Boston, recently recognized as one of America's healthiest cities, presents a unique landscape for those seeking nutritious and health-conscious dining options. While the city may be known for its classic New England fare, there's a growing movement towards healthier lifestyles, influencing the culinary scene. This guide explores the existing healthy food options in Boston, comparing them to other health-forward cities, and highlighting specific restaurants and experiences for health-conscious individuals.
Boston's Health Ranking and the Reality of Healthy Dining
Boston's high ranking as a healthy city, according to BetterDoctor.com, is based on factors like health insurance coverage and access to top-tier hospitals. However, the availability of dedicated healthy restaurants doesn't necessarily align with this ranking. Compared to cities like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Miami, Boston lags in the sheer number of restaurants catering specifically to gluten-free, vegan, or clean-eating preferences.
A Comparative Look: Boston vs. Other Healthy Cities
In cities like Los Angeles and New York, the abundance of healthy dining options is overwhelming. From organic eateries to vegan cafes, these cities offer a wide array of choices. Boston, while making strides, has fewer dedicated establishments, meaning health-conscious diners may need to be more selective and strategic in their choices.
Favorite Healthy Spots in Boston
Despite the limited competition, Boston does have some standout spots for healthy meals. Many of these establishments operate on a counter-service model, offering quick and casual options.
- CocoBeet (Gov’t Center): Specializes in juices, smoothies, and raw vegan foods.
- Root (Allston): A vegetarian-focused restaurant.
- Whole Foods Market: While a grocery store, it offers a variety of healthy prepared foods.
- Pressed (Beacon Hill): A newer addition to the healthy dining scene.
- B.Good (Downtown, Back Bay, and more): A chain with a focus on healthy fast food.
Seasonal Delights: Clover Food Lab and the Western Mass Brussels Sprouts Sandwich
Clover Food Lab is known for its commitment to organic, local ingredients and innovative vegetarian fare. The return of the Western Mass Brussels sprouts sandwich signals the arrival of fall and highlights Clover's dedication to seasonal produce. This sandwich features organic, locally sourced Brussels sprouts and embodies Clover's philosophy of creating delicious, healthy food using fresh, regional ingredients. Clover thinks a lot about chickpeas, the nutty-buttery flavor they have raw, the deep savory edge they get when cooked, their creamy richness when blended up in their housemade hummus, their protein punch (one cup = 14.5 grams of the good stuff, 20% of your recommended daily amount), their high fiber, iron, and Vitamin B count.
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Clover also brings back the Japanese Sweet Potato sandwich onto the menu. Enzo created this super-addictive sandwich after Farmer Ray had an extra good “bumper crop” of sweet potatoes and no outlet for them.
Pink Carrot: A Healthy Food Destination
Pink Carrot, with locations in Chestnut Hill, offers a diverse menu of healthy options, including juices, smoothies, coffee, wraps, salads, and bowls. Pink Carrot believes that food serves as the connection between a healthy mind and body.
Restaurants with Healthy Alternatives
- Banners Kitchen & Tap: Offers a variety of healthy alternatives on their menu. Fresh, high-quality ingredients are used.
- Mistral: Located in Boston's South End, Mistral offers French cuisine with fresh seasonal ingredients.
- Arya Trattoria: Located in Boston's North End, they offer a mix of modern and old world Italian cuisine. They pride themselves on their simple, fresh pastas and antipasti, and healthy doses of grilled meats, fish, and poultry dishes. They are attentive to food allergies, ensuring a safe and healthy dining experience.
- Shy Bird: A contemporary American restaurant located in Boston's Fenway neighborhood. Renowned for its delicious rotisserie chicken, guests can choose from half or whole birds. The menu also features a range of salads, sandwiches, and vegetarian options.
- Josephine: This Italian restaurant offers a variety of healthy options. They focus on wood-fired pizza, a healthier alternative to deep-dish, and use unique and thoughtful dishes with interesting fusion of passion, excellent ingredients, and creativity.
- Terra: Located on the third floor of Eataly Boston, Terra is a unique restaurant inspired by earth and fire. The dining room centers around a wood-burning Italian grill, where the Terra culinary team cooks raw ingredients over burning flames, allowing the simple flavors to shine.
- Henrietta’s Table: Located in the heart of Harvard Square, Henrietta's Table has been at the forefront of farm-to-table dining. They focus on simple, homemade flavors - just like you'd find in Grandma's kitchen. Their menus rotate daily based on availability from our local farmers and artisans, pushing our chefs to constantly create mouthwatering dishes that let the ingredients shine.
Porto: Coastal Mediterranean Cuisine
Porto boasts a large and beautiful heated patio space with a retractable awning and sides in the middle of Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. The menu is inspired by Coastal Mediterranean selections with a focus on Italy's coast.
75 Chestnut: Regional American Cuisine
75 Chestnut, nestled amidst the brownstones on the charming streets of Beacon Hill, features regional American food.
Forage: Farm-to-Table Cuisine
For those seeking the finest dining options in Boston/New England for those seeking healthy cuisine.
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Bon Appétit's Healthyish Spots
- Tatte Bakery: Israeli-born pastry chef Tzurit Or opened her first bakery in Brookline in 2008. The all-day menu features a slew of sandwiches and salads, plus heartier items such as the garden vegetable bowl served with roasted-pepper cashew spread and housemade challah and the avocado and zucchini tartine.
- Life Alive Cafe: Life Alive has been making quinoa and vegetable concoctions before they were called “grain bowls.” The menu features a variety of salads, smoothies, wraps, and grain bowls like “The Alchemist:" quinoa topped with kale, sweet corn, carrots, sesame seeds, sunsprouts, and a choice of tofu or sprouted legumes, topped with a ginger nama shoyu sauce we can't stop thinking about.
- Boston Public Market: The Boston Public Market is one of those places that feels like it has been a part of the city’s fabric for decades, but, in reality, the indoor, year-round marketplace only opened in 2015.
- Oat Shop: Located in Somerville’s bustling Davis Square, the Oat Shop features a mix of sweet and savory dishes like the apricot, banana, and almond butter oat bowl and the house-made herb pesto bowl topped with avocado, kale chips, and pumpkin seeds.
- ArtScience Culture Lab and Cafe: In June 2018, the restaurant teamed up with Allen Campbell, Tom Brady’s former personal chef, to create a selection of plant-based dishes like quinoa-walnut involtini with English peas, black-pepper cashew "cream,” pine nut crisp, basil oil, and a red wine reduction.
- Jugos: Jugos Supremo, you can sit down and savor the substantial menu filled with smoothies, juices, acai and pitaya bowls, and plates like the Marrakesh, a turmeric-poached egg with olives, sweet potato, feta, garbanzo, tomato, cucumber, and tahini.
- Cultivar: Located inside the historic 19th-century Ames Building (now a boutique luxury hotel), Cultivar offers “sustainable, hyper-seasonal cuisine” like heirloom pumpkin toast and einkorn flour spaghetti with sugar snap peas and mascarpone.
- Pavement: Pavement will fulfill your ‘90s coffeehouse dreams with its couches, comfy chairs, and communal tables. Their famed Tequila Sunrise-eggs, bacon, diablo cream cheese, and pico de gallo served on a housemade bagel-is the kind of breakfast sandwich that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning, even (especially?) after a long night out. But rest assured there's a vegan version with seasoned tempeh and diablo tofu spread.
- Bar Mezzana: South End neighborhood favorite Bar Mezzana serves coastal Italian cuisine with housemade pastas (highlights include the paccheri with lobster, green onion, tomato, and the 'nduja ravioli with honey, hazelnuts, and tomato).
- Uni: The newly updated and expanded Uni is a sophisticated izakaya in a surprisingly unpretentious setting. While the menu is only as healthy as you want it to be-you can order something called a cheeseburger roll as well as orange tofu "food court style”-there’s also an abundance of nigiri and delicate sashimi options like sake salmon with black bean, ginger, and cilantro, and the hamachi yellowtail with ponzu powder and pickled chili.
Beyond Restaurants: Enhancing Your Healthy Boston Experience
- Follain: Carries a vast selection of organic and non-toxic brands such as RMS Beauty, food-grade potions from Tammy Fender, and cult favorite Ursa Major.
- Blue Hills Reservation: Offers well-marked hikes for all levels and seasonal fun from swimming holes to skiing.
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