Boston Chef Tony Messina: The best thing I ate this week

Outstanding chef Tony Messina takes a break from the kitchen at Uni.

Tony Messina—an Italian East Boston native whose symphonic omakase at Uni Sashimi Bar is one of Beantown’s most rarified food experiences. Messina keeps his head down in a 24-seat room just off the lobby of the Eliot Hotel, sending out raw and cooked specimens that can soar from smartly restrained to baroque and luxurious. The chef raids a global pantry at Uni, bringing international flavors like mescal, harissa, chermoula and cilantro into a Japanese context. But on a recent night out, Messina indulged his Mediterranean roots at Cambridge Italian restaurant Giulia.

What I ate: Semolina cakes with parmesan and crispy prosciutto

Tony Messina—an Italian East Boston native whose symphonic omakase at Uni Sashimi Bar is one of Beantown’s most rarified food experiences. Messina keeps his head down in a 24-seat room just off the lobby of the Eliot Hotel, sending out raw and cooked specimens that can soar from smartly restrained to baroque and luxurious. The chef raids a global pantry at Uni, bringing international flavors like mescal, harissa, chermoula and cilantro into a Japanese context. But on a recent night out, Messina indulged his Mediterranean roots at Cambridge Italian restaurant Giulia.

What I ate: Semolina cakes with parmesan and crispy prosciutto

Where I ate it: Giulia