North End and Charlestown

Italian

Reservations aren’t accepted at the small, one-roomed Pomodoro (319 Hanover St., 617/367-4348, www.pomodoroboston.com [1], 11:45 a.m.–10 p.m. Mon.–Sat.; closed Sun., $15–24), but diners who arrive before the crowds are rewarded with a table immediately, and a much shorter wait for the fresh and authentic Italian specials.

Mamma Maria (3 North Sq., 617/523-0077, 5 p.m.–11 p.m. Tues.–Sun.; closed Mon., www.mammamaria.com [2], $26–38) may sound like a cheap pizza joint, but it’s in fact a refined spot full of tapestries and serving the likes of oysters Florentine with prosecco zabaglione.

Before the North End [3] became a Disneyland-style jumble of Italian-American ristorantes and caffes, there was the Old World likes of Caffe Vittoria (290-296 Hanover St., 617/227-7606, 7 a.m.–midnight daily, www.vittoriacaffe.com [4], $2–6). Lined with wooden pastry cases and filled with students and couples scarfing down everything from tiramisu to grappa, Vittoria could as easily be a neighborhood hangout in Milan.

One of the first restaurants to put Boston [5] on the national culinary map, Olives (10 City Sq., Charlestown, 617/242-1999, 5 p.m.–11 p.m. daily, www.toddenglish.com [6], $19–39)—the original prototype for celebrity chef Todd English’s now national chain—is still going strong in historic Charlestown. The dramatic, loud dining room serves bold dishes like char-grilled squid with chick peas and pistachio-crusted lamb loin.