Best New Restaurant

Al Coro, New York, NY

The Backporch, Roundup, MT

Bar Spero, Washington, D.C.

Birch & Rye, San Francisco, CA

Causa, Washington, D.C.

Dept of Culture, New York, NY

Don Artemio, Fort Worth, TX

Et Al., Tulsa, OK

The Friar's Fork, Alamosa, CO

Heavy Metal Sausage Co., Philadelphia, PA

Heff's Burger Club, Winston-Salem, NC

Kann, Portland, OR

Khmai Cambodian Fine Dining, Chicago, IL

KRU, Brooklyn, NY

La Royal, Cambridge, MA

Lupi & Iris, Milwaukee, WI

Nami Kaze, Honolulu, HI

Neng Jr.'s, Asheville, NC

Nolia, Cincinnati, OH

Obélix, Chicago, IL

ōkta, McMinnville, OR

Pijja Palace, Los Angeles, CA

Pizza Grace, Birmingham, AL

Restaurant Beatrice, Dallas, TX

Sambou's African Kitchen, Jackson, MS

Stissing House, Pine Plains, NY

Tatemó, Houston, TX

Tatsu, Dallas, TX

Yangban Society, Los Angeles, CA

wolfpeach, Camden, ME

Maria Rondeau and chef JuanMa Calderón’s restaurants have graced this list three times now over the years, but their places are just so undeniably joyful and delicious that we can’t help but continue spreading the word about them. If Celeste felt like an intimate dinner party, and Esmeralda was like a bbq for friends, La Royal is like the house party where you ask to bring your friends, too. The space, just a few blocks from their home, is warm, clean and inviting (Maria is an architect.) The food, dives deep into rustic Peruvian cooking, the classic stir fried sirloin dish of lomo saltado is given a deeper dimension with perfectly fried yuca, the pillowy causas, a kind of potato terrine, is dressed with avocado and tomato: it will make you angry at all of the mashed potatoes you’ve ever had.—K.S.

Ben Hundreds visits heritage inspired spots in Boston including La Royal in Cambridge.

Juanma and Maria created a party space inspired by Juanma’s peruvian roots and Maria’s architecture background.

BEST OF BOSTON / BEST NEW RESTAURANT / LA ROYAL

The third time is most definitely another charm for husband-and-wife team chef JuanMa Calderón and Maria Rondeau. This year they followed up their nationally acclaimed restaurants Celeste and Esmeralda with La Royal, a Peruvian dinner party—pink neon bathes the back-bar’s Pisco bottles—in Cambridge’s quaint and quiet Huron Village. Between the stemmed glasses overflowing with sweet, citrusy ceviche and the feasts of whole branzino grilled in plantain leaves, it further elevates Calderón’s already artful cooking. Three words: We’re dazzled again.

Anna Rossi Visits the Award-Winning ‘La Royal' Restaurant in Boston

Anna Rossi visits the award-winning restaurant, ‘La Royal’ in Cambridge to get a first-hand look at the amazing food, vibes, and cocktails.

The Takeaway: A portal to a buzzier universe, your most plugged-in friend’s dinner party, or a special night out, overseen by two effervescent hosts who know how to work a room.

La Royal is equal parts a homecoming and an evolution. The Peruvian restaurant, opening February 22, 2022, at 221 Concord Ave. in Cambridge’s Observatory Hill neighborhood, is sibling to the acclaimed Celeste in Somerville, but co-owners Maria Rondeau and JuanMa Calderón got their start right around the corner at their home on Royal Avenue.

Maria Rondeau and chef JuanMa Calderon of Union Square’s beloved Peruvian boîte Celeste are gearing up for another such engagement, La Royal. While Celeste embraces the homestyle Peruvian cooking JuanMa grew up eating, La Royal will instead focus on his interpretation of regional Peruvian dishes. The duo is teaming up with author Darra Goldstein who will create a collection of macerated liquors for the restaurant.

Celeste, a tiny Peruvian restaurant in Somerville’s Union Square and winner of Eater Boston’s 2018 Restaurant of the Year award, no longer has an end date — and it will soon have a sibling nearby in Cambridge’s Huron Village neighborhood, too.