No. 9 Park
9 Park St., Beacon Hill
If you’re going to blow it out for one meal in Boston, No. 9 Park is the place for it. The jewel in restaurateur Barbara Lynch’s crown, this fine-dining spot is worth the long wait and the many pennies. The restaurant is tucked inside a townhouse, and the food is refined but not fussy. Lynch sticks to Italian cuisine, using traditional American ingredients and giving a generous nod to her East Coast roots. Spring pea agnolotti with crisp fried artichoke, Berkshire pork with fiddleheads (the fronds that can be foraged only in the spring), we could go on. If you don’t want a full sit-down supper, the bar menu is the best in town. The seared hanger steak is so tender, you could almost eat it with a spoon, perfect with a robust glass of wine. Each staff member is trained by the in-house sommelier Cat Silirie, and given the length and breadth of the wine menu–full of old-world labels and a selection of interesting new-world American wines–diners will probably have a few questions. Just leave room for the cheese course. It’s too good to pass up (we recommend…