West Street Tavern & Restaurant

West Street Tavern is just off Route 16 in the Nonantum section of Newton, and you could drive down the street hundreds of times, as I have, and never spot the place. Says co-owner Karl Roche, a Dublin native, “It is off the beaten path by a hair.” Roche bought West Street five years ago, with his wife, Jessica, a lifelong Newton resident. He says he was “more or less born in the business,” and worked as a bartender at Corrib Pub in Brighton for a dozen years. Another Dubliner, Gordon Power, is in the kitchen. “He’s like an Anthony Bourdain,” says Roche. “Been all over the world, working and eating.”