Visiting for the first time... where are the best places to hit up for...

[funky_bunny]

Drinks
Brunch
High tea
Italian
Vietnamese or Thai
Coffee
Burgers

...and any other favorite spots you could suggest?

I'm planning on visiting Boston next month and would love to know some great eating and drinking spots. Please send along all your recommendations. I'm a planner, so having an idea of where I like to go is always helpful.

Thanks in advance, everyone!

[teezeetoo]

Eastern Standard for Drinks
East Coast Grill or Craigie for Brunch or Jo Jo Tapei or Windsor Cafe for chinese brunch
L'Espalier for High Tea
Trattoria Toscana or Vinnies for Italian
Pho Viet or go to Dorchester for the best vietnamese (Pho 2000, Sunrise Cafe, others)
S & I or Dok Bua for Thai
Cafe Fixe for coffee
Washington Square tavern for burgers

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L'Espalier
774 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02199

Trattoria Toscana
130 Jersey St, Boston, MA 02215

East Coast Grill and Raw Bar
1271 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

Eastern Standard
528 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

Pho Viet
1095 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215

Cafe Fixe
1642 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02445

[scotty27]

Drinks: Scampo
Brunch: Henrietta's Table
High tea: "Ritz"
Italian: Galleria Umberto
Vietnamese or Thai: Brown Sugar
Coffee: Hi-Rise
Burgers: Mr. Bartley's

www.shrinkinthekitchen.com

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Henrietta's Table
One Bennett St., Cambridge, MA 02138

Brown Sugar Cafe
1033 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215

Scampo
215 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114

[funky_bunny]

Thanks to each and every one of you. I'll definitely scour the board, but these suggestions help a lot.

[Niblet]

These are great recommendations above. I'll just add 2, both in Harvard Square, Cambridge (right on the red line subway):

High tea: Upstairs on the Square
Coffee: Algiers Coffee House

[Matt H]

I'll list my two favorites in each category, some may have been already mentioned.

Drinks: Drink (Forth Point) and Eastern Standard (Kenmore)
Brunch: Istanbul'lu (Teele Square) and Craigie on Main (Central Square)
High Tea: L'Espalier (Back Bay) and Taj Hotel (Back Bay)
Italian: Coppa (South End) and Prezza (North End)
Viet: Xinh Xinh (Chinatown) and Pho 2000 (Dorchester)
Thai: S&I (Allston) and Dok Boa (Brookline)
Coffee: Voltage (Kendall Square) and Diesel (Davis Square)
Burgers: Radius (Financial District) and Flat Patties (Harvard Square)

[tamerlanenj]

Drinks: Eastern Standard, Drink, No. 9 Park for classic cocktails. Publick House for beer.

Brunch: Sel De La Terre

High Tea: If price no object, L'Espalier can't be beat. Taj is great too.

Vietnamese or Thai: Khao Sarn in Coolidge Corner for Thai.

Coffee: ehhh, no standouts

Burgers: uBurger and flat patties for AWESOME fast food style burgers. For bigger pub style burgers, I like Audobon Circle, Abe and Louie's (lunch only), and Craigie

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L'Espalier
774 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02199

Audobon Circle Restaurant Bar
838 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02215

Eastern Standard
528 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

Khao Sarn
250 Harvard St, Brookline, MA 02446

Publick House
1648 Beacon St, Brookline, MA

Sel De La Terre
776 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02199

[ginafly]

Drinks: I 2nd Craigie and Green St but also must give a mention to the basil lime gimlet at Via Matta.

Brunch: East Coast Grill in Cambridge is my hands down favorite (bloody mary bar!), but I like Eastern Standard, too, and Beacon Hill Hotel and Bistro. I love Soundbites, but think of it as breakfast more than brunch.

Italian: Coppa or Via Matta, but have heard great things about Sorellina and Sportello.

Coffee: I just love Cafe Vittorio in the North End. I don't think there's anything super special about the coffee, but I love the experience of having coffee and dessert there.

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East Coast Grill and Raw Bar
1271 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

Eastern Standard
528 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

Via Matta
79 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116

Sportello
348 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02110

Sorellina
1 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02116

Coppa
253 Shawmut Ave, Boston, MA 02118

[lipoff]

Here are just a few personal favorites in these categories. I have more in each of these categories that I like, and so do other hounds, some of whom will disagree with me, I'm sure. | Taralli gives good advice to do a search of this board because each of these categories has been covered both recently and in great depth. You'll get a lot more information and a lot faster that way!

Drinks: Drink or Eastern Standard in Boston, Craigie on Main or Green Street in Cambridge
Brunch: Sound Bites in Somerville, Toro in Boston, Chung Shin Yuan in Newton
High Tea: Swans Cafe, Park Plaza Hotel in Boston
Italian: La Campania in Waltham
Thai: Dok Bua in Brookline
Vietnamese: Pho 2000 in Dorchester
Coffee: Simon's Cafe in Cambridge
Burgers: R.F. O'Sullivan's in Somerville

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Chung Shin Yuan
183 California St, Newtonville, MA 02458

Eastern Standard
528 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

Toro
1704 Washington St, Boston, MA 02118

Sound Bites
704 Broadway, Somerville, MA 02144

Pho 2000 Restaurant
198 Adams St, Dorchester, MA 02122

Craigie on Main
853 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

La Campania
504 Main St, Waltham, MA 02452

[hckybg]

lipoff's suggestions are very good and widely ranging in price. I would add:
Drinks: Trina's in Somerville; Silvertone in Boston
Brunch: East Coast Grill in Cambridge; Brookline Lunch in Cambridge
Italian: Galleria Umberto in the North End (lunch only); Erbaluce in Boston
Thai: Rod Dee in Brookline and Cambridge; S&I in Allston
Vietnamese: Xinh Xinh in Chinatown; Anh Hong in Dorchester
Coffee: Voltage in Cambridge; Thinking Cup and Pavement in Boston
Burgers: Druid in Cambridge

Have a great visit!

[lipoff]

Whoops, let me add one more burger (and all around great) recommendation --- Highland Cafe in Somerville.

[samsoon]

Second craigie and also no 9 for drinks. Don't know if you would be interested, but craigie has drink whim, a flight of mini cocktails. It is adorable. Also, Sierra madre at no9 is quite amazing