MASSACHUSETTS – Restaurants are among the hardest hit companies in the country amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many have closed, and it is almost certainly more closings pending before the pandemic ends.

Of course, any restaurant closure is a major blow to the structure of a community, from jobs to culture to food. Esquire has identified 100 restaurants that America can’t afford to lose, and five of them are in Massachusetts.

Governor Charlie Baker has allowed indoor dining to continue amid some closings as COVID-19 cases continue to explode across Massachusetts. Instead, Baker recently extended a 25 percent capacity limit for restaurants and other businesses.

Here are the Massachusetts restaurants that were featured, with a brief description of Esquire:

  • Black-Eyed Susan (Nantucket): “You have breakfast and dinner and do it well, for not many people (it’s tiny) and only for cash, and you will remember.”
  • Celeste (21 Bow St., Somerville): “Husband and wife JuanMa Calderón and Maria Rondeau have redesigned their pop-up at home into a postmodern brick-and-mortar paean made from Peruvian and Andean spices.”
  • Neptune Oyster (63 Salem St., # 1, Boston): Listen, “People are waiting in line for that damn Johnnycake, and they’re no fools.”
  • Roadside Store and Cafe (275 Main Rd., Monterey): “The best little roadside pancake dinner you order by size and the size of a hubcap.”
  • The Beachcomber (1120 Cahoon Hollow Rd., Wellfleet): “Local oysters and steamers in a clam hut on the sand.”

California had the most restaurants on the list at 16, followed by New York at 14. Louisiana had six, followed by New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts with five each. 29 states were represented on the list.

The website encouraged readers to donate to Southern Smoke, the Lee Initiative, and other organizations that help restaurant workers suffering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Anthony Bellano, Patch contributor, contributed to this report

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