MIDA opens on East Boston’s waterfront

Meals

That is the third location for the Italian restaurant.

A restaurant from a celebrated chef simply opened a brand new location in East Boston, bringing flavorful Italian fare to the neighborhood.

MIDA East Boston started welcoming visitors on August 6. The waterfront eatery on Lewis Road is the third MIDA location from chef-owner Douglass Williams, becoming a member of the unique South Finish spot, which launched in 2016, and a Newton restaurant, following in 2021. Serving Italian delicacies, Williams was impressed to open the brand new vacation spot partially due to the visible perspective that East Boston has on Boston itself.

“It’s nearly like while you’re in Brooklyn, taking a look at Manhattan,” Williams, who’s initially from New Jersey, stated. “To be utterly exterior of it, however to nonetheless belong to it, it feels type of embracing.”

The identify MIDA comes from the Italian phrase “he offers me,” evoking a spirit of generosity that visitors will discover within the tradition of the restaurant, based on Williams . On the menu on the East Boston spot, they are going to uncover related pasta and pizza dishes as these served on the different places. There’s one exception: the clam pizza ($20), made with white sauce, marinated clams, peppers, parsley, and grana padano, is a brand new providing. All the pizzas will probably be New Haven fashion, which means that they’ve a crispy, crunchy, chewy crust, Williams stated. Different dishes embody the bucatini all’amatriciana ($26), served with San Marzano tomatoes, guanciale, and pecorino romano, in addition to the gnocchi cacio e pepe ($25).

Williams is keen about Italian delicacies, which he believes all can respect.

“There’s no different delicacies that anyone, whether or not they be from South East Asia, Russia, Alaska, or Mexico — any continent, [for that matter] — the place they will sit all the way down to any meals and never have any context for what’s in entrance of [them], aside from a bowl of pasta, and intrinsically, inherently know what to do with it,” he stated.

The beverage program consists of cocktails just like the Amalfi Coast ($14), which consists of vodka, grapefruit, passionfruit, and Italicus. Sip on the MIDA Traditional Negroni ($14) or the Tropicale ($14), made out of pineapple rum, Amaro Montenegro, lime, and orgeat syrup. Each week, there will probably be a brand new featured cocktail.

The house options open home windows on a number of sides that enable visitors waterfront views. Mirrors all through the restaurant not directly let visitors catch sight of the outside scene. The eatery seats 25 folks at common tables, 25 at banquettes, and 25 at a big bar that feels dominant however not overwhelming, Williams stated. The lighting provides a “gentle amber glow,” based on a press launch, and a cover impressed by woven Italian baskets hangs above the bar. Exterior, there’s a 68 seat patio.

Williams is a celebrated chef who, along with working three MIDA places, opened Apizza in Hub Corridor in 2021, serving New Haven and Roman fashion pies. He has been a James Beard Award semi-finalist a number of occasions, and he was additionally named one in all Meals & Wine‘s “Finest New Cooks 2020.” In 2018, he competed on Meals Community’s “Iron Chef America.”

In 2019, the Boston Globe referred to as Williams “the one Black chef-owner in Boston wonderful eating.” Whereas this distinction isn’t simply what he needs to be identified for, he acknowledged that as a profitable restaurateur, he has a accountability to symbolize the a number of cultures from which he belongs. Williams, who’s of Syrian, Lebanese, and African American heritage, stated that he additionally believes hospitality can function a drive for change.

“If somebody sits down and has a life altering meals expertise… I believe that smashes all emotions of hate or anger,” Williams stated. “All of us have that. That’s my advocacy.”

MIDA East Boston, 65 Lewis St., East Boston