Boston's Best Tasting Menus
From French to American cuisine, some of Boston's best restaurants offer diners the chance to have a tasting menu or prix-fixe multiple-course meal. With many featuring seasonal ingredients and chef's specialties, it allows you to get a real feel for the style of cooking the restaurant represents and to enjoy the creativity the chef brings to the menu. Though pricing may be a bit higher than the average meal, perfectly paired wines are chosen to complement the dishes and guests can feast on high-quality ingredients in an upscale environment. Check out a few options serving a tasting menu below.
Menton
354 Congress Sti
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 737-0099
www.mentonboston.com
Price: $95 for four-course prix-fixe menu; $155 for seven-course chef's tasting menu; $260 for seven-course chef's tasting menu and wine pairings
At Barbara Lynch's Menton in Boston's Fort Point neighborhood, there are two different tasting menus offered to patrons who wish to have a unique dining experience. Choose from the four-course prix-fixe menu or go all out with the seven-course chef's tasting menu, featuring optional wine pairings. The menus are inspired by French and Italian cuisine. From lobster to lamb, they feature a wide range of shellfish and meats, vegetables and fruits to allow guests a variety of tastes and dishes. Such options might include rock crabs, littleneck clams, crimson berry tea or dark chocolate.
Market By Jean-Georges
100 Stuart St
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 310-6790
www.marketbyjgboston.com
Price: $62 for five-course Market Menu; $107 for five-course Market Menu and wine pairings; $55 for three-course Pre-Theatre Menu
Market by Jean-Georges is located at the W Hotel in downtown Boston. A contemporary restaurant, the menu features unique twists on favorite dishes like pizza, raw seafood, beef and a wide range of side dishes. Market offers a three-course Pre-Theatre tasting menu Sunday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Recent menu selections have included mozzarella pizza with tomato and basil, veal Milanese and a salted-caramel ice cream sundae to end the meal on a sweet note. There is also a chef's tasting menu, the Market Menu, with five-courses including dishes like hamachi sashimi and soy-glazed short ribs with apple-jalapeño purée and rosemary crumbs.
Craigie On Main
853 Main St
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 497-5511
www.craigieonmain.com
Price: $95 for six-course Craigie Experience menu; $115 for eight-course Ultimate Craigie Experience menu
Craigie On Main features award-winning chef Tony Maws' local, seasonal and organic French cuisine. To indulge in some of the best dishes Craigie has to offer, there is a six-course tasting menu called The Craigie Experience or an eight-course tasting menu called The Ultimate Craigie Experience. Each tasting menu can be ordered to cater vegetarian appetites as well. Though the menu frequently changes, a sample of what could be served might include roasted grass-fed beef bone marrow, sweetbreads a la poele, Vermont pheasant two-ways and bittersweet chocolate mousse tart.
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Clio Restaurant
370A Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 536-7200
www.cliorestaurant.com
Price: $115 for seven-course tasting menu; $190 for seven-course tasting menu and wine pairings; $135 for 10-course tasting menu; $125 for 10-course tasting menu and wine pairings; $155 for 14-course tasting menu; $260 for 14-course tasting menu and wine pairings
Chef Ken Oringer's Clio showcases his culinary skills and fresh ingredients with various tasting menu options. Choose from between seven to 14 courses of plate after plate delight. Located under one of Boston's best boutique hotels, The Eliot Hotel, Clio has been renovated and the menu has been updated as well. Expect to see first courses along the lines of marinated yellowtail, roasted onion and radish salad, sunflower seed risotto and foie gras ravioli. Entrees might include buttermilk-braised organic chicken, Atlantic salmon, sweet-butter basted Maine lobster and veal scallopine. Need you hear more?
L'Espalier
774 Boylston St
Boston, MA 02199
(617) 262-3023
www.lespalier.com
Price: Various menus ranging from $90 to $200
Chef McClelland has created an environment at L'Espalier in the Back Bay where visitors can customize the perfect meal. L'Espalier has chef's tasting menus but it also allows for you to create your own combinations based on other selections available from recent seasonal menus. For lunch, there are menus to order a la carte dishes, a five-course seasonal tasting menu with optional wine pairings, the Seasonal Degustation and then the Chef's Tasting Journey, which is inspired by and features New England cuisine. Then for dinner, a three-course Prix Fixe menu is available for $90, a four-course vegetarian Seasonal Degustation is served for $100 and the Chef's Tasting Journey is available for $130 for the wine pairings and $200 for the meal. The spring menu has recently featured hay-braised spring rabbit shoulder, slow-poached Nova Scotia halibut and roasted Hudson Valley foie gras, to name a few of the decadent dishes.
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Michelle Levine is a creative energetic, young professional that is passionate about everything Boston has to offer. She loves to attend local events, dine out, and cook and wants to share her findings with you. Her work can be found on Examiner.com.
