When you hear the term “power lunch,” images of America’s most influential movers and shakers in perfectly pressed suits quickly come to mind closing high powered deals at some of the city’s best restaurants. When making executive decisions over a business lunch, it’s important to choose a restaurant that is a perfectionist about their service and ambiance as it is their cuisine. Here’s a look at five of the best places to power lunch in Boston.
Haute Top 5: Best Places to Power Lunch in Boston in 2017
1 The Palm
With a prominent address of One International Place, this Financial District haute spot is as serious about its enormous cuts of primed aged beef as it is about setting the stage to close that long-awaited deal. Request either Table #11 or 13 where some of the city's best deals have been conducted. Here, business terms can be negotiated over a bone-in filet or juicy New York strip served up with a side of atomic horseradish to heat things up a bit. If you become a frequent VIP guest making this one of your favorite haute spots for power lunch, you may even end up with your own personal caricature on the wall of famous local faces.
One International Place
Boston, MA 02110
2 L'Espalier
L'Espalier in Copley Square is one of the most sought after power lunch destinations for its Chef’s Tasting Journey, a progressive tasting menu featuring the best local purveyors. Add in an optional Vintner’s Tasting and you have a power filled lunch you won't soon forget. Chef Frank McClelland also recently debuted a five-course lunch menu that tastes even better when served in the exclusive library room.
774 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02199
3 Bistro du Midi
Tucked inside The Heritage on the Garden, there might not be a more picturesque place for a power lunch than Bistro du Midi’s Café overlooking the Boston Public Garden. On the menu at this modern Provencal haute spot, you will find classic dishes like a Nicoise salad with seared yellow fin tuna; quiche with goat cheese, spinach, leek, tomato and potato crisp; and flat iron steak frites topped with truffle vinaigrette.
272 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
4 The Bristol
One of the most legendary places to see and be seen in Boston is located on the first floor of the Four Seasons Hotel. The Bristol is the epitome of power lunching where executives come to indulge in lobster cocktail starters, the famed Bristol burger topped with Grafton cheddar, cognac-bacon and onion jam as well as the seafood dishes like George’s Bank sea scallops with coriander and beet "salt", white asparagus and roasted cauliflower.
200 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
5 Parker's Restaurant
For one of the most historic places for a powerful lunch, you won't find a better setting than the Omni Parker House. The restaurant first made a name for itself in 1855 when it opened. Since then, it has attracted prominent names like Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Longfellow, who came here for lunch while Babe Ruth and Ted Williams wined and dined in Parker's. The restaurant was also the setting for JFK's proposal to Jackie O and where local and national politicians like Ulysses S. Grant, James Michael Curley and Franklin Delano Roosevelt came for power lunches, dining on their famed Boston baked schrod. Finish off that sweet deal with an order of the famous Boston cream pie that was invented here. The original two layer golden cake version comes complete with rich cream and toasted almonds.
60 School Street
Boston, MA 02108
