Nine’s Tidepool cocktail, featuring Industrious Spirit Co. Seaflow Gin, manzanilla, El Guapo “Polynesian Kiss” bitters, and caviar. “This is a martini that I’ve worked with iterations of in the past, meant to highlight the wonderful flavors that you’re able to get out of the sea,” says Nine bar and wine manager AJ Maroney. “What better garnish than a little caviar bump?” / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Steps from the State House, something new is about to open in a familiar space—and there’s lots of gin and caviar. The longtime No. 9 Park space, the Barbara Lynch flagship named for its address that closed at the end of last year, transforms into Nine on Friday, August 15, with much of the same team (minus Lynch), a facelift, a fresh signature scent (more on that below), and a fresh outlook. Fine dining remains, but the previous restaurant’s French-Italian focus will expand to a broader swath of European influences and introduces a gin-centered drink list with expense-account-worthy high-roller cocktails.
Nine. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
“Nine is definitely a new chapter—actually, a completely new book,” says general manager Bertilda Grochowski, a No. 9 Park alum. “We want to take all of the experience and professionalism of this team and bring it to the next step.” It’s a complicated legacy to both honor and evolve from, to be sure: No. 9 Park, which opened in 1998, was at the forefront of Boston fine-dining for much of its 26-year run and earned plenty of accolades locally (including several Best of Boston nods from us) and nationally (including a James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Program). Over the years, it took a bit of a backseat to other parts of Lynch’s growing restaurant group, like the ultra-luxe Menton in Fort Point, but it was still a reliable special-occasion destination for many, and its bar program had a following for its snow-day Tom & Jerry cocktails and that award-winning wine program. But when No. 9 Park closed in 2024, along with the rest of its restaurant group, it was under the shadow of allegations that Lynch—long considered a ballsy and talented trailblazer in the Boston culinary scene—led toxic workplaces.
Oysters at Nine, served on a platter by Rhode Island-based artist Dylan Levesh-Raabe (DLR Design). / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
But No. 9 Park as a dining experience is, for good reason, fondly remembered by locals. So, there’s certainly room to build on the legacy of a restaurant that holds great memories for many a Bostonian while the employees with connections to that past space move it into a gentler future. Under the stewardship of restaurateur Allan Rodriguez (El Centro, Sabina Mezcaleria, La Neta), the Nine team—No. 9 Park alumni and newbies alike—is making some changes.
A gin and tonic at Nine. Customers can mix and match among a wide variety of gins and tonics, and the garnishes will change accordingly. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Nine’s drink program, for instance, takes a big swing, paying homage to the “gin palaces” of Victorian London—essentially a fancy name for gin-filled public houses “that got attention as dens of vice but really celebrated all the opulence that was available,” says bar and wine director AJ Maroney, an alum of Alcove and its now-closed sibling Hook & Line. Maroney is filling the drink list with unique gins from near (Short Path Distillery in Everett, for instance, and the honey-infused Vermont gin Barr Hill) and far (Chile, Vietnam, and beyond). “I’ve been tasting gins from every country and continent that makes it,” says Maroney. “I’m hoping they start distilling one at McMurdo Station [in Antarctica],” he adds with a laugh.
Nine offers several types of caviar. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Curious drinkers will be able to mix and match a variety of gin and tonic combinations—say, Hayman’s London Dry with Fever Tree Indian—or explore the world of gin in various cocktails, such as the caviar-garnished, wallet-busting Tidepool ($70!). That one, a martini-esque drink, features an intriguing gin of sea-foraged botanicals from Rhode Island’s Industrious Spirit Company, which is also known for making an oyster-infused vodka (see “V is for Vodka Made from Oysters” in our ultimate New England seafood guide).
The bar at Nine. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
“We saw an opportunity because gin today is really branching out in a lot of ways,” says Maroney, “and it seems like something Boston is lacking.” Indeed, most other bars in the city aren’t currently focusing on gin to this extent, although we fondly remember the gin boom of 2017-2018 when now-closed restaurants like Our Fathers in Allston and Cultivar in Downtown Boston took deep dives into the juniper spirit.
Nine’s yellowfin tuna crudo with beet purée, black garlic purée, navel orange, and crispy shallots. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
There’s plenty of other drink options as well, from a robust liquor selection of rum, amaro, and more to a hefty wine list. “In many respects we’re looking to build out from [No. 9 Park’s reputation], so lots of focus on French wines—Burgundy, Bordeaux, things like that—and lots of Barolos and other Northern Italian wines,” says Maroney. “But I want to cast a wider net. I really love the wines of Spain, Greece, and Southern Italy.” He’s excited to explore “off-the-beaten-path, small-production” picks, with a “heavy focus on European.”
Nine’s “About Thyme” cocktail, a limited-time offering celebrating the restaurant’s opening. It features Barr Hill gin (a Vermont spirit made with honey) with a kumquat, rose, and ginger-flavored shochu; lemon; and thyme liqueur. “Think of it as a gin sour with a little bit more going on,” says bar and wine manager AJ Maroney. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
The culinary concept similarly starts from “that French-Italian backbone” from which No. 9 Park drew for a quarter century but broadens with other European and Mediterranean influences, says chef de cuisine Andrew Simonich, who started at No. 9 Park in 2019 as an intern and worked his way up to chef de cuisine over the next five years. At Nine, Simonich and the team are featuring a six-course tasting (with supplements), with the late-summer opening menu including dishes such as Vermont quail with dandelion greens, sweet corn, and prosciutto di Parma; chive blossom pappardelle with garlic scapes, Meyer lemon, and Sicilian pistachio; and an optional supplement of A5 Japanese wagyu with pattypan squash, trumpet mushroom, and parsnips.
Nine’s Loch Duart salmon (from Scotland) with spicy sofrito, artichokes, and fava bean purée. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
There’s also an à la carte menu available—think: uni spaghetti with squid ink oil, uni butter, and golden beet gremolata; Colorado lamb with baby fennel, Calabrian chili, and feta; or Maine halibut with baby carrot, tomato confit, and skordalia. The latter ingredient is a traditional Greek garlicky dip for which Simonich is using a recipe from Grochowski’s mother, who is a chef in Greece.
The front dining room at Nine, with all clocks turned, accordingly, to nine. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
And for those who want to sidle up to the bar to sip some gins and have some snacks, there’s a small menu of bar bites, such as shishito peppers with lemon-caper sauce, a charcuterie board, and a burger that’ll feel familiar to fans of No. 9 Park and its also-closed cocktail bar sibling Drink. Yep, “the burger will be coming back,” says Simonich: the foie gras bun, wagyu patty, mimolette cheese, charred Vidalia onions, and spicy garlic aioli, not to mention the fries with malt vinegar aioli.
Nine’s duet of Rohan duck (seared breast and confit leg) with melted leeks, seared oyster mushrooms, and sunchoke-and-apple purée. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
The layout of the space feels similar to No. 9 Park, but the design—by Lorenzo Lorniali and Federica Di Biase of Adige Design—feels a little more modern-fine-dining, with exposed brick archways and breezy transparent white curtains letting natural light flow. As for that aforementioned signature scent, the restaurant created it in collaboration with British perfumery Penhaligon’s, which was founded during the gin palace era. Notes of lemon, basil, and English oak liven up the space and nod to the tree-filled Boston Common across the street.
Renovations to the old No. 9 Park space for the new restaurant Nine included uncovering exposed brick in the archways that lead from the bar area to the back dining room. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Whether you’re grabbing that wagyu burger and an Allagash White or indulging in caviar service, a Kenyan gin, and a full tasting menu, the Nine team hopes to make fine dining feel comfortable. “We want our guests to feel like they are invited into our house, where all the details are taken care of for them, so they can have the most memorable experience,” says Grochowski. “Even if you’re not celebrating something special, I want this to feel like a neighborhood place.”
Nine opens August 15, serving dinner Wednesday through Sunday. 9 Park St. Pl., Beacon Hill, Boston, 617-936-3440, ninerg.com.
A version of this story appeared in the print edition of the October 2025 issue with the headline, “Nine Lives.”
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Dining and Cooking