January is a time to celebrate fresh beginnings, and one way to embrace that spirit is by visiting new restaurants. There are a number of enticing openings off in the distance to anticipate. For instance, Michelin-starred chef George Mendes will open the tasting menu-focused Agosto in the South End in the summer, with bakery-cafe Baby Sister to follow (named after his son and daughter), while Danny Meyer Italian restaurant Ci Siamo expands from New York to the Seaport.
But in the here and now, diners can choose from sushi, Ethiopian cuisine, American comfort food, and beyond. In Back Bay, for the next month only, the lounge at Uni has been declared Lower Uni, offering four- and 10-course tasting menus. Korean mom-and-pop Park’s Kitchen, which offered takeout and delivery in Roxbury, has closed — to become a brick-and-mortar opening soon: Stay tuned for all your spicy rice cake and handmade dumpling needs. (In the meantime, check out the new Gangnam Spice, specializing in Korean fried chicken and more in Jamaica Plain.) And is it too soon to declare this the year of the neighborhood seafood restaurant? Lobster rolls are surfacing everywhere from Allston (at nouveau New England seafood shack Holdfast) to Watertown (read on).
Here are some restaurants to try in the coming days.
Acapella by X
In the longtime Blarney Stone space, something new for Fields Corner: a nightspot with good food and live music, with a generous patio and valet parking coming down the road. Longtime friends Freddy Ureña (chef), Yancarlo Fernandez (general manager), and Anthony Cruz (front-of-house manager) are behind the venture, which offers a menu inspired by Ureña’s travels. Come for ceviche, dumplings, and grilled skirt steak with chimichurri sauce, plus cocktails (with some nice alcohol-free options for Dry January participants). Everyone is here, from babies to priests to friend groups dressed to impress.
1505 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester, 617-286-4620, www.acapellabyx.com
Ama at the Atlas
Three years ago, Comfort Kitchen arrived in Dorchester, with a menu that connected cultures, traced trade routes, and brought diners into its expansive worldview. Now, founding husband-wife team Nyacko Pearl Perry and Biplaw Rai and their Pearl & Law Hospitality group expand to Allston. At the Atlas Hotel, Ama is a salute to mothers and others who nurture us through food. (Rai is from Nepal; the restaurant’s name is Nepali for “mother.”) Ama, slated to open this month, features a menu that spans the globe, and the day. Breakfast might bring French toast flavored with Nepali spiced tea, lunch Senegalese-inspired yassa chicken salad sandwiches, dinner tamarind-glazed trout and Berbere-spiced fried chicken.
Atlas Hotel, 40 Western Ave., Allston, www.ama-boston.com
Black Cat Eatery at Wink & Nod
Chef Valentine Howell won a following at modern Greek restaurant Krasi in the Back Bay, then at his Black Cat popup at Jamaica Plain’s Vee Vee, which ended last March. Now Black Cat is on its second life, at South End culinary incubator-slash-speakeasy Wink & Nod. From shrimp ceviche to jackfruit empanadas to red snapper rundown in tomato-coconut broth, Howell’s Afro-Caribbean cuisine is bright and flavorful, a delight to eat and a wakeup for the palate.
3 Appleton St., South End, Boston, 781-435-0394, www.winkandnod.com
Boxfish
When chef Manita Bunnagitkarn moved her popular Cha Yen Thai Cookery across the street in Watertown, it opened up possibilities for the former space. Now it is Boxfish, where Bunnagitkarn offers a seafood-focused menu notable for its originality. Of course there is a lobster roll, the meat poached in brown butter and served on brioche with lemon aioli, as well as clam chowder, a fried fisherman’s platter, and linguine with clams. From there, it goes freewheeling with dishes such as grilled octopus with ube mashed potatoes; fettuccine with uni, brown butter, and nori; and an elegant pan-seared fillet of the day with tomato concasse and beurre blanc. If you’re feeling more surf than turf, try the Boxfish sandwich, featuring shaved ribeye with fontina and caramelized onions.
613 Mount Auburn St., Watertown, www.boxfish.food
Cactus Club Cafe
If you vaguely remember ripping it up at the Cactus Club on Boylston Street back in the day, don’t get excited. This is not a reincarnation of that. Cactus Club Cafe, which is on Boylston Street, is a Canadian export. It looks luxe, it opens for lunch and closes at midnight, and it has a crowd-pleasing menu comprising sushi, rigatoni Bolognese, miso caramel sea bass, burgers and steaks — and somehow much more, plus fun cocktails. If you want to get your OG Cactus Club on, don’t worry, there are tacos and margaritas here too.
500 Boylston St., Back Bay, 617-341-9428, www.cactusclubcafe.com
Cafe Sushi Nisei
Cafe Sushi, beloved in Cambridge, shuttered for dine-in service during the COVID era. Now it has reopened as Cafe Sushi Nisei (“second generation”), with a renovated dining room and sake bar. Brothers Seizi and Kenshi Imura continue to operate the restaurant, along with Seizi’s wife, Mindy Imura; the Imuras’ parents opened it in the mid-’80s and handed it down in 2007. Although the popular omakase menu Cafe Sushi once offered is no longer, the restaurant makes up for it with a focused menu of small plates, sashimi, nigiri, and rolls. Don’t miss the beautiful citrus salmon sashimi, with blood orange and fennel, or the madai nigiri with preserved yuzu.
1105 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-492-0434, www.cafesushicambridge.com/nisei
Gato Exotico
Restaurateur Jason Doo is a nostalgist. His Harvard Square spot, Wusong Road, is an homage to classic tiki bars and Chinese-American restaurants like the one his parents ran, Bobo’s in Malden, when he was a kid. His new foray also reaches back to his childhood — spent hanging out at the very mall where he recently opened Gato Exotico. The CambridgeSide restaurant features a menu of guacamole, enchiladas, and tacos from chef Sergio Enriquez, plus drinks with names like the Tijuana Taxi and the Tres Leches Colada.
100 Cambridgeside Place, Cambridge, 339-229-8787, www.gatoexotico.com
Mesob Restaurant and Bar
Just a few blocks from the Eritrean Community Center in the South End is Mesob, featuring Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine and named for the traditional woven basket on which shared meals are served. Start with sambusas, then move on to an array of fresh salads and platters of kitfo, timtimo, shiro, and more, served with the flatbread injera. Mesob also offers wine, beer, and cocktails.
1746 Washington St., South End, Boston, 857-305-3468, www.mesobrestaurantboston.com
Moona
For dreamy Middle Eastern fare — platters of labneh, hummus, and olives with pita; feta fritters; lamb kefta; grilled branzino — diners flock to Moona in Cambridge’s Inman Square. Now owner Mohamad El Zein has opened a new branch of the restaurant, nearby in Central Square: It is bigger than the cozy original, with more and new dishes to try. After you’ve feasted on monkfish shish and date molasses-glazed lamb shank with freekeh, try Arabic coffee and rose crème caramel or orange blossom labneh frozen yogurt with kumquat jam for dessert. Cafe service is coming soon.
750 Main St., Central Square, Cambridge, 617-665-5915, www.moonarestaurant.com
Devra First can be reached at devra.first@globe.com. Follow her on Instagram @devra_first.