Seafood is the star at this Union Square mainstay, offering some of the best Peruvian flavors in the area. Bright, tangy ceviche is the obvious starter, but don’t miss the potato terrine served with your choice of tuna tartare, shrimp, or avocado and tomato. A modest, charming interior, featuring a partially visible kitchen, is supplemented with a cheery blue patio in the summer — the perfect spot to sip a cocktail.

Feast on fried calamari, squid ink linguine, lobster fra diavolo, and whatever else catches your fancy from the chalkboard menu as flames shoot toward the ceiling in the tiny kitchen a few feet away from your table. No matter your order, everything here is consistently tasty and fresh.

The menu is a greatest-hits album of New England seafood – excellent clam chowder, Maine lobster, oysters, scallops, mussels, and on and on – and the experience is a crowd pleaser. The three-level Seaport restaurant is the crown jewel, with floor-to-ceiling windows on the first two levels and topped by a hopping 225-seat roof deck with sushi, cocktails, and sweeping views of the harbor.

The sassier, seafood-centric sister of refined Italian restaurant Giulia up the street, Moëca channels the only-in-Cambridge verve of Chez Henri, once a landmark in this space: You’ll see tweedy professors, tentative couples, and parents treating their Harvard progeny to skewers of barbecued mussels lacquered with molasses and umami-scented semolina gnocchi, thick tomato sauce blackened at the edges, served on a scallop shell.

With white walls and soaring ceilings, the room is elegant and lively. Polished hospitality, caviar service, and a splurge-y wine list ensure the occasion is extra-special. But it’s the seafood that shines above all, displayed on beds of ice like treasure and showcased in classy dishes such as sea bass tartare, ricotta gnocchetti with lobster, and salt-crusted branzino for two.

The vibes and cocktails alone make The Pearl a fun evening out, but the oysters? Yes, they have the traditional briny darlings – from Duxbury to Pink Moon to Wellfleet – but Malik’s Chargrilled Oysters are what keeps us coming back. NOLA does it best, but The Pearl’s grilled oysters blanketed in spinach, garlic butter, and Parmesan cheese make us sing.

Restaurateur Kathy Sidell’s Saltie Girl is a showcase for these treasures, sent our way from Spain, Portugal, and beyond. From there, executive chef Kyle McClelland’s menu rockets us through seafood towers, fish dishes raw and smoked, chowder and fried clams, lobster rolls and lobster frites and fried lobster and waffles.

Come for seafood towers and beautiful raw compositions: Faroe Islands salmon slicked with pistachio oil and goosed with lime; hamachi with passionfruit and crisp bites of cucumber and radish; yellowfin with avocado, soy, and caviar. Serpa knows when and how to let seafood shine, as with whole blue prawns served with olive oil, lemon, garlic, and a bit of Espelette pepper; or whole roasted sea bream with fingerlings and fennel, drizzled in herb dressing.

The great Louisiana crawfish boil is one of America’s best and most fun dining customs. But the tiny crustacean is a rare find up north. Shaking Seafood fills the void. For best results, invite some friends over. Set up a folding table. Cover it with newspapers. Order a spicy boil bag of your choice – any combination of crawfish, crab legs, lobster, mussels – with corn and other extras (always get the garlic noodles).