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The Basics: Top of the Hub restaurant information

Top of the Hub

800 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02199
617-536-1775

Top of the Hub restaurant information
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Boasting some of the most impressive views of the city skyline, Top of the Hub, on the fifty-second floor of the Prudential Tower, is the city’s ultimate fine dining destination. Outstanding cuisine, impeccable service, and a sophisticated ambiance have made it a longstanding favorite among locals and tourists alike. Visitors delight in seasonal dishes and local seafood in its refined club-like atmosphere. Whatever the occasion – an intimate dinner, festive celebration or just a cocktail and a change of perspective – Top of the Hub, serving dinner, lunch and Sunday brunch, fits the bill.

News and Events at Top of the Hub restaurant

Cakebread Wines are Calling
Increase your Cakebread knowledge over dinner at Top of the Hub.

Battle of the Burger Begins
Nothing gets the food obsessed going quite like a good burger debate.

Wine, Dine & Win a Trip to Italy
Top of the Hub continues to toast the Amalfi Coast with a collaborative three-course menu courtesy of chef Mark Porcaro ...

Mark J. Porcaro

Chef at Top of the Hub

Chef Mark J. Porcaro at Top of the Hub

The creative force behind the menu of fine American Cuisine at Top of the Hub is Executive Chef Mark J. Porcaro, one of Boston's most inventive chefs.

With more than two decades of experience in the restaurant industry, Porcaro keeps Top of the Hub on the cutting edge of culinary trends with a carefully conceived array of dishes that combine the freshest seasonal flavors with eclectic presentation. He works to provide his guests with a dining experience as memorable as the restaurant's panoramic views of the city.

In 2005, he received the Artistic Creativity Award at the Art Institute of Boston's Edible Art Competition for his inventive recreation of the Asian fishing village depicted in Ando Hiroshige's "Inlet at Awa Province." His landscape, complete with live goldfish in a sparkling sea pool, featured mountains, pagodas and a shoreline fashioned out of lotus root, wheat grass, chocolate, sheet gelatin, graham cracker crumbs and royal icing.

Having assisted in planning and executing menus for numerous events at Manhattan's prestigious James Beard House, Porcaro most recently served as Executive Sous Chef at the luxuriant two hundred fifty room Manele Bay Hotel in Lanai City, Hawaii. Prior to his work in Hawaii, Porcaro held culinary positions at Top of the Hub, Boston's Le Meridien Hotel, The Lodge at Koele in Hawaii, Chatham Bars Inn in Cape Cod, the Regatta of Cotuit in Centerville, and the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge.

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Dictionary
 
Aïoli
1. noun A blend of ail (garlic) and oli (oil) in the parlance of the Provence region of southern France. Around here, we'd call it a garlic mayonnaise.
Champ
1. noun An Irish favorite of mashed potatoes, green onions and butter.
Chantilly
1. noun Prepared or served with whipped cream.
Chimichurri
1. noun A condiment made of olive oil, vinegar, parsley, oregano, onion, garlic, salt, cayenne and black pepper.
Chorizo
1. noun Crumbly, spiced pork sausage.
Cioppino
1. noun The San Francisco take on bouillabaisse.
Cipollini
1. noun Small, yellowish onions that add sweet and savory accents to cooked dishes.
Compote
1. noun Slow-cooked fruit in syrup.
Confit
1. noun Meat (usually goose, duck or pork) that is slowly cooked in its own fat and preserved with the fat packed around it as a seal.
Coulis
1. noun A thick puree or sauce.
Foie gras
1. noun Expensive, silk-textured goose or duck liver that has been enlarged by a process you don't want to read about if you're going to eat this dish.
Fondant
1. noun A mixture of sugar, water and cream of tartar that can be formed into candy or decorations. If heated, it can also be used as frosting.
Frisée
1. noun A curly, mildly bitter member of the chicory family, eaten raw in salads.
Gratin
1. noun Any dish covered with cheese or buttered breadcrumbs and baked or broiled.
Jus
1. noun French for juice, jus also refers to the unthickened juices from a piece of roasted meat.
Lardons
1. noun Diced bacon that is blanched and fried.
Lemongrass
1. noun A lemon-scented herb used liberally in Thai and Cambodian cooking.
Poivre
1. noun French for "pepper."
Polenta
1. noun A slow-cooked cornmeal porridge popular in northern Italy; can be served soupy or firm, sometimes fried.
Porcini
1. noun Smoky, meaty wild mushrooms.
Ratatouille
1. noun A Provençal dish of eggplant, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and herbs in olive oil.
Risotto
1. noun Italian dish made from rice cooked by intermittently adding small amounts of stock or broth. Other ingredients are added as required.
Semolina
1. noun Very coarse flour used to make pizza and bread. Also refers to rounded parts of wheat used to make a pudding of the same name.
Shank
1. noun The front leg of beef, pork, veal or lamb. Often a very tough cut of meat, the shank requires slow-cooking methods like braising.
Tapenade
1. noun Thick paste - made from olives, anchovies, capers, lemon juice, olive oil and seasonings - that can be a condiment or a spread.
Tartare
1. noun Ground or finely chopped, seasoned raw meat (traditionally beef). May or may not come mounded, and with a raw egg.
Tomatillo
1. noun A diminutive green relative of the tomato.