This is part of a series about suburban restaurants, a cover package featured in our August issue.

For most big-name, top-tier Boston chefs, the calculus has always been simple: stay in the city. The press is there. The diners willing to spend $200 a head on a tasting menu are there—or at least that’s the assumption. And the Michelin inspectors are there now, too. “I’m a city kid,” says chef Tony Susi of the North End’s Little Sage, the 2025 revamp of his beloved ’90s restaurant Sage. “I love the energy and the action of the city.” Chef Erin Miller of Urban Hearth never considered leaving Cambridge when searching for a new space, recently moving her restaurant to bigger digs in Inman Square. “The community that we built around the restaurant starts with the people who are local to it,” Miller says. “If we have this community that’s been so supportive, we want to support them back. We want to stay here.”

That loyalty is real. But so is the suburban math—lower rents, more space, a labor pool that can afford to live nearby. And for a growing number of chefs, the math is starting to win.

When Ian Calhoun opened 80 Thoreau in Concord in 2011, he was ahead of the curve. Almost no one was doing delicate tuna crudo and hearty steak frites this far west of the city. And there was a reason. “Prior to opening, I met with potential investors, and while the majority supported and welcomed the project, others cautioned that a restaurant like the one we were describing wouldn’t be supported by the locals,” he says. The skepticism wasn’t about whether suburban diners existed—it was about whether they’d pay city prices for city-caliber food without the city around it. The naysayers, it turns out, were wrong: Calhoun built a loyal following of serious diners who didn’t have to fight traffic to enjoy a serious restaurant.

Fast-forward a decade, and for chef Douglass Williams, owner of the local Italian group Mida, opening a location in Newton in 2021 was a no-brainer. “It really comes down to affordability and the market, both from a guest and customer base, but also from a labor base,” says Williams, who notes the lower cost of living for staff near suburban restaurants.

Indeed, Boston is getting less affordable by the year. In late July 2026, Traveler Street Hospitality chef and co-owner Colin Lynch announced that three of the group’s acclaimed South End restaurants—Bar Mezzana, Shore Leave, and No Relation—would close at the end of the year, citing an expected rental increase that would have made margins tight going forward. Another of the group’s restaurants, FiDO Pizza in Allston, closed abruptly in June after less than a year in business.

“The biggest challenge in Boston is the economy right now,” says Lynch, also noting high ingredient costs and slowing restaurant traffic as household budgets tighten. “In general across the restaurant industry, you’re seeing that the highs are still very high, but the lows are getting lower.”

Lynch says he has no plans for the next step yet and is focusing on finishing the three restaurants’ run strong. (The group’s South End brasserie and oyster bar Black Lamb will remain open.) The Globe reported that Lynch might look “outside the city for his next chapter,” but he tells Boston he’s not quite planning a move to the suburbs yet. Still, he understands the draw of a slower pace and more space after 25 years of city living in Boston.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity in surrounding suburban areas,” says Lynch. “The restaurant industry is very difficult anywhere, but I see the appeal to it. If somebody wants to maybe not have to be open so late, to be able to really know your neighbors and know the people in the town, and to be a part of that community in a more impactful way,” the suburbs might make sense.

Others are making the move now. Just this month, Xenia Greek Hospitality culinary director Brendan Pelley launched a counter-service Greek spot, Kri Kri Grill, in his hometown of Chelmsford. And the rest of 2026 will see a handful of other notable debuts: Chef Jason Santos plans to bring an outpost of his Instagram-ready Mexican restaurant Citrus & Salt to Burlington; chef Will Gilson is opening Puritan Tavern, a more casual spin on Cambridge’s Puritan & Company, in his hometown of Groton; and O Ya’s Tim and Nancy Cushman will open the Charles Tavern in Tim’s hometown of Millis.

None of these are Michelin swings. They’re a different bet—that the diners are there, that the labor is more stable, that the rent won’t kill them in year two. It’s a different kind of ambition, and the city’s starting to notice. Because the suburbs aren’t going anywhere. And neither, it turns out, is the opportunity.

Chef Tim Maslow, an alum of David Chang’s Momofuku Ssäm Bar in New York, first became known to Greater Boston audiences for his creative overhaul of his dad’s Watertown diner, Strip-T’s, before inching closer to the city with the renowned Ribelle in Brookline and finally the izakaya-ish Whaling in Oklahoma in Boston’s South End. Nowadays, though, he’s back outside the city with Big Al’s Pizza, which opened in mid 2025, serving exceptional pizza and subs in a no-frills, cash-only shop.

240 Nashua Rd., Billerica, 978-667-6674, bigalsbillerica.com.

Pickleball is big business these days, so it wasn’t too surprising to see a massive complex pop up in the suburbs in late 2024. What was surprising, though, was that Boston chef and restaurateur Chris Coombs—known for Deuxave, Boston Chops, and Dbar—was a partner in the venue and filled it with dining options: a café, a sports lounge, and an enoteca serving pizzas, pastas, and more for your carbiest pre- and post-pickleball needs.

1245 Worcester St. (Natick Mall), Natick, bosse.net.

Siblings to farm-to-table Cambridge restaurant Forage, natural wine store Satellite Bottle Shop and adjacent restaurant Few & Far debuted in Dedham in 2023 and 2024, respectively. While Forage is known for its tasting menus, Few & Far takes a little more of a neighborhood-y, come-as-you-are approach. It’s still focused on local sourcing and natural wines, sure, but with burgers, poutine, and barbecue pork sandwiches rather than, say, one perfect local cheese plated beautifully with various accoutrements, or entrée-worthy roast cauliflower with blueberry gastrique.

Satellite Bottle Shop, 570 High St., Dedham, 781-686-9874, satellitebottleshop.com; Few & Far, 566 High St., Dedham, 781-747-7142, fewandfardedham.com.

Best of Boston chef Brendan Pelley is culinary director for some of Boston’s buzziest Greek restaurants: Kaia, Krasi, and more, under the Xenia Greek Hospitality umbrella. Apart from that group, he opened his first solo brick-and-mortar restaurant in his hometown of Chelmsford in August 2026. He melds tradition (like his papou’s spanakopita recipe) with modernity (like a miso-based gyro marinade) at the fast-casual Kri Kri Grill. Of note: baklava ice cream.

18 Boston Rd., Ste. 200, Chelmsford, krikrigrill.com.

The Zocca team already had one foot in Boston (Molinari’s in Dorchester) and one in the suburbs (Ravello Italian Kitchen in Watertown) before adding Zocca to the mix south of the city in 2025. Wood-fired pizzas and house-made pastas are the stars here, accompanied by cheesy garlic bread, mussels fra diavolo, fried clams, and more.

585 High St., Dedham, 781-232-0033, zoccadedham.com.

OPENING SEPTEMBER 2026

The popular handroll-focused sushi restaurant in Audubon Circle—which has since expanded to New York’s Long Island City—heads north to the MarketStreet retail center later this year, a rare suburban outpost for restaurateur Kevin Liu. He’s also behind French-Japanese restaurant Mai in Boston’s Seaport, Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House in Chinatown, and more restaurants across the country. (One of his other local concepts, an izakaya called NoriNori, has locations a little bit outside the city in Brookline and Chestnut Hill.) At the forthcoming Matsunori, don’t miss the miso cod handroll.

678 Market St., Lynnfield, matsunori.com.

OPENING SEPTEMBER 2026

Nearly all of chef and restaurateur Will Gilson’s businesses are in Cambridge, from his 14-year-old Puritan & Co. to newer endeavors like the Italian Geppetto and fast-casual Mediterranean Amba. But he also runs the Herb Lyceum, an event venue, in his hometown of Groton with his father, David. Will used to host elaborate farm-to-table tasting dinners there, but a 2024 fire at the property limited the available space, and the Gilsons doubled down on events like weddings, bidding farewell to the tasting dinners. Now, Will is adding to his presence in the town his family has inhabited for over 300 years with a casual sibling to Puritan & Co., Puritan Tavern, serving classic New England cuisine—and Herb Lyceum-style tasting dinners.

20 Station Ave., Groton, puritantavern.com.

OPENING NOVEMBER 2026

The pretty-in-pink Citrus & Salt, chef-restaurateur Jason Santos’ coastal Mexican spot in Boston’s Fort Point, expands to Burlington’s 3rd Ave shopping center this November. The new location will have a spacious patio and private dining space, and it’ll follow in its big sibling’s footsteps aesthetically. Fingers crossed that the Best of Boston brunch will make its way to Burlington, too, with fun stuff like horchata cheesecake taquitos and frozen margaritas.

19 Third Ave., Burlington, citrusandsaltboston.com.

OPENING LATE 2026

On the border of Boston’s North and West ends, a little Italian espresso café sits next to its big sibling, Ducali Pizzeria & Bar, serving a streamlined menu of coffee, breakfast sandwiches, a Roman-style pizza of the day, and piadini (Italian flatbread sandwiches); the Winchester café will have a similar menu, plus event space for Italian cooking classes. The businesses are part of Filmark Hospitality Group, which also has a Winchester offshoot of its North End Italian restaurant Lucia, so this expansion isn’t uncharted territory for the Frattaroli family.

959 Main St., Winchester, caffeducali.com.

OPENING LATE 2026

Tim and Nancy Cushman—best known for their nearly 20-year-old omakase destination downtown, O Ya, and their fun Fenway izakaya Hojoko—have already expanded beyond city dining with Bianca in Chestnut Hill. (They also ran now-closed O Ya locations in other cities and have several Boston food-hall spots.) Next: a “modern New England tavern … rooted in place, memory, and everyday comfort” in Tim’s hometown of Millis, southwest of Boston. (The team also has nationwide expansion plans for Clucks Deluxe Asian Fried Chicken, an evolution of the fast-casual Time Out Market Boston stall Ms. Clucks Deluxe, and is exploring expansion opportunities for its other existing brands.)

Millis, umamiriot.com.

OPENING LATE 2026

Restaurateur and Weston resident Brian Piccini (behind Deuxave and more) has been working on opening the Woods in a historical building for over two years; the finish line is in sight for later this year. Located in the Josiah Smith Tavern, which dates back to 1757, this will be Weston’s first public business with a liquor license since Prohibition. The location includes a barn, herb garden, outdoor dining space, and more. Piccini has described the food as “sustainably sourced farm-and-sea-to-table cuisine.”

358 Post Rd., Weston, friendsofjst.org/the-woods-restaurant.

A version of this story first appeared in the print edition of the August 2026 issue, with the headline, “The Other Side of Route 128.”