For visitors coming to Harvard for Commencement week and alumni events, here’s a selection of restaurants, spanning many cuisines, that are suitable for gatherings of all kinds—from casual to fancy, and spirited to cozy.
At the Margeaux Supper Parlor, New England meets New Orleans. The airy L-shaped restaurant in the Porter Square Hotel (1924 Massachusetts Avenue) feels chic without being pretentious. Dine at marble-topped tables and in cushy nooks, beneath cut-glass chandeliers, or stop in for cocktails at the boomerang-shaped bar, where servers are warm and welcoming. Appetizers include smoky andouille sausage gumbo and duck confit crêpes. For entrées try the “themed tasting collections,” a trio of dishes (say fried chicken, Maine lobster gnocchi, and pumpkin ravioli) paired with wines. For a final, not overly sweet note, the kitchen prepares cherries jubilee, with house-made ice cream and a crisp oatmeal cookie.
Two blocks away, the festive Gustazo (2067 Massachusetts Avenue) serves innovative Cuban food, including robust vegetarian options like a mushroom-stuffed shepherd’s pie with salsa verde, along with the more traditional grilled pulpo (octopus) and slow-roasted pork with caramelized onions and maduros (fried sweet plantains). The creative cooks at Black Ruby (1790 Massachusetts Avenue), which opened earlier this year, serve zesty Thai takes on “American” pasta, burgers, and sandwiches. Grilled chicken satay comes on a brioche bun, slathered with peanut sauce and layered with cilantro, bell peppers, onions, and shredded carrots, while a roll with tom yum shrimp (Asian hot-and-sour style) melds with mushrooms and arugula under a creamy herbed mayonnaise, topped with a sprinkling of salmon roe.
Judy’s Bay (279A Broadway), a shoebox of a restaurant, serves small plates of exquisite Japanese dishes, focusing on seafood. Roasted skate is coated with lemon juice, scallions, and chili flakes. Cucumber chunks are soaked in sour plum wine. Diced carrots and celery dot a dish of gently fried rice. The dumplings, packed with pork, slip into the mouth amid a delicate broth. The room accommodates maybe two dozen diners in a calm, darkish atmosphere, where the kitchen, surprisingly quiet, is separated by a curtain. By contrast, Dumpling House (950 Massachusetts Avenue), a few blocks east of Harvard Square, is a bustling hub. Servers plunk down piles of Chinese food, from a huge menu, in a pleasant, if generic, interior. Go with a large group and try a variety of dishes—including the tender mini soup dumplings and the salted egg custard bun (a bowl under the chin catches any drippings).
More refined, but still relaxed, is Oak Bistro in Inman Square (1287 Cambridge Street). Twinkling lights and plants adorn an interior with some exposed brick, wooden tables, walls painted in pinks and creams, and buttery yellow banquettes. The food defies labels: dishes are billed as a “celebration of flavors, stemming from diverse origins, and carrying a distinctly modern essence.” That covers plenty: from blueberry ricotta cornbread and a Middle Eastern mezze plate to artichoke cakes and grilled steak with potatoes—and all of it good and fresh.
Closer to Boston, on the edge of Kendall Square, The Helmand (143 First Street) serves Afghan cuisine. It’s great for big groups or intimate dinners, in a sunny yellow space with wall displays of Afghan vases, traditional clothing, and photographs. Try pastry stuffed with ground beef and onions (mantwo), pallow rice with lamb tenderloin with carrots and plumb raisins (qabelee), or leek ravioli (aushak).
And in Harvard Square, explore two superb celebratory standbys. Adjacent to The Brattle theater, Alden & Harlow (40 Brattle Street), decorated in a retro-industrial style in a semi-subterranean space (there are a few windows), feels like a hideaway despite its ample size and garrulous crowd. The innovative “New American” menu includes, for example, cauliflower Caesar salad with capers and a burrata plate with toasted yam-and-miso bread and spicy honey. The cooks also like to tweak comfort food, as in the smoked and fried chicken “nuggets” with burnt-cherry hot sauce and grilled scallions. A few doors down, in a secluded alley with an outdoor patio, Harvest (44 Brattle Street) celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year. It offers a white-table-clothed, modern interior and one of the prettiest, coziest bars in the Square, along with an always excellent menu. Dishes tend toward classic French-inspired recipes, but with a New England accent: East Coast oysters, shrimp cocktail, or caviar gougères to start, followed by perfectly pan-seared salmon or a grilled ribeye steak (paired with garlic and parmesan tartine).
Whatever the taste, mood, or wallet size, there is a Cambridge restaurant to fit the bill.
