Somerville’s acclaimed Middle Eastern meze restaurant celebrates double the fungus in its mushroom manti. The dinner dish pairs a delicate porcini yogurt broth with maitake mushrooms, along with turnips and poached egg for a bit of runny yolk goodness.

With a little luck, you’ll hit up Alcove when the Lovejoy Wharf seafood- and vegetable-focused restaurant offers its maitake mushroom dish. Since Alcove opened in late 2018, this vegan entree has frequently replaced typical meat-based dishes, with nary a complaint from carnivores. Chef Brian Paszko highlights the meaty texture of the maitake — also known as hen-of-the-woods mushrooms — by pairing them with polenta, baby turnips, and black garlic. 

North End restaurant Tony & Elaine’s rolled out the red-and-white checkered tablecloths at the beginning of 2019, serving nostalgic riffs on Italian favorites, such as spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parm, and fontina arancini. One can’t go wrong with the mushroom risotto, which pairs creamy risotto with a hearty helping of mixed mushrooms with herbs and a drizzle of truffle oil.

Israeli Mediterranean chain Cafe Landwer — which made its stateside debut in 2018 with locations in Cleveland Circle and Audubon Circle — considers its “shrooms” hummus mezza a signature dish. With the combo of mushrooms, caramelized onion, and olive oil, the mezza makes for a solid meat-free meal if paired with, perhaps, an order of haloumi sticks.

The crispy hen of the woods dish at Chickadee in the Seaport District’s Innovation and Design building is almost like a deep-fried blooming onion gone gourmand: an addictive salty and caramelized texture trip. The dish pairs deep-fried hen-of-the-woods mushrooms with an aerated Greek potato-almond skordalia dip, nigella seed, and chives. Find it on the lunch and dinner menu of the Mediterranean-inspired spot that chef John daSilva and beverage director Ted Kilpatrick opened in 2018.

“I think my favorite thing about the dish is that it’s so textural,” daSilva says. “You get the nice crispy mushrooms and the creamy sauce. The deep-fryer further concentrates the umami, and there’s maximum caramelization because every part of the mushroom is getting that hot oil.”

When Six West opened at the Cambria Hotel in late 2019, shortly after the South Boston hotel itself opened, visitors and locals quickly discovered the hidden boon that is the restaurant’s “magical mushrooms” dish. Executive chef David Daniels pairs fried mushrooms with truffle powder and Portuguese linguiça sausage, which the kitchen is happy to omit for a vegetarian-friendly bite. Find the dish at Cambria’s ground-floor restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch.

The mushroom tofu veggie burger has been a favorite recipe of chef Asia Mei back before she even opened Moonshine 152 in South Boston in 2015. She conceived the dish while she worked as Whole Foods’ executive chef. Finding only dull, frozen veggie burgers in the market, she set out to create a protein-packed and flavorful option that combined tofu, mushrooms, and spices to call to mind a juicy patty without trying to mimic the exact flavor of meat.

“I really think the umami-rich, deep, unctuous flavor pairs perfectly with anything that you could find on a regular beef burger,” she says of the burger, which is served on a potato bun with house aioli, sharp Vermont white cheddar, lettuce, onion, tomato, and shoestring fries. A mainstay of both the dinner and weekend brunch menus, it’s a customer favorite and is vegan if you omit the cheese and aioli. “It really embodies everything I want to be/do as a chef, which is provide approachable, craveable comfort food items, but on a higher level of execution,” Mei says. 

This family-run legendary diner first opened its doors in 1949 on Massachusetts Avenue, at the crossroads of Dorchester, Roxbury, South Boston, and the South End. Though customers will find the usual comfort food favorites on the restaurant’s colossal menu, like stacked burgers smothered with cheese, check out the sandwich section for lighter vegetarian bites, such as a portobello avocado panini with basil aioli, served on focaccia.

Sometimes soup is a meal in itself. Try the coconut soup at Somtum Modern Thai Cuisine, with mushrooms that float in a flavor-rich coconut broth that’s cut with bright lemongrass and lime, for a flavor-filled warmer. The restaurant opened in West Roxbury in 2017 and focuses on Thai classics for lunch and dinner, like this vegetarian spin on the iconic tom kha soup (which is often served with chicken and shrimp).