Dolores

Dolores works a big menu of Puebla and Oaxaca cooking inside a room painted the kind of blue that argues against New England winters, and the food backs up the mood. The mole pistachio and the chile relleno are the dishes to leave room for — rich, composed, the kind of plates that reward ordering less elsewhere on the menu to get to them. A pitcher of pomegranate sangria at the start of a group meal isn't decoration; it sets the pace for a place built around sharing.

The cocktail list does real work too, running past tequila and mezcal into sotol and Oaxacan rum, which signals a kitchen and bar that know the region rather than performing it. Even the snack-and-drink option holds up: a tetela stuffed with goat cheese and serrano, tostadas with salsa roja, a sotol sour. Nothing here is coasting on the concept.

A James Beard Best Chef finalist nod for the Northeast and a place on regional best-of lists confirm what the plates already prove — this is a kitchen operating with real intent on Hope Street, not just a colorful room trading on its walls.