Sweet Basil is an Italian eatery in Needham, MA that serves traditional and inventive dishes made with hand-made pastas and ingredients from locally sourced, New England farms and purveyors. Chef and Owner Dave Becker even makes the restaurants plateware in a local studio.

Last year Chef Becker came out with his second cookbook, Stewed, featuring recipes for soups, stews and braises. If you would like to check out my posts featuring three soups from the cookbook you can find them here, here and here.

I have heard many great reviews of Sweet Basil from friends who live in the area. I was really excited to be doing an errand in Needham knowing that I would finally get a chance to try Sweet Basil for myself. While I went in for lunch, Sweet Basil is open for dinner as well and guests are welcome to bring their own bottle of wine or beer to drink with their meal for a $5 corkage fee. The restaurant does not take reservations, and the wait can be long, but stick it out because it is worth it.

We got a lovely window seat and a table with these beautiful fresh flowers on it.

To start the meal we were served the freshest bread with a side of house made pesto. The pesto was such a nice twist from the usual butter or olive oil.

For lunch I tried the Crispy chicken tossed with ziti, serrano ham, tomatoes and peas in a gruyere cream sauce. This beautiful and hearty dish was only $12 and I had plenty to take home as leftovers.

The chicken was nice large chunks of white meat and nothing beats hand-made, fresh ziti. This was one of the best pasta dishes I have tried yet – and I try a lot of pasta!

I am looking forward to visiting Sweet Basil again soon, bottle of wine in tow!

Sweet Basil
942 Great Plain Ave.
Needham, MA 02492

781.444.9600

OPEN FOR LUNCH
Monday – Saturday  11:30am – 2:30pm

OPEN FOR DINNER
Monday – Friday  5:00pm – 10:00pm

Saturday & Sunday  4:00pm – 10:00pm