Eating around Boston

Two weekends ago, Dana and I drove up to Boston to catch a Yankees game behind enemy lines. We spent the weekend up there as it was my first trip to Boston. Besides seeing the Yankees win, our goal was to see the sights of Boston and eat some local food.

Our trip started Friday at Game On which is attached to Fenway. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but this is your typical bar food. Unfortunately it wasn't good bar food. Not bad, just not good. We ate typical stuff: nachos, wings, chicken sandwiches. Nothing stood out.

On Saturday, my friend, Anthony (grew up and still lives just outside Boston) and his girlfriend, Brittany, met us downstairs at 9am to show us around. My day started with a wonderful surprise. While waiting for them to arrive, I walked down to the nearby Starbucks. While placing my usual order, the barista behind the counter asked if I would like to try coffee from one of their new machines, The Clover. I had heard about these machines but yet to experience them. If you don't know what The Clover is, you are better off googling it because I am not even 100% sure. It seemed like a glorified french press that removes the grounds from the coffee.. its like having your cake and eating it, too. Anyway, I will say that the coffee was delicious. I am not sure if I'd want to wait every morning for the few minutes it takes...plus I would imagine this would create quite a backup at the counter, but it was very good. If you are a fan of Starbucks coffee, I recommend scoping out a store for one of these machines. You can actually search their site for stores that have a Clover machine. OK. That was a lot about a cup of coffee...

When our friends arrived, they immediately took us over to one of their favorite breakfast spots, Flour (www.flourbakery.com). A pretty neat little breakfast place. Had delicious looking pastries and they also had a nice spread for people with food allergies. I went with a bacon and cheese sandwich on a croissant. One of my favorite breakfast sandwiches. While eating my sandwich, I had a bit of food envy as I watched other patrons eat the french toast. It looked so good from a distance.

After breakfast and some sight seeing, we had made our way over to Anthony's town, Winthrop. One of my prerequisites for this trip was to have the best lobster roll in Boston. Anthony assured me that the best lobster roll in Boston was actually just outside of Boston. We headed over to Winthrop to this total seafood shack dive named, Belle Isle Seafood, that was just across the bridge from Boston. I couldn't tell if this was a bait shop or a food place... might have been both for all I know. Anyway it sits just off the water and you can tell that this is the type of place that has some delicious fresh seafood. We ordered our lobster rolls to go and headed over to Anthony's home. When I opened the wrapping all I saw was lobster meat. This lobster roll was no joke. The roll was overflowing with meat. We couldn't eat these rolls with our hands, it needed a knife and fork. The first bite all you can taste was the freshness of the lobster. They did a very good job of letting the lobster do all the talking. The bread was a simple New England style hot dog bun, a little iceberg lettuce, a tiny bit of mayo and tons of fresh lobster. I was very happy.

This concluded our day spent with Anthony, so he drove us back to our hotel. After a short nap, Dana and I went on a walk. We ended up walking close to two miles and ended up near an Oyster house that Anthony had recommended. I was looking for clam chowder for Dana and I wanted some lobster bisque. We walked over to Island Creek Oyster Bar (www.islandcreekoysterbar.com) and sat down for some more food. Unfortunately they didn't have lobster bisque, but they did have chilled lobster..and they also had oysters. We ordered a dozen oysters (Island Creek, Moon Shoal, Chatham)..actually the waiter ordered them because there was well over a dozen to choose from..we just ate them. I am not a big fan of oysters, but if they tasted like these...I'd eat them all the time. Hands down both mine and Dana's favorite were the Island Creek oysters. They had a very clean and sweet taste to them and they were not overly briny at all. The other two were good, but greatly overshadowed by the Island Creek oysters. After the oysters, Dana ordered the clam chowder (she found it to be too fancy) and I had a chilled half lobster (again..very fresh). One other sidenote about Island Creek Oyster Bar, they had a very good beer menu with a lot of unique choices.

After heading back to our room and showering up, we headed back out for some small apps and a bottle of wine. Brian Hider recommended us to stop by at Troquet (www.troquetboston.com) for a look at their wine list. We had no reservation, but our hope was to sit by the bar and have a bite or two with a couple of glasses of wine. When we walked in, the place looked closed. There was a tiny bar that could seat 4-5 people and then their was a row of about 8 tables that were empty. The hostess informed us that the restaurant was actually upstairs and that the tables downstairs were for dessert only. We could sit at the bar for a bite, but it was already full. We found it to be a little confusing, mainly because I went from thinking they were not even open to being completely full. We sat down at the empty tables and figured we'd order a glass and get out. I asked for the actual wine list as well. They had a large selection of wines by the glass, but nothing was really jumping out at me. I then took a quick glance at the wine list, focusing on champagne and california cabs since no food was going to be consumed with our wine. They had a nice selection of vintage Krug for very fair prices, but still a bit too rich for what the night was. I then scanned down the cabs and immediately saw what I was ordering. They had very good prices, cheaper than most retail and usually with some bottle age. I honed in on a 1997 Spottswoode Cab for $125. That price is pretty much what a current release bottle would go for if I ordered direct from the winery. I was able to just order something at that price, but with 14 years of age on it. The wine was singing. This has been a favorite wine of mine and Dana's and this bottle showed no different. On the nose, the wine just smacks you in the face with a bouquet of red fruit and cinnamon. The wine exhibited very dark cherry red flavors and seemed still pretty young, while at the same time it started to show some secondary flavors of eucalyptus and mint. I could drink this bottle every night. The wine was served with a cheese plate that we ordered off of the dessert menu. Unfortunately I did not get to see any of the main food.

After Troquet, we walked over to an Irish pub. We walked into Father Dooley's and ordered a pint of Guinness. A few minutes later, an Irish band started playing Irish tunes. Where was I? This was a great way to end our night.

The next morning it was raining pretty hard so we decided to just head home. Before leaving town we wanted to make one last stop. We headed back over to Flour to correct yesterday's mistake. Dana and I both ordered the french toast and it was as good as it looked. I would highly recommend getting the french toast there.