The Globe selected more than 300 Best of the Best winners across the Boston area. Here are the one’s selected in Harvard Square.
The A.R.T. at Harvard University is arguably the country’s best feeder of shows to the Great White Way. Big-time productions of 1776, The Glass Menagerie, Finding Neverland, Jagged Little Pill, and many more originated here. But these aren’t half-formed shows in mid-workshop — they’re fully realized, gorgeous, and intimate, thanks to being staged in the roughly 550-plus-seat theater at the Loeb Drama Center. And big changes are underway, with the A.R.T. moving to a new, expanded home in Allston that’s slated to open to visitors in 2026, with shows there beginning in early 2027.
Doughnuts at Blackbird are creative and often whimsical, such as the seasonally-offered strawberry-rhubarb jelly-filled, and the rainbow-frosted doughnut in honor of Pride month. Its cake doughnuts, including the signature Blackbird, are moist and lightly battered. The Boston cream is a subtle blend of chocolate frosting, creamy custard, and dough (though it could have more filling). Besides Boston and Cambridge locations, find shops in Newton Centre and Watertown.
This restaurant has thrived for over 40 years because its sushi is delicious. For a weekend of bingewatching, there’s the Weekend Box for One ($60), packed with a flavorful assortment of nigiri, maki, and sashimi at Cafe Sushi Shoten, the cafe’s retail shop and takeout service. But if you’re dining in at Cafe Sushi Nisei, start with the yamitsuki cabbage and karaage fried chicken, then dive into the sushi. A few faves: O-Toro (bluefin tuna belly, hon wasabi), the citrus salmon (king salmon, blood orange, fennel, basil oil, dill, ikura), a toban tuna handroll, and a crunch makimono (eel, avocado, spicy crab, tobikko, tempura flakes, eel sauce). Grab some Pocky or mochi on the way out.
This Boston-area institution could also fairly be called “Butter,” serving up flaky, rich breakfast pastries such as a homemade Pop-Tart, or the supremely gooey “sticky sticky bun.” With 11 locations across Boston and Cambridge, it’s easy to find an excuse to try the breakfast sandwich: custardy slabs of egg with tomato and cheese all piled on a milk bun and slathered with dijonnaise — a creamy, punchy mixture of mustard and mayonnaise that founder Joanne Chang calls her “secret sauce.” A new location was added downtown this year.
Consistency, excellence, and the pasta table: These are just a few of the reasons to love chef Michael Pagliarini’s soulful, seasonal Italian restaurant near Porter Square. It’s hard to come here and not get the pappardelle with braised wild boar, but everything on the menu is worth ordering … and then there are the specials. Whatever else happens, do not fail to order one of the wonderful desserts. And if you have a larger group, reserve the pasta table. By day, it’s a surface upon which to make tagliatelle and agnolotti; by night, it’s a place to eat it, as part of Pagliarini’s carefully constructed tasting menus.
Harvard’s art museums became one roughly a decade ago, in the airy Renzo Piano-designed addition and redux of its storied Fogg Museum on Quincy Street. What lies inside is nothing short of a world-class institution that, true to form, continues to push forward with innovative treatments of its renowned collection that probe the outer limits of a museum’s place in the world. Here, everything from the Renaissance to German Expressionism to Impressionism — to one of the most thoughtful collections of American Modernism in the country — rubs up against contemporary art, thought, and self-examination in a way that routinely makes for one of the most stimulating museum-going experiences in the world. Oh, and did we mention? It’s always free.
No, this 94-year-old stalwart is not affiliated with the Ivy League school across the street that shares its name. But the 5,200-square-foot shop — co-owned by John Henry, owner of the Globe — still has a hallowed, scholarly feel, thanks to floor-to-nearly-ceiling shelves packed with bestsellers, academic titles, and much more. For extra credit, catch a big-name author doing a reading near the sizable children’s section, or descend into the used book cellar, where the walls are festooned with bookmarks and other relics discovered inside pre-loved titles.
Harvard Museum of Natural History
With its plethora of natural oddities and interactive exhibits, the Harvard Museum of Natural History hits just the right spot for inquisitive young minds. Turn your rock collector into a budding geologist among its gemstones and meteorites. Explore taxidermied wonders under the canopy of whale skeletons in the Great Mammal Hall. And don’t miss the coelacanth, the gnarly fish previously thought extinct, preserved in alcohol for your study.
Independent Film Festival Boston
Well into its third decade, this annual April showcase draws roughly 12,000 film lovers to the Boston area’s cinema sanctuaries (including the Brattle, the Coolidge, and Somerville Theatre). Last year, IFFBoston screened Eva Victor’s *Sorry, Baby,* shot in and around Ipswich; it has hosted indie luminaries including Lena Dunham, Steve Buscemi, and Bo Burnham. The spring fling is the main event, but look for year-round screenings: In 2023, IFFB presented a mini festival of Sight and Sound magazine’s all-time 10 best films.
MayFair
Harvard Square’s four-plus decade tradition, heralding the arrival of spring with local music, flavors, and wares, has been making updates in recent years, among them adding two festivals-within-the-festival: one that emphasizes Filipino artwork and cuisine and another run by the African Festival of Boston organizers. The whole affair, as it has been since its founding, is free, save for the dollars you’ll wisely spend on gourmet popsicles and fishcake skewers, tanghulu candy, and lechon (suckling pig), or handmade jewelry, wooden bowls, or, yes, on at least one occasion, flash tattoos.
Herbaceous, umami-packed ingredients tie together the grain bowls, wraps, and noodle soups, and more that have made this local vegetarian chain a staple for the health-conscious. Finish your meal with a fruit smoothie or cold-pressed juice; it’s affordable fast-casual fare at its most nourishing. There are locations around the Boston area, as well as more in Dedham, Lowell, Salem, and Burlington, and out of state.
The primary feeling sparked by Harvard Square’s Lovestruck Books is joy. The joy of a quiet patio, tucked under a cheerful floral trellis, offering space for conversation and coffee (or wine and charcuterie). The joy of a selection curated to both its core audience and general readers — there’s Emily Henry and Alice Walker on these shelves. Among romance’s core tenets is the HEA — happily ever after — and Lovestruck delivers.
A cemetery?! Your out-of-town guests may initially be alarmed by the idea of such an outing, but just wait til they wander through this 175-acre oasis of willows, secret gardens, rococo tombs, and monuments. Serene and exquisitely landscaped, Mount Auburn Cemetery is part arboretum, part wildlife sanctuary, and entirely fascinating. The venerable burial ground is the final resting place for an extraordinary array of folks, including abolitionist Harriet Jacobs, Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy, painter Winslow Homer, pioneering cookbook author Fannie Farmer, writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and many more. Rain or shine, this is a special place to visit.
Tables are squeezed in tight, and every inch of space is covered with memorabilia, old signs, even a long list of famous diners (Jackie O, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Shaq, Joan Baez – the list goes on). After 60 years, the Bartley family sold their burger joint to Josh Huggard in 2021, and the burgers and onion rings remain first-class. Do yourself a favor and try the thick and luscious Oreo milkshake.
Weave your way through the crush of college students and snag a slice at this iconic counter-service spot off of Harvard Square. Pinocchio’s offers subs and thin-crust pizza, but the Sicilian squares are the clear standouts: crispy on the bottom, pillowy on top, and buttery all the way through. The walls are decked with fading photos of famous clients (Mark Zuckerberg’s order: a steak-and-cheese sub and a slice of Sicilian cheese), and during the semester, it’s open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Connecticut-based chain PopUp Bagels — with three locations in the Boston area — is worth the viral hype it gets on social media. The small-batch bagels come piping hot and uncut, and it’s up to you – as their gimmick goes – to “grip, rip, and dip” them into a tub of signature schmear. No sandwiches or coffee, but the steaming, fresh bagels (which come in orders of three, six, or a dozen) speak for themselves. Locations in the Seaport, Harvard Square, and Somerville’s Assembly Row.
Now a home-grown mini-chain, Tenóch first earned a following in Medford with its husky tortas: a pressed stack of marinated meat, vegetables, mild Oaxacan cheese, and a zippy slather of chipotle mayo on spongy telera bread. Those are a filling meal (and, at about $11, an affordable one). But Tenóch does it all equally well, including a dozen varieties of tacos, and enchiladas rolled in a hauntingly sweet, brothy mole sauce. Lines move fast, too.
This quirky, retro-style chain of all-day brunch restaurants has expanded all over the ’burbs and to most of New England. The Friendly Toast is fun wherever you find it, with a creative and punny approach to drinks (try the Berry Caffeinated) and dishes (Some Like It Tot, get it?). The food is high quality and the menu vast — waffles, a variety of eggs Benedict, burgers, chicken sandwiches — but what’s underrated is its versatility: It’s a fun place to take your mom for brunch, bring out-of-town guests, or even have a casual work breakfast. Arrive hungry — you’re definitely leaving overstuffed and happy.
Part of the constellation of venues operated by Bowery Presents, the Sinclair can hold about 500 music lovers of all stripes most nights of the week. Its wraparound balcony provides plenty of sightlines for a compact space. Since opening in Harvard Square in 2012, the club has hosted a steady stream of well-known acts from Waxahatchee to Flyana Boss.
Whichever location you visit, Union Square has the doughnut formula down pat: the perfect balance of sweetness, saltiness, and doughiness. Beyond the basics, it also thrives on singular flavors that aren’t just a menu gimmick. Ever had a Vietnamese coffee doughnut? What about espresso martini or maple bacon? They also sell cinnamon rolls and an assortment of teas and coffees