Area Four

The custom wood-burning oven at Area Four isn't just equipment—it's the soul of the restaurant. Reaching 800 degrees, it produces pizzas with perfectly blistered, leopard-spotted crusts that snap when you bite them. These aren't ordinary pizzas; they're the reason Kendall Square tech workers walk past a dozen lunch options to get here.

But Area Four is more than pizza (though the pizza would be enough). The morning crowd comes for excellent coffee and breakfast pastries. The lunch rush devours sandwiches and salads. And by evening, the space transforms into a neighborhood gathering spot where families, couples, and groups of friends settle in for a meal.

Chef-owner Michael Leviton brings a farm-to-table sensibility to everything, even casual fare. The ingredients are impeccable—local vegetables, quality meats, artisan cheeses. It's the same philosophy that earned his other restaurant, Lumière, critical acclaim, applied to food you can eat with your hands.

The space itself reflects Kendall Square's transformation from industrial zone to innovation hub. High ceilings and exposed brick nod to the building's history, while the warm lighting and communal tables create contemporary community. It's appropriate that Cambridge's most forward-thinking neighborhood has a restaurant this welcoming.