ArtBar

The ArtBar beautifully blends food and art with innovative regional cuisine served against a backdrop of amazing contemporary art. Here, food and art happily co-exist—creating a visualizing exciting environment that enhances the dining experience. ArtBar’s food and art is designed for discovery—surrounded by art, every meal is a tribute to New England seasonal cuisine.

ArtBar’s patio seating along the Charles River offers unparalleled riverside dining with sweeping views of the Boston skyline. In fact, some patrons think that ArtBar has the best view of Boston of any other riverside dining establishments in the city. It’s the perfect place to take out of town guests to really show off the city—but don’t wait for visitors to try this hidden gem for riverside dining. During warm weather months, this riverside dining venue offers patio seating, and when the days turn cooler, you can still enjoy the sensational view from your cozy table inside.

How do you define American cuisine? The James Beard Foundation’s 2008 survey, “The State of American Cuisine,” posed that question to food lovers and food professionals alike. The consensus of the survey respondents was that, if there is a national American cuisine, “it exists in regional form.” The survey concluded that what makes “American cuisine a cuisine is precisely its disunity. American cuisine morphs, adapts, borrows, creates and roots itself where people enjoy it.” 

Are you the light, summery bites type, while your mate is more into oinking and gobbling? If so, ArtBar (40 Edwin Land Boulevard, Cambridge, 617.806.4122) might be your ultimate date spot. Tucked modestly in the belly of the Royal Sonesta Hotel and bedecked with artwork (duh!), the restaurant boasts a versatile bar menu packed with gloriously finger-licking platefuls of sin that come in the form of small bites. Start with the duck confit spring rolls ($13), accented with papaya and sweet chili sauce and bundled up in crispy jicama. Then feast upon (or daintily nibble) an array of sumptuous sliders, like a savory crab cake with chipotle aioli ($6); the buffalo chipotle burger ($5), a gently spicy bite of everyone’s favorite range-roamer, slathered with caramelized onions and cheddar cheese; or Kobe beef with truffle cheese ($6), thick and juicy and subtly piquant in its buttery mini brioche.