Best of Boston

2005 Best Chef, Up and Coming

Pino Maffeo, Restaurant L

You’ve never crave artichoke-goat cheese lollipops until you tasted Pino Maffeo’s daring cuisine at Restaurant L. Like other mad gastro-wizards, Maffeo employs a host of high-tech gadgets (including a centrifuge) to whip up plates like caramelized scallops with poached asparagus sous vide and citrusy, unripe almonds. But unlike some of his counterparts, Maffeo makes sure it’s taste, not science, that rules. That’s what we call chemistry.

234 Berkeley St., Boston, 617-266-4680,