The 4 Most Iconic Boston Restaurants We Miss

These iconic restaurants defined the culinary landscape in 2005 and became the foundation for Boston’s flourishing food scene.

Yvonne’s opulent dining room.

LOCKE-OBER
Perhaps one of the most storied buildings in Boston, with a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, the French restaurant is thought to have opened around 1875 with financing provided by Eben Dyer Jordan, co-founder of equally iconic spot, the Jordan Marsh department store. Over the years, the space was expanded and filled with Gilded Age trappings like Honduran mahogany, Italian and French art and English silver. Although until 1970, the restaurant excluded women from dining, ironically, it was renowned chef Lydia Shire who, in 2001, gave Locke-Ober a new life when she revamped the menu and renovated the space. Throughout its tenure, the restaurant unabashedly celebrated decadence in both its furnishings and long, boozy power meals, so it’s fitting that when COJE Management Group took over the space in 2015 and opened Yvonne’s, three years after Locke-Ober shut its doors, they embraced overabundance and indulgence. Although the entire space was completely redone, original elements were preserved, and the facelift honors the past with a chic presentday opulence that nods to the original decor. Revived in all its glory, Yvonne’s is like the younger, cooler, more fun sibling that continues to be a dining destination. Every holiday season, the space pays homage to its origins by hosting Locke-Ober lunches complete with servers clad in white dinner jackets, tableside martinis, caviar carts and classic dishes like Coquilles St. Jacques and Lobster Thermidor.

The interior of Ken Oringer’s Little Donkey restaurant.

CLIO
In 1997, Ken Oringer transformed a windowless sports bar on the ground floor of the Eliot Hotel called the Eliot Lounge into the upscale French restaurant Clio. From the jump, the tables were filled with customers eager to try the innovative dishes featuring rarely seen ingredients like tripe consomme, duck tongue, wild hare and suckling pig. Rumor has it that Oringer set up a makeshift spit in the alleyway behind the hotel to roast an entire goat, much to the chagrin of hotel guests. Famed chefs Julia Child, Ferran Adrià, and Jacques Pépin were known to dine at Clio, and the kitchen became a breeding ground for top culinary talent, turning out Alex Stupak, J. Kenji López-Alt and Andrew Taylor, to name just a few. Oringer’s changing tastes and drive eventually led to his decision to close Clio after 19 years and expand the Japanese concept Uni, which he opened in 2002 in a smaller room adjacent to Clio. In addition to Uni, he’s opened six restaurants in Boston (Toro, Coppa, Little Donkey, Faccia a Faccia, Bar Pallino and Verveine Cafe) that reflect his evolving approach to food. His latest venues are more casual and feature more variety in small plates. They’re fun, the food and drinks creative and the tables are still always packed.

HAMERSLEY’S BISTRO
When husband and wife team Gordon and Fiona Hamersley opened their eponymous bistro in 1987, it was an anomaly. The restaurant didn’t treat French cuisine as precious and formal, synonymous with bloated checks and sophisticated palettes. Instead, it was decidedly and intentionally simple, emphasizing local ingredients before farm-to-table had entered the lexicon. Hamersley’s Bistro moved a couple of blocks down Tremont St. in 1993 and became a beloved neighborhood spot welcoming a steady stream of regulars as well as power players like Hilary Clinton, Thomas Menino and Deval Patrick. Much of the draw surrounded one dish—their famous roast chicken in a shallot-mustard-herb marinade. Over the 27-year tenure, the concept attracted many imitators as neighborhood bistros popped up all around town, and the kitchen launched the careers of Tanya Holland, Gabriel Frasca and Jody Adams, among others. Adams, the sous chef who helped open the bistro, is now a nationally acclaimed James Beard Award-winning chef. As the chief culinary officer of A Street Hospitality Group, she operates some of the city’s most sought-after dining destinations, including Porto, Trade, Saloniki and La Padrona.

Lala Rokh’s Abgoosht, a Persian lamb and chickpea stew

LALA ROKH
Babak Bina and his sister Azita Bina-Seibel brought Persian food to Beacon Hill with the opening of Lala Rokh in 1995, and with it, an introduction to an entire culture the city knew little about. The menu was inspired by their mother, Aghdas, a native of Azerbaijan, who trained Boston chefs on the nuances of the cuisine and visited Iran regularly to bring back herbs, spices and other essential ingredients. In addition to the new flavors on the tongues were new regions of the world to learn and new sights for the eyes thanks to the rotating selection of Persian art on the walls that spanned decades and included contemporary Iranian photography. When the restaurant served its final meal in the summer of 2018, the Binas didn’t close the door to their exports. In 1989, Babak established BiNA Family Hospitality, which opened Italian restaurants Azita Ristorante and Bin 26 Enoteca, both since now closed, and still operate jm Curley, Bogie’s Place and The Wig Shop. In 2023, he co-founded BCB3 Hospitality with Jamie Bissonnette and Andy Cartin, which has already opened Temple Records, Sushi @Temple Records, Somaek and ZURiTO.