Up first Regina Pizzeria. This is supposed to be Boston's Best pizza.
volcanic looking cheese pizza
similarly volcanic looking sausage pizza
Betty and I had to wait in line about 30 minutes to try the pies but it was worth it. Regina Pizzeria is in the genre of thin crust brick oven pizza. Our favorite pizza John's Pizzeria in NYC is of the thin crust coal oven genre. Regina's reminded me of a distant cousin of John's -- which meant that I loved it. As is all too common one person's GPOAT is another's person's weaksauce. Though I appreciate pizza in its many forms -- the thin crust genre is prolly my favorite. That being said - Adriaticos thick crust is my GPOAT. Regina's pizza was perfectly cooked served scorching hot and slightly burnt on the edges and crust. Greasy cheese and sweet tomato sauce go perfect with carbon. That's a tip that most pizza joints just don't get. We ordered a topping pizza and a purist plain -- a habit Betty got me into many years ago. This way you get to appreciate the classic ingredients of a pizza while also getting an idea of how the pizza flavors enhance and build from the combination of extra toppings. I loved both pizzas. Regina's homemade sausage was very much on point but at the end of the day -- Betty and I had to fight for the last slice of cheese -- though you can do no wrong with any topping selection I would fathom. I can't say for certain that Pizzeria Regina is the best pizza in Boston. Those folks who don't like thin crust may not fancy this pie. I will say that the next time we're in Boston I'm going to Pizzeria Regina -- and that any other pizza joint would be hard-pressed to top it's taste. We were advised to go to the original location at 11 1/2 Thacher Street -- as there are chains across the city -- and the dining environment was charming. Our first Boston mission was accomplished -- the only problem was that I kept wanting to go back and get more instead of branching out...
Not too far from Regina's was Mike's Pastry which had been mentioned to us as having good cannolis. We heard rumors of an $8 cannoli there but Betty and I settled in on the $4 chocolate cannoli. I don't know too much about cannoli's but this was easily the best one I had.
chocolate cannoli with some Boston shower sprinkles -- that's right we ate this in the rain outside and it still knocked us on our paws.
The next morning found us touristing around market square and we had to try some of the fresh seafood at one of the shops. The name escapes me but it's the place in Quincy market that has the shrimp salad displayed right next to it.
peel and eat shrimp round 1. $9.95 for 6 shrimp? ouch.
The ginormous shrimp were expensive but extremely tasty. Regular readers know I am a price hound and if your food costs mad loot it better taste real good or you got one mad bear blog on your hands. The exception to this rule is normally vacation but Betty and I were having so much fun on our Boston-whirl-wind-tour that going broke never felt so good.
Continuing our walking tour on the Freedom trail south west to Beacon Hill...to Boston Common all the way back around to the Boston harbor worked up a tremendous appetite. We came across this strange trailer-esque building on the harbor marketing their lobster bisque called James Hook and Co. I was sold with the meer mention of lobster bisque and ventured in with Betty reluctantly following unsure of why I would want to enter this hole-in-the-wall.
When we walked into said strange trailer-esque building there were fresh lobsters and other sea creatures in the place with a small presentation/serving display. Though not ubear inviting I ordered a cup of the lobster bisque soup. Bear oh bear -- this soup was lobster-bliss. Sweet, creamy and lobstered out beyond tastes could describe. James Hook should have a TV show called Lobster My Soup cause this bisque is all about flavor.
sucky picture of lobster bisque -- we were sitting under a red umbrella...ella ella eh eh eh...
Between the shrimp in the morning and the lobster bisque for a snack Betty and I needed more sustenance so decided to check out the convenient Tia's Bar that was located not to far from our hotel. Surprise surprise...more sea food in the mix.
clam chowder bowl...they shouldn't even offer cups...
peel and eat shrimp vol. 2
This was some good straight up clam chowder creamy but with no suggestion or real hint of spice enhancement et al. The shrimp was fresh and delicious. I had no qualms ripping off the legs of the skrimp as Columbus Yogurt's girl calls them -- even for a domesticated bear like me.
Our last morning in Boston found Betty and I up early trekking out to Harvard and MIT -- hoping to take in the experience and aura of these prestigious universities and perhaps feeling enlightened in the process? No enlightenment was achieved in this case though it was fun to walk around both campuses. Nothing really caught our eye from a food perspective though most places were closed because we were on campus early -- plus I had failed to do my homework on what places to check out. As our hunger evolved we eventually decided to eat at Mass Avenue Restaurant somewhere in Cambridge on Massachusetts Avenue. Seemed like a hole in the wall diner but since their sign read Mexican food I was hoping for some good eats. I was already dreaming of devouring my refried beans and egg dish concoction only to discover that refried beans were not available until lunch. Weak Sauce. I disappointingly ordered the Mexican omlette -- which aside from salsa and sour cream had nothing that really made it Mexican per se...no chorizo...no spices...oh well.
"mexican" omlette
The food was decent and you sure got a lot of food for $7.00 but my stomach wasn't that into it.
After concluding our AM walking/subway trek to Harvard and MIT it was time to check out of the hotel -- but I was not quite done with Boston just yet. Betty and I decided we'd do a quick pub crawl before heading to the airport. Our next stop was The Black Rose. If you open your Tourist Reader to page 1 you'll most likely read how this pub is one of the best pubs in Boston if not the whole country. That's a pretty bold statement considering Boston might as well be called Pubston with all the small bars we saw on our walking tour. This place was charming in the typical-pub-brick-interior-irish-flag-sorta-way that many Ohio pubs emulate -- but this place was the real deal. In addition we were excited to learn that the Black Rose had the limited edition Brick Red Sam Adams beer on draft. I had to roll with the clam chowder again which was very tasty. Where as Tia's chowder was straight up cream based -- the Black Rose's chowder had a more flavorful spice undercurrent that was predominantly dill as in dillicious.
dillicious clam chowder
I also had to roll with the house burger.
Black Rose Burger - topped with Irish bacon, caramelized onions, sauteed crimini shrooms
The burger was a'ight. It wasn't cooked to my preferred temperature of medium so it was difficult for me to appreciate it. In the end I just ate the burger and left the bun for better or for worse. I was surprised that there was nothing particularly magical about the Irish bacon, crimini shrooms and onions combo. Oh well -- the ambiance and beer were good and Betty and I were off to hit up a couple of more pubs.
Boston is a great city with a rich history. I think i said that already. More importantly for us on this trip -- we had a blast at the wedding and meeting up with our dear friends. The city was very easy to walk about to see all the sites and sounds. As for the eats however -- Betty and I barely scraped the surface of the cuisine and food that we smelled in the streets and drooled as we walked all over town. We look forward to visiting again and getting more time to eat and perhaps less time touristing.
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You forgot to mention that they didn't clean the Peel and Shrimp Vol. 2 very well. Eew. Still tasted good, though.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Mass Ave. Restaurant should not serve the kind of food they do without a public restroom.