Nikkei cuisine, or the intersection between Peruvian and Japanese. (Think lots of carefully plated raw fish dishes, from tiraditos and ceviches to sashimi.) But there’s also a hint of Turkey, as the ownership team Doğuş Restaurant Entertainment and Management (d.ream) is based there. (The group is also behind the growing restaurant chain of Turkish butcher and internet sensation “Salt Bae.”)

For the design of Nahita — which is the group’s first New England restaurant and draws inspiration from one of their Turkish restaurant brands, Fenix — d.ream called back the design firm that worked on Fenix, Istanbul- and London-based Zeynep Fadıllıoglu Design.

Like Fenix, Nahita is filled with impressive columns, intricate tile work, and a striking mural, all brought together by lush greenery. There’s leather, marble, and luxury. It’s a palace, it’s a jungle, it’s a venue equally suited for a festive celebration, a romantic evening, or a business meeting. Nahita even has a secretive bar space, open by special invitation or rentable for private events, called Fenix.

Design of the Year Readers’ Choice Winner

Casa Caña
Studio Allston, 1234 Soldiers Field Rd., Allston

Casa Caña Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

It’s colorful, it’s fun, it’s full of frozen daiquiris. Located in the Studio Allston hotel — an attractive rebirth of the drab Days Hotel — Casa Caña provides a taste of Latin America, zeroing in on Cuba. The restaurant comes from a collaboration between the Lyons Group (Back Bay Social Club, Bleacher Bar, Sonsie, and lots more) and the team behind Southie’s Publico Street Bistro, and Boston-based architectural firm Dyer Brown worked on the project as well. There’s a tropical green-blue color scheme, wicker light fixtures, and a large selection of photographs of Cuba by Lucy Sargent Lyons, who is the daughter of Lyons Group founder Patrick Lyons. Plus, there’s a great patio.

Fast-Casual Restaurant of the Year

Dakzen
195 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville

Tom yum noodle soup at Dakzen Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

There’s nothing wrong with the standard Thai-American delivery and takeout American diners have grown accustomed to; we all need a heaping pile of sweet pad thai and crispy spring rolls now and then. But for those who want to delve into unapologetically funky, fishy, fiery Thai food that doesn’t hold back, the Boston area is fortunate to have a growing Thai restaurant scene in this vein. One of the latest additions, Dakzen, will redefine what you think of as pad thai — the dried shrimp are key — and introduce you to a wide array of soups, noodles, and curries that will have you booking your trip to Thailand right away.

A few must-tries, although everything is superb: The tom yum noodle soup, packed with ground peanuts, ground pork, fish cake, fish balls, and more, delivers a spicy and sour slow burn. The khao soi is gentler, a warming taste of northern Thailand, and peppercorns bring the pad kee mow to new heights. Keep an eye out for specials, too: The restaurant featured several different curries for a week at a time throughout November, and each was a winner.

The bustling restaurant falls somewhere between fast-casual and full-service; a server will take your order at the table, immediately collect payment, and later deliver the food, but it’s up to you to grab utensils and such from a table in the back. And please, bus your table when you’re done.

Fast-Casual Restaurant of the Year Readers’ Choice Winner

Hot Box
1 Bow Market Way, Bow Market, Union Square, Somerville

From the team behind popular Bay Village sandwich shop Mike & Patty’s comes Hot Box, a restaurant that focuses on two distinct regional specialties that get locals’ nostalgia going. One, still playing on the team’s sandwich skills, is the North Shore-style roast beef sandwich, featuring rare, thinly sliced roast beef on a sesame seed or onion roll (depending on the sandwich size) and the traditional “three-way” topping combo of mayo, barbecue sauce, and American cheese. The other half of Hot Box is South Shore bar pizza, featuring perfectly browned cheese that reaches almost to the edge of the charred crust. Will you choose sandwich or pizza, North Shore or South Shore? (Choose both — no one’s stopping you — and then bring your food into one of Bow Market’s fine drinking establishments, such as Remnant Brewing or Eater Boston 2018 Bar of the Year nominee Rebel Rebel.)

Bar of the Year

Nathálie Wine Bar
186 Brookline Ave., Fenway, Boston

Nathálie Wine Bar Nathálie Wine Bar [Official Photo]

2018 was a good year for unique wine lists, intimate spaces, and unique wine lists in intimate spaces. Much like its big sister Haley.Henry, a Downtown Crossing hit, Nathálie delivers the goods in Fenway. The long, narrow space feels like a special hideaway, especially in the chaos of a neighborhood full of enthusiastic sports fans and new developments sprouting up every day. The genial staff will guide you toward a wine you’ve never seen, most likely from a small-production, natural, woman-owned winery. Let one of those cozy blue bar stools — chairs, really — envelop you as you drink.

While Nathálie’s focus is on the wine, don’t overlook the food. The menu is short but covers the bases, from wine-friendly snacks like smothered toasts, corn nuts, and olives to a rotating selection of larger entrees, like pork shoulder lasagna.

Owner Haley Fortier, managing partner Kristie Weiss, and executive chef David Cavilla, all alums of Barbara Lynch’s empire, built up a magical little space downtown and have done it again in Fenway, providing the perfect destination whether it’s baseball season or not.

Bar of the Year Readers’ Choice Winner

Backlash Beer Company
152 Hampden St., Roxbury, Boston

Longtime contract brewer, first-time brewery: Backlash, established back in 2011, finally opened its own space in an old piano factory in Roxbury and took the readers’ choice vote for 2018 Bar of the Year. It’s a solid taproom, offering the now-expected combination of snacks, games, and the like, but it’s also a boon for its neighborhood, a fairly industrial intersection in Roxbury without too many dining and drinking options in the immediate vicinity. Look at the larger area, though, and it’s becoming quite a space for local beverage brands, with Bully Boy Distillers a five-minute walk down the street and Dorchester Brewing Company just a mile away. Head to Backlash for strong IPAs, stouts, and more.

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