Become a Local Champion in Boston

A Local Champion in Boston is someone who has rated five different Boston places, answered three Top 3 questions about the city and made one list with a Boston place on it, all in the Mosey app. It is earned by activity alone, so a chowder loyalist and a cannoli skeptic have exactly the same chance of getting the title.

How do you become a Local Champion in Boston?

The recipe is the same in every town, and Boston just supplies unusually good ingredients. Rate five places you really visited, answer three Top 3 questions with the places you would send a friend to, and make a list of your own with at least one Boston place on it. A card on Home ticks each step off and shows counters such as "3 of 5 rated".

Boston rewards the slow approach. The city is compact, so a week of ordinary eating, a morning pastry, a lunch near work and a weekend dinner, can cover five distinct places. Five ratings of the same favorite counts as one, so spread them out. The seasons help: a winter bowl of chowder and a summer lobster roll are different ratings of different places, and both are very Boston.

Which Boston neighborhoods suit your five ratings?

Start with the neighborhoods people already talk about. The North End is the city's Little Italy, shaped by Italian immigrants who brought their cooking, and its bakeries are known for cannoli. Chinatown covers a wide range, from dim sum to pho. South Boston, called Southie, carries an Irish-American heritage that shows up in its classic pubs and traditional plates. Guides also point to the Seaport for modern, seafood-leaning cooking and to the South End and Fenway for their own distinct identities.

You do not have to cover them all. Five places in two or three neighborhoods is a perfectly good start. The Boston Chinatown guide goes deeper on one corner of the list.

Which Boston dishes can you rate by name?

Boston has dishes with a long paper trail, which makes them satisfying to rate by name. New England clam chowder is the creamy version, nothing like the tomato-based soup of other cities, and it reflects the city's maritime past. Boston baked beans are navy beans slow-cooked in molasses, with roots in the colonial era. Lobster rolls come in a buttered roll with lightly dressed lobster. Boston cream pie is a sponge cake, not a pie, filled with custard and covered in chocolate glaze, and it is said to have been created in a downtown hotel kitchen.

Naming the dish in a rating helps the next person decide what to order, and it counts toward the title just like a rating with no words. The chowder, lobster roll and fried clams guide covers the classics.

Which Boston Top 3 questions do locals argue about?

Top 3 asks one question per visit, with visits at least four hours apart, and the questions are about kinds of food and occasions, such as coffee, brunch, pizza, Italian, Chinese and pastries. In Boston those map onto old arguments. Is the best Italian in the North End, or somewhere less obvious? Who makes the cannoli with the crisp shell? Is a good chowder thick or brothy? You name up to three places in order, number 1 first.

You need three different questions answered in Boston for the title. A skip keeps your streak but is not an answer, so name at least one place each time. The app picks the next question, so you cannot choose, which is part of the fun.

What belongs on a Boston list that counts?

The third step is a list of your own with a Boston place on it. Make it about something real: a walk through the North End, the places to take a parent visiting from out of town, or your usual cold-weather lunches. My Favorites does not count, and neither does the My top 3s list that Top 3 writes for you. A name such as "Rainy Saturday Boston" works fine.

Add a place, give it a short note and share it with the friend who always asks where to eat. A shared list can take their additions too.

How do dishes, tags and friends help in Boston?

Boston is a city of regulars and visitors, and the app helps both. Rate by the dish, so the cannoli and the chowder are named. Add tags, such as Hidden Gem or Great Value, to say what stood out. Tag the person you ate with. Follow a few friends and their ratings show on Home under This week with friends.

For the title, none of that matters beyond the fact that you rated. The app never reads what a rating says, so a lukewarm rating of a famous place counts exactly like a rave. The reasons are in the earned, not bought guide.

What do you get once you are a Local Champion in Boston?

A thank-you card that says "You are a Local Champion of Boston", a title on your profile and beside your name on a rating of a Boston place, and a Share my title button that makes a picture card with three plain numbers. There is no prize, discount or payment. For the full list of steps, see the how-to guide, and the Local Champion page shows the screens.

Mosey is free for a place to list, with no hidden fees and affordable tools, and supporting local in Boston can be as small as telling a neighbor which bakery you waited in line for. More Massachusetts food is in the Massachusetts guide, and more cities are in the US food guides. Next door, the Miami page does the same for a very different table.

Eating your way across Massachusetts? The Food in Massachusetts page links every town we cover.

Get the Mosey app, rate your next Boston meal by the dish and start the list that makes you a Local Champion.