Watching the waves roll in

The new restaurant row on Liberty Wharf is pulling in droves

September 04, 2011|By Joseph P. Kahn, Globe Staff

The bar at Temazcal Tequila Cantina, a gourmet Mexican bistro, was packed… (Essdras M Suarez/Globe…)

Keith Watson’s public relations firm moved last February from Kendall Square in Cambridge to Boston’s Liberty Wharf, near the Seaport World Trade Center. His new offices boasted panoramic views of Boston Harbor yet little in the way of after-hours buzz.

“It was a ghost town,’’ Watson said one evening last week, sipping a drink at Legal Harborside, a new three-story restaurant next door to his offices. “What’s happened since is pretty unbelievable. I never came down to this area at night, other than for concerts. But look at it now.’’

Look indeed. Lines out the door at four crowd-pleasing eateries that have opened on Liberty Wharf since March. Pedestrian traffic that often rivals Newbury Street’s, stretching from Fan Pier to the Institute of Contemporary Arts to the Bank of America Pavilion. City-goers and suburbanites flocking to an area - by foot, car, public transportation, even boat - that few had on their radar screens last summer.

The backdrop to this cocktail-sipping, fork-twirling, ballgame-watching, cool-to-be-on-the-waterfront vibe? A visual sense of Boston as port city, with sailboats and pleasure craft cruising by offshore, seagulls cawing overhead, and, come nightfall, neon signage lighting up one side of Northern Avenue and, on the other, starlight dancing off the water.

No wonder those drinking and dining here nightly rave about the ambience.

“I brought friends from California here recently, and they thought it felt like San Francisco,’’ said New Boston Fund regional director Gary Hofstetter, enjoying an evening beverage on Legal’s rooftop deck, overlooking the site where Jimmy’s Harborside Restaurant once stood. “The renaissance is amazing. And it’s attracting people of all ages.’’

Thirty years ago, “this area was Old Boston, dirty and nasty and industrial,’’ said attorney Edward Gelles, a South Boston resident, who had joined Hofstetter for a drink “I loved that part of it. But this is New Boston.’’

Up and down the Hub’s latest version of restaurant row - a block comprising Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar & Grille; Del Frisco’s, an upscale steak house; Temazcal Tequila Cantina, a gourmet Mexican bistro; and Legal Harborside, the seafood restaurant chain’s latest and largest addition - one hears similar comments.

This area was an untapped resource for bar-hopping and dining, people say, but that’s all changed now. Easily accessible from the suburbs? Check. Parking that doesn’t cost a small fortune (some street spaces, even)? Check. Plenty of fine dining options? Check. Places to tie up your boat? Check (if you don’t mind paying $20 an hour, that is). The one thing there isn’t is easy public transit access. (Silver Line buses are the best bet).