Restaurant review of Coppa, in Boston's South End

The South End’s Coppa offers tasty tapas.

Fusilli with clams and fresh peas
Coppa’s elegant interior
Cured meats, specialties of the house.

Coppa 
253 Shawmut Avenue
Boston 02118
617-391-0902
Dinner daily, weekday lunch, and Sunday brunch
www.coppaboston.com

Cow’s heart, lamb’s tongue, tuna belly, and any edible parts of the pig—all are served with great care for the daring diner at Coppa, a newer South End restaurant that offers an imaginative array of Italian tapas and dreamy cocktails. Though these meats pop out on the menu—Coppa offers at least nine salumi (cured meats) plates, and sausages and salamis feature in many dishes—there is more diversity of foods and flavors than at first appears. Salads, vegetables, wood-fired pizzas, and rich homemade pastas are just as well done, especially the spicy sautéed broccoli rabe with plump raisins ($6) and the arugula tossed with shards of fennel and fiddlehead tomme ($9), a tangy cheese made in New Hampshire.

Popular with its neighbors and with foodies who come from all over, Coppa also offers a certain urban charm. It sits on a quieter corner behind Peters Park and offers sidewalk tables. The intimacy of the space works well; there is little car traffic. We recommend eating outside, which is always better in our opinion, and because the wait for an indoor table can be more than an hour. (The 40-seat restaurant doesn’t take reservations.) 

If you do go inside, Coppa’s wedge-shaped room with simple black-and-cream-colored décor is also appealing. At the narrowest end is the kitchen, so small that prep chefs have carved out a niche at the bar where they prepare the cured meats. The silvery mechanized Berkel slicer is sleek and rhythmic and oddly mesmerizing: we watched hunks of prosciutto transformed into elegant slices, our entertainment heightened by sipping one of Coppa’s specialty cocktails. We sampled a foam-topped “Cynar flip” ($9) made with egg whites and the eponymous, slightly bitter herbal-and-artichoke liqueur, which certainly whets the appetite. But the best light beverage on a warm night might be the enchanting Bella Fiore, made with Prosecco and a rhubarb- and hibiscus-flavored syrup, with a candied hibiscus flower tucked in the bottom of the flute, its pink tendrils floating upward through bubbles like an underwater sea creature. 

Our friendly waitress also seemed to know her wines and poured generous glasses straight from an open bottle she carried out from the bar. We started with the two raw oysters on the half shell ($5), rightly seasoned with a dab of puréed scallions, mustard seeds, and a splash of Prosecco and served atop a mound of wet sea salt, just for looks. A little too salty, but tender, was pork rillettes ($5), akin to an old-fashioned hash. The dish came with a single buttered toast triangle, which seemed skimpy. The pork was boldly tasty, especially compared with the more subtle pâté campagne ($9), mouth-watering, as it should be, with softly crunchy pistachios. 

More zingy was the paccheri di agnello, a lamb ragù with bright green fava beans and mint ($13). Mint with tomato sauce turns out to be a splendid idea—very refreshing. Interesting for its oceanic depth was a dish of fusilli with delicately cooked clams and mussels, presented in a light cream sauce with fresh peas ($13). 

Coppa offers only occasional sorbets for dessert, so instead, on impulse, we fished out the hibiscus flower from the bottom of our drink, split it in half, and were each delighted by its sweet, fleshy texture. A simple finish to a simply delicious meal.

Read more articles by Nell Porter-Brown
Related topics

You might also like

CiderDays Festival Celebrates All Things Apple

Visiting small-batch cideries and orchards in Massachusetts

Can an Orange a Day Stave off Depression?

A research study digs into the gut microbiome.

Restaurant Recommendations Cambridge 2025

Tastes from Cambridge’s eclectic restaurants

Most popular

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Harvard art historian Jennifer Roberts teaches the value of immersive attention

Teaching students the value of deceleration and immersive attention

Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival

Without Christopher Marlowe, there might not have been a Bard.

Explore More From Current Issue

Will Makris in blue checkered suit and red patterned tie standing outdoors by stone column.

A New HAA President at a Tumultuous Time

A career in higher ed inspired Will Makris to give back.

Whimsical illustration of students rushing through ornate campus gate from bus marked “Welcome New Students.”

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The Medical School goes coed, University poet wins Nobel Prize. 

Illustration of scientists injecting large syringe with mitochondria into human heart.

Do Mitochondria Hold the Power to Heal?

From Alzheimer’s to cancer, this tiny organelle might expand treatment options.