Pasta Beach will serve you a nice bowl of penne integrale with a good fresh tomato sauce and has a variety of salads (I have enjoyed all that I have tried, especially the salad with grilled eggplant). There is salmon on the menu but I go there for pasta and pizza, so I can't comment. It seems pretty clean, too.

Pasta Beach

Me, too. Last Friday night my wife and I ended up eating cereal for dinner because every time we tried to discuss going out we came to the conclusion that all we really wanted was one of Maria's pizzas.

Maria di Napoli in Nonantum is closed. There was a sign in the window promising it wil reopen under new management in February but unless they figured out a way to buy Maria's pizza/eggplant magic along with the name and the space, I don't have very high hopes.

I've been there twice in the last six weeks and it was characteristically excellent both times. There were a couple of new menu items (I very much enjoyed the cacio e pepe pasta I had on one visit) but not a dramatic overall change. I was disappointed to see that their sublime eggplant parmesan was not on the dinner menu, but it's still on the lunch menu and they happily accommodated my request for it as an appetizer at dinner.

Just got home from Gran Gusto, where I had a very nice rendition, done with tonarelli.

Blue Ginger is not far and serves lunch. Kouzina is even closer and I have always enjoyed the lunch there -- I'm just not sure if they are still open for business.

It's leisurely, I agree. I like that. When I'm in a rush, I call ahead.

I agree that Fiorellas is a victim of its own success. The food just doesn't justify the wait and the crowds. A good alternative, in my opinion, is Maria di Napoli in Nonantum. The food is better, especially the pizza which is incomparably so, the owners are lovely people, and there is never a wait.

Second Maria di Napoli's. Superior pizza, great eggplant, other stuff looks good but somehow I never get past the pizza and eggplant. Lovely people, too.

According to their online menus, a 16-oz sirloin and a side of mashed potatoes will run you $36 at Coach Grill, a 14-oz sirloin and a side of mashed will cost you $57 (holy crap!) at Grill 23, and the same deal at Capital Grille in Newton will set you back $51. That's a pretty big spread. Factor in the less-expensive cocktails and I think a 25-30% difference is pretty much right on the nose.

If we are defining Metrowest to include Newton, then Maria di Napoli in Nonantum has excellent thin-crust pizza (among other things I really like).

I had exactly the same reaction. It's been too long. I have never had anything but very-good or great meals at Il Capriccio. It is also a wonderful place for somebody who likes wine but doesn't know much about it. The sommeliers are good listeners and have turned us on to some great stuff over the years.

You can also get an eggplant parm panino at Gran Gusto for lunch, which is transcendent.

Maria di Napoli in Nonantum makes a very respectable eggplant parm as well.

I prefer not to say.

Silvertone is just a couple of short blocks up.

Second the Prezza recommendation. The steak there is consistently excellent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Chen

You can get excellent Italian food and what has been in my experience one of the best steaks in Boston at Prezza. Not red sauce, though (except on Sundays, when some red sauce-type dishes are offered).

Try the pizza at Maria di Napoli. It's imperfect because she is essentially making neapolitan pizza without the necessary heat, but that doesn't stop it from being, in my opinion, very good pizza. I Also have some serious love for the eggplant, and the chicken parm, the one time I tried it, was up to the standards of my NYC childhood. Nice people, too.

You're not the only one. I wanted to like Stone Hearth, but I didn't. It was very . . . blah.

Skipjack's on Needham Street is reliable, if unexciting, and a doable walk from the Newton Highlands T stop.

Get a sandwich, or better yet, a pizza down the block at Maria di Napoli, and stop in at Nudo for dessert.

Seymour Skinner:   Superintendent, I hope you're ready for mouth-watering hamburgers.
Superintendent Chalmers:   I thought we were having steamed clams.
Seymour Skinner:   Oh, no, I said steamed hams. That's what I call hamburgers.
Superintendent Chalmers:   You call hamburgers steamed hams?
Seymour Skinner:   Yes, it's a regional dialect.
Superintendent Chalmers:   Uh-huh. What region?
Seymour Skinner:   Uhh ... Upstate New York.
Superintendent Chalmers:   Really? Well, I'm from Utica, and I've never heard anyone use the phrase 'steamed hams.'
Seymour Skinner:   Oh, not in Utica. No, it's an Albany expression.

I have been to Kouzina several times. It is a short drive down Beacon Street and serves very good food with a Greek emphasis (but not standard Greek-restaurant fare). It is better than anything I have had in Newton Center.

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Kouzina
1649 Beacon St, Waban, MA 02468

Many of the better NYC bagel stores are operated by Thais now. And I agree, you are much better off with fresh bagels from Rosenfelds or Katz's than with aged products from H&H, which is decidedly mediocre. Not sure why it has such a good reputation -- is it that Seinfeld episode where Kramer was still on strike from H&H after 11 years?

I have recently had good black bean burgers at both Highland Kitchen and Tory Row, and I have always liked the black bean burger at Audubon Circle.

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Highland Kitchen
150 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02143

Tory Row
3 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA 02138

Audubon Circle Restaurant Bar
838 Beacon Street, Boston, MA

Maybe not $10, and maybe not an entire meal (though it fills me up), but the truly excellent pizza margherita at GG is only $12.

Yeah, I wonder how attributable their performance was to Restaurant Week madness. For what it's worth, I've had at least a dozen steaks at Capital Grille in Chestnut Hill over the years, all ordered medium-rare and all served that way.

It's interesting that you say El Pelon does a very good pastor because I've never seen pastor on their menu (and it's still not on their website's menu), but it's been a while since I have been there. I would definitely return for a very good pastor. Can you confirm the sighting?

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El Pelon
2197 Commonwealth Ave., Brighton, MA 02135