Every month, we ask a different local researcher: what are your favorite restaurants and hang-out spots in Boston?
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Anna Kushnir, NNB blogger, immunology graduate student, Harvard Medical School
Best place to meet other scientists:
Seminars on the Harvard Medical School quad and Biotech Tuesday (a monthly gathering of biotech professionals in Boston)
Best place to celebrate getting published in your journal of choice (or defending your PhD thesis):
Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square. It serves fantastic French-inspired food and the bartenders are friendly and fun. It’s large enough that your personal celebration won’t detract from anyone else’s evening.
Best place to escape and decompress:
Anywhere on the water: Gloucester, MA, Newport, RI and Crane Beach near Ipswich, MA are good spots. On Georges Island in Boston’s outer harbor, you can picnic and explore the Civil War-era fort. Watch out for the packs of geese though; do not leave your lunch unattended. I speak from personal experience.
Best place in Boston to live:
I vote for Brighton. It offers a mix of people and cultures: Orthodox Jews, Russian retirees, and (often drunk) college kids.
Favorite restaurant:
Ten Tables in Jamaica Plain. Ask for the chef’s table and order the tasting menu. Watch the two chefs dance around the tiny kitchen as they prepare a five-course meal of seasonal and local ingredients.
Favorite pub/bar:
The B-Side Lounge near Inman Square in Cambridge and the Audubon Circle Restaurant and Bar near Kenmore Square. The B-Side is full of dark wood, heavily tattooed servers, and amazing food. The Audubon is always relaxed and reliably good.
Favorite café:
KooKoo Café in Brookline Village. You wouldn’t notice this small café if you weren’t looking for it, but it is absolutely charming. The dishes are handmade in the neighboring pottery studio while the Middle Eastern snacks and sandwiches are made onsite. And the owners happen to own and run the yoga studio next door.
For other recommendations, see the previous installment of “My Boston” "here":https://network.nature.com/boston/news/My%20Boston/2008/01/08/the-best-of-boston-according-to-a-scientist.
Post your favorite Boston spots as comments below. If you would like to be the next person interviewed for this series, please email c.lok at boston.nature.com.