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5 restaurants we can’t wait to try in March
This month we're eyeing Korean BBQ, bar pizza, and a prix-fixe culinary-cocktail concept within an existing North End hotspot.
There’s a lot of variety on this month’s openings’ menu, from Korean BBQ and bar pizza to southern hospitality and a prix-fixe culinary-cocktail concept within an existing North End hotspot. Here’s where you’ll find us noshing this month.
Dae Gee Korean BBQ
The suburbs just became home to a Colorado-based Korean BBQ joint that’s famed for its appearance on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Dae Gee garnered onscreen attention for its soulful, authentic Korean favorites including an unlimited Korean BBQ menu ($38), traditional bibimbap bowls with bulgogi (thinly sliced marinated pork, chicken or beef), galbi (short rib meat), and typical appetizers like Korean steamed egg with seasoning salt ($8), goon mandu dumplings ($6) and jun pancakes with kimchi ($12) — all served with homemade sauces. The family-owned restaurant may have opened in Colorado in 2012 but it began nationwide franchising in 2021 to showcase how Korean BBQ transcends cultural boundaries as America’s dining landscape broadens; the Chelmsford location marks the first Massachusetts outpost.
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83 Parkhurst Rd., Chelmsford
Now Open
Drifters Kitchen and Bar
Quincy’s newest restaurant opening is sure to become a neighborhood hotspot with its part old-school pizza joint, part dive bar vibe. Drifters Kitchen and Bar embraces guests with neon signage and muraled walls, offering a mixed menu of classic comfort food, like steak frites ($34), chicken milanese ($24) and mushroom bolognese ($23), and bar-favorite finger foods, including square pizza, wings and loaded burgers with shoestring fries. The pizza is actually a staple on their menu, with late night pies served daily from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. with toppings like buffalo chicken ($18), fig spread with bacon lardon, goat cheese, arugula and a hot honey drizzle ($18) as well as a caprese option with sweet tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, fried basil, black olive and basil balsamic drizzle ($16). The full-bar delights with craft cocktails including one of their current bestsellers, Sky’s The Limit, built with tequila, lime, agave, coconut, and blood orange.
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1464 Hancock St., Quincy
Now Open
Extra Dirty Cocktail Club
The All Day Hospitality Group‘s latest concept is within one of their already new restaurants that opened last summer, The Red Fox in Boston’s North End. Deemed Extra Dirty Cocktail Club, the speakeasy-style space soft launched at the end of February but will officially be open this month, welcoming guests into a multi-course journey that replaces the traditional “order, pay, repeat,” cycle with a prix-fixe format that follows seasonally rotating menus (called “Acts”). Extra Dirty Cocktail Club’s debuts with Act 1: A Visit to Italy that pays homage to its locale. “We wanted to start Extra Dirty with a nod to the North End neighborhood as well as a celebration of All Day Hospitality’s roots, taking guests on a journey through Italy’s rich food culture while applying modern and complex production processes that guests have become accustomed to at Farmacia,” said Phillip Rolfe, the bar director behind both Farmacia and Extra Dirty Cocktail Club. Reservations are now open and priced at $90 per person, which includes four courses of crafted small plates served progressively with a paired cocktail. Following Act 1, the seasonal menus will continue to revolve around various regions around the globe as well as unique concepts and spirits.
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326B Commercial St., Boston
Opens: March 5
The Pearl Boston Landing
Boston Landing just welcomed the second location of this scratch kitchen from husband-wife duo Mika and Malik Winder as they spread their concept of “southern hospitality with city sophistication” to Brighton from the existing Dorchester locale. The new location also marks more opportunity for the Winder’s — both Roxbury natives — to practice their ethos of hiring local. The Pearl Boston Landing serves up some of the signature categories from The Pearl South Bay while also adding new layers to existing offerings. For example, both locations offer a raw bar with oysters, little necks and shrimp cocktail, but at Boston Landing, there’s also a daily-rotating crudo ($17), salmon rillette ($16), caviar ($125, served with creme fraiche and house chips) as well as chef’s selection a seafood tower ($77). The expanded menu will also include Boston Landing-specific menu items across their appetizers and entrees, like the Black Miso Ribs with charcoal and guava glaze, Asian pear, chili crisp and green onion ($19); Statler Chicken with cider brine, king oyster, Japanese yam, Tuscan kale ($33); and fried whole fish with coconut garlic sauce, chili crisp, mixed herbs ($42).
67 Guest St., Boston
Now Open
Willow & Ivy
Willow & Ivy is the third and final reveal of The Lenox’s revamped food and beverage program that began at the end of last year. Relying on local and seasonal ingredients, the classic French-American venue helmed by The Lenox’s Executive Chef Daniel Kenney joins the already opened Irish-themed Sweeney’s on Boylston and lobby cocktail bar, The Irving. Signature menu items will include a Maine lobster “pie” composed of Cognac, sweet corn, Parmesan potatoes, and butter crumbs; an orange blossom honey glazed duck breast with grilled stone fruit, ginger carrots, peanut and Chinese 5 spice crumble as well as various other proteins including steak served with mushrooms and potato wedges and lamb loin with a Harissa rub. The cocktail program is also inspired by local and natural ingredients that are used to create housemade infusions and botanicals for zesty and aromatic libations. Willow & Ivy will also be open for daily breakfast (7 a.m. to 11 a.m.) so guests and locals alike can start their day at the heart of Back Bay and watch from the floor-to-ceiling windows as the city wakes up. One of the most notable highlights of the renovated space is a live tree centerpiece in the dining room that was inspired by Boston’s greenspaces.
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65 Exeter St., Boston
Opens: March 15
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