In Zagat's Ranking Of Hub Eateries, Change Is On Menu

BOSTON (Friday, December 09, 2005) - Reviewing the 2005/2006 Zagat Survey, it's clear the ever-present revolving door of restaurant openings and closings doesn't escape the Boston market. In the past five years, 25 percent of Boston's top 40 restaurants -- those listed in the 2000 Zagat guide -- faded away, changed names, changed concepts or hands, or all of the above. In some of those 10 cases, they foundered on the economic rocks during the downturn of 2001. Though change is good, consistency wins the day.

A pair of chefs have reinvented themselves. In 2000, Lydia Shire's Biba was in. She subsequently relaunched her signature Back Bay eatery as Excelsior. Tony Ambrose tried to save Ambrosia -- among the top 40 in 2000 -- by combining his sushi obsession with beef to create Blackfin Chop House & Raw Bar in Ambrosia's old space on Huntington Avenue. But a fiscal tight spot sent him selling a short-lived Blackfin location in Hingham and teaming up with new investor Matthew Long, who is now working with Ambrose at the remaining Huntington Avenue Blackfin.

Meanwhile, Upstairs at the Pudding, listed in 2000, was resurrected nearby in Harvard Square as Upstairs on the Square, which made it to No. 35 in Boston's top 40 in the latest Zagat list.

Other restaurants, like the legendary Maison Robert, left the scene with fanfare. With an expired lease too exorbitant to renew, the 30-year-old restaurant gave up its City Hall locale last year, which in October saw the Boston debut of Ruth's Chris Steak House.

Undercapitalized and bankrupt, Salamander at Trinity Place, a star in 2000, shuttered just two years after opening. The space, finally fetched by Jamie Mammano and Paul Roiff, will be Sorellina and is set to open in January.

Also, Anago in the Lenox Hotel, a presence on the 2000 list, left its digs and Azure walked in. Pignoli closed; Bay Tower Room shuttered amid controversy; Pho Pasteur left its two locations due to high leases -- all were 2000 stars that are now in the past.

Enough of the past. The top five in Zagat's 2005/2006 listing are Legal Sea Foods, Blue Ginger, No. 9 Park, L'Espalier and Hamersley's Bistro, the latter being the only restaurant also named in 2000.

"We just put our head down," said chef-owner Gordon Hamersley, who added that until we told him, he had no idea his eponymous bistro in the South End had defended its spot among the top five Boston restaurants since 2000.

Then it's not surprising his guests -- some of whom have been dining there since the inception in 1987 -- describe their experience as "very consistent."

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