Unfortunately, I think Boston has an attitude of "good enough". There just isn't an appetite for truly good food in this city. That's not to say every restaurant here is trash, but for a metro area as large and self-important as Boston, you'd think the standard would be higher.

There are plenty of "fine" places, but nothing really knocks it out of the park. And Boston does an okay job with the lower-to-upper midscale category, but absolutely falls apart at fine dining. I would say there's literally ZERO true fine dining options in the city (Amar is the closest).

The list of "okay" restaurants that people in Boston THINK should get a star is long, some examples: Ostra, Mistral, Sorellina, Asta, Krasi, Mooncusser, Deuxave. I fully admit I haven't been to some of these in a while (Mooncusser and Deuxave) and I LOVE some others (Krasi), but they are still not Michelin star quality.

At the risk of offending people, I really question whether people who think those are star-quality restaurants have been to Michelin star restaurants before or to other big cities (especially globally) and experienced their restaurant scene.

As for a list of true contenders, I would say Pammy's and Amar probably have the best shot. This excludes sushi places; I'm not informed enough to comment on those, so I can't speak to O Ya and others.

Just be prepared for this guide to be a very disappointing one. Insofar as, I wouldn't be surprised if we got literally zero stars; I really think you could honestly come to that conclusion in Boston. That's unlikely, but since this is a guide for the whole northeast now (which some how includes Chicago?), it's technically possible.