Where to Eat, Drink, and Stay on Massachusetts’ North Shore

Ducking into Nightshade Noodle Bar from an industrial street on a chilly Sunday in Lynn, Massachusetts, I was unexpectedly greeted by a verdant oasis. My table, part banquette, part high-top, shared space with a rubber tree that rose from the ground like a piece of scenery from Jumanji. It was 6 o’clock, and the reservations-only restaurant was already full.

Nightshade Noodle Bar serves Vietnamese- and French-inspired tasting menus from chef-owner Rachel Miller. It’s not what I would have expected to find in Lynn, a once down-on-its-luck city on the North Shore of Massachusetts, my home state. “I moved to Lynn abruptly, out of the blue. I’d never been here before,” says Miller, who relocated from the nearby city of Medford. “And it just seemed like the perfect place to try to start something different.”

After 17 years away, I moved back to Massachusetts in the spring of 2022, and over dinner at Nightshade, I experienced Miller’s take on “something different.” A parade of flawless dishes — gooseneck barnacles alongside fiery lime-pepper sauce; bone marrow banh mi with green chile–citrus butter; Marblehead sea urchin filled with red curry hollandaise — made a compelling case for the region’s transformation.

Massachusetts’ North Shore is the coastal area that runs from north of Boston to New Hampshire. Tourists find our towns attractive in summer, arriving in droves for Ipswich’s beautiful beaches and noteworthy clams. But a recent culinary revival has breathed new life into the towns of Salem, Essex, Newburyport, Gloucester, and Lynn, where travelers can come for pristine New England beaches, historic towns, lush pastureland, and an increasingly vital dining scene.

“We try to push the boundaries,” says Aaron Chambers, chef-owner of Settler, a restaurant that opened in Salem in February 2020. Chambers, who worked under Daniel Boulud before settling on the North Shore with his wife, Shanna, has transformed a petite space into an intimate dining room. Tucked into a booth one night, I dove into a bowl of poached Marblehead lobster alla chitarra: pasta floating in a lobster-studded sauce américaine, amplified by Calabrian chile, bottarga, fennel, and sourdough breadcrumbs. This was not the pound-cracked crustacean of my youth.

In low-lying Essex, where, as a child, I went antiquing with my mother, I dined at C.K. Pearl, ordering candy-sweet bay scallops the size of nickels. Perched on the Essex River, the restaurant has been open since 2014 and enjoys unobstructed water views from large picture windows. “If you wanted to get oysters, it didn’t matter where you were going; you were getting Blue Points,” says the restaurant’s owner, Patrick Shea, of the culinary culture in the area when it first opened. He asked himself, "How do we create this really cool oyster program, and how do we do all these things without being pretentious?” The answer comes through in his seafood-driven menu, which includes oysters from up and down the Eastern seaboard and beyond.

Up and down the coast, others have followed, embracing ingredient-driven cooking. In my hometown of Newburyport, The Paddle Inn, which opened in 2016, serves global coastal cuisine and has one of the area’s most robust bar programs. “At the time [that we opened], it was very homogenous on the North Shore,” says Beau Sturm, a partner of Starlite Management Company. “We thought that we would be scratching an itch.” The restaurant’s gambas al ajillo, plump shrimp cooked in hot oil with garlic and bell pepper, can be enjoyed on an outdoor patio in summer. In 2021, The Paddle Inn opened an outpost, Sunset Club, on Plum Island, a barrier island a few miles from Newburyport. There, summer visitors can sit at picnic tables, feet in the sand, while sipping the Cottage Colada, made with Plantation Stiggins’ Fancy Pineapple Rum and caramelized Coco López.

Once a blue-collar fishing town, Gloucester also feels on the cusp of emerging as a culinary contender. In 2019, Andover, Massachusetts, restaurateurs Danielle and Carlo Berdahn brought their Mediterranean concept, Yella on the Water, to the community. “There’s just something about sitting on the deck, looking out on the water, with the sun setting and the schooners going by,” Danielle says. According to Carlo, a flatbread topped with ground lamb cooked with fresh mint, cumin, and allspice is the ideal sundown pairing.

The North Shore of my youth has grown up. I think it’s grown better. It is a place, still, of beauty. Come for the drive down to the Plum Island reservation on a dusty and hot August afternoon, for the handful of blueberries, sun-warmed, from Ipswich’s Russell Orchards. Come, too, for the ambition. “The population up here,” says Dorchester native Alex Caruso, general manager and beverage director of Nightshade Noodle Bar, “has been ready and waiting for this change forever.”

Where to eat and drink

Nightshade Noodle Bar

Recently awarded five stars from The Boston Globe, this tasting menu–only restaurant in Lynn offers Vietnamese and French flavors from James Beard Award–nominated chef-owner Rachel Miller.

Settler

Chef Aaron Chambers’ Salem restaurant highlights seasonal and local cuisine in an intimate setting.

C.K. Pearl

In Essex, chef-owner Patrick Shea serves everything from local seafood to housemade charcuterie.

Yella on the Water

Mediterranean food is chef Carlo Berdahn’s specialty at this spot with an unparalleled view of Gloucester’s coastline.

Sunset Club

Located on Plum Island, the barrier island connected to Newburyport via causeway, Sunset Club is the go-to summer hangout for those looking for casual, creative drinks and food.

The Paddle Inn

In downtown Newburyport, enjoy global fare, along with some of the North Shore’s most ambitious cocktails.

Elm Square Oyster Co.

Executive chef and North Shore native Michael Sherman embraces local seafood, seasonal produce, and a New England ethos at this Andover gastropub.

Where to stay

The Merchant

This 11-room boutique hotel in downtown Salem was once the private home of sea merchant Joshua Ward. Rooms from $321

Briar Barn Inn

This inn in Rowley offers guests 30 rooms, a pool, a spa, and a fine-dining venue. Rooms from $265

Beauport Hotel Gloucester

Facing Gloucester Harbor, this 94-room property has a rooftop pool with sweeping water views. Rooms from $409