Boston: Food

One thing that brings me so much pleasure is food. I LOVE trying different foods. When I travel I like to make sure I get a variety of things that I do not normally eat. So being from Wisconsin while I was in Massachusetts I wanted to enjoy a plethora of seafood. So that I did. In the week I was there I probably ate my weight in seafood and enjoyed every second of it! Unfortunately there are a handful of beautiful meals I did not get pictures of because they smelled so good that I started stuffing my before I remember that I should have taken a picture…opps!

My first meal was at the Boston Sail Loft where I had a GIANT cod sandwich. It was so big that I was full halfway through, but couldn’t stop eating. The picture at the top of the blog was a sesame seared Ahi Tuna from Joe’s American Bar and Grill. Looking at the picture just makes my mouth water all over again!

I also enjoyed a lot of local coffee shops while in Mass. I am a coffee fanatic. It is one thing that I consume daily, well generally multiple times a day. I am one of those people who considers coffee its own food group. Generally when I drink coffee it is coffee and almond milk. On occasion I will have a fru fru coffee, but not often. It was crazy to see how many coffee shops were in Boston. Quite literally there was a Dunkin Donuts on almost every other block.

Dunkin’ Donuts began as a restaurant called Open Kettle in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1948, where owner William Rosenberg served doughnuts for 5 cents and cups of coffee for 10 cents. The store changed to Dunkin’ Donuts in 1950, and today there are more than 11,800 Dunkin’ Donuts stores worldwide. ( https://www.newsday.com/business/facts-about-dunkin-donuts-including-munchkins-coffees-iced-coffee-quincy-and-first-store-1.10435725 )

Apparently there are 61 locations in Boston as of June 28th, 2012- which is nuts! Unfortunately I couldn’t find a more recent count. They probably multiply like rabbits and no one can keep up! How the heck do they all stay in business with another location a stone’s throw away? Shown on the picture below is all the locations of Dunkin in orange…(there again from 2012). ( http://archive.boston.com/yourtown/specials/dunkin_donuts_vs_starbucks_massachusetts/ )

For one of our work dinners we went to Miller’s Boston Ale House. I got twin lobster tails. OMG they were freaking amazing! There is such a difference when it is fresh.

At the Lamplighter Brewing Company in Cambridge I enjoyed fantastic coffee and a doughie. I had never heard of a doughie before, but it was basically a giant donut ball. How can you go wrong with a giant donut ball?? This brewery was kind of neat because it not only brewed coffee but its own beer! When I walked by this brewery on my way home around 8pm Friday evening it was packed with a line halfway down the block. This made me feel really old. It also made me remember all the times in college where I would stand in a line like that and wait to get into a bar or dance club no matter the weather. Not anymore, no thank you!

I also had a sleeve of fresh macaroons from Caramel Patisserie in Salem for dinner. There is a soft spot in my heart for macarons. I was able to enjoy lavender, rose, lemon, raspberry, salted caramel and chocolate. The lavender and rose flavored ones tasted just like flowers smell. When I closed my eyes it felt like I was in a field of flowers like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. It was divine.

While in Salem I had dinner at Rockafellas. The deep fried crab cake BLT on a brioche bun could not have been any better. This is where I dove in prior to taking a picture which is sad because it was beautiful. I’m pretty sure I was having a moment while consuming this sandwich.

I also made it to the North End to see Little Italy with a good friend of mine. Lunch at Cantina Italiana was superb. Spaghetti con Calamari was quite a treat. The light plum tomato sauce was refreshing and quite a change from the thick marinara we usually have with our pasta.

While in Little Italy we popped into Mike’s Pastry. Holy crap this was quite an experience. People are quite literally in lines all the way out of the shop onto the sidewalk to get dessert. This is a cash and carry out only restaurant which blew my mind. I did not end up purchasing anything since it was loaded with dairy and my next stop was the airport.

Lastly on my flight home I was given a “Coke”…it was made by the Coca Cola company, however it did not taste like the Coke I am used to. It was lighter like it was made with a different sweetener -maybe cane sugar- and did not have a syrupy taste. To quote one of my favorite people…“It was different.”