the idea

Every city has restaurants that don't need you. They run on regulars. The owner is still carrying plates, shaping the sushi, or making the hummus himself. You won't find them on a best-of list. You find them because someone who lives there takes you.

seated with boris documents those places. Each entry starts with a local. A creative, a journalist, a musician, someone with a specific restaurant they've been going back to for years. They take me there. We eat. I meet the people behind it. I write an honest review. It doesn't change after the owner reads it.

— Boris

Food. Atmosphere. Service. Each out of 10, plus an overall that is mine alone, not an average. No guide would take me somewhere they didn't like. That narrows the scale. Everything here was worth sitting down for, but a 7 and a 9 are not the same meal.