Boston/Bar Harbor Restaurants

 Robert S. wrote:

 >Poppy S. wrote:

 >>I have a friend who will be visiting the Boston, MA area and then on to
 >>Bar Harbor, ME in May '96 and would like some recommendations for good
 >>places to eat.  Mid to lower-end high price range, international or
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 >>regional, preferably gourmet.
                        ^^^^^^^
 >out the No-Name restaurant on the waterfront in Boston... Very

 The No-Name is famous for low priced, no-frills seafood.  And I
 have never heard anyone call it gourmet...

 There are lots of good places to eat in Boston.  I suggest you
 check out Ellis Cohen's Boston Restaurant List on the Web:

 http://web1.osf.org:8001/boston-food/boston-food.html

 The restaurants are searchable by name, neighborhood,and
 type of cuisine.  I find the reviews to be quite reliable.

 I don't know what you mean by mid- to lower-end high- range
 (price ranges have very different meanings in different parts
 of the country and different cities), so I'll list a few.

 For competent, straight-ahead seafood, you could try Legal Seafoods,
 Skipjacks and Turner Fisheries.  If you want an ethnic twist, try
 The Daily Catch (North End, Italian), Giacamo's (North End and South
 End, Italian) or East Ocean City (Chinatown, Chinese).

 Other good places include: Elephant Walk (Somerville and Boston,
 Cambodian/French), Dali (Cambridge/Somerville line, Spanish) and
 Tapeo (Back Bay, Spanish, same menu as Dali), and East Coast Grill
 (Cambridge, grilled foods with Caribbean leanings).

 There are also the more famous restaurants, such as Olive's
 (Charlestown, Mediterranean), Hamersley's Bistro (South End,
 French Bistro with New England accents) and  Salamander (Cambridge,
 grilled foods with Asian elements), where you should be able
 to get out for $40-50 per person if you are reasonably careful.

 Of course there are many others, and some of the listed ones
 may close before May '96, given the volatile nature of the
 restaurant business.  There could also be new ones on the
 scene.  I would check the listings in March or April--this
 is a bit early.

 Barndi K. wrote:

 >The few that I can recommend are:
 >The Border in Cambridge/Harvard Square-real good "mexican" food with GREAT
 >fajitas and quesadillas.  the give you short-distance pagers if there is a

 The Border Cafe serves Tex-Mex and some "Cajun" food.  It is a lively,
 crowded, popular place with reasonable prices, but it hardly fits
 the original post's "gourmet" criterion.

 >The North End is FULL of small, italian restuarants and cafes if you like

 Now, this is a good suggestion.  Some places to try in the mid to
 high price range include Alloro and Pomodoro, which are small, store-
 front restaurants with something other than the usual "red-sauce"
 offerings (Alloro has just changed chefs, and the early reviews have
 been very positive).

 >Sonzies (spelling?) on Newburry street, or the Indian restuarants there

 I have heard good things about the very trendy Sonsie, but have never
 been there.  As far as Indian restaurants, most in Boston tend to be
 pretty similar--not really outstanding compared to those in other
 cities--and I haven't found a really good one on Newbury St.  If
 you really wanted Indian food, you would be better off heading to
 Central Square in Cambridge, and picking from the multitude of Indian
 places, or, for something a bit different, heading out to Allston,
 and trying the South Indian specialties at Rangoli (one of the very
 few places in the area with any South Indian dishes).  None of the
 Boston-area Indian places could really be classed as "gourmet" though.