One Night in Boston

On the way home from my recent Maine vacation, I spent a night in Boston before flying back to Chicago the following morning. My wife lived in Boston 20 something years ago, so she was somewhat excited to return and see some of her old favorites in the city.

The first stop was Faneuil Hall, which had been transformed from its former rustic marketplace into a full on Disney-esque version of our own Navy Pier. They even had not one, but two bars named Cheers (no one knew my name). We spent only the time it takes to walk from the front door of the main building to the back door before deciding that we needed to leave. From there we walked over to the Hay Market, which is Boston's version of our own Randolph Street meat packing district. It seemed to be largly intact with only minor encroachment from yuppified bars and restaurants. Unfortunately, it was late in the day and most of the businesses there were already closed.

After a trip back to our hotel for a nap, we wandered over to the North End for some dinner. Our destination was Giacomo's, a small little place with only 8 - 10 tables (depending how that had them pushed together at any given time).

Giacomo's


There are no reservations at Giacomo's. People get there early and just line up. The no-nonsense hostess/waitress comes outside to get you when a table opens up. If your party is not all there when she calls you...no soup for you! Get to the back of the line.

The menu at Giacomo's is on a blackboard on the wall.

Giacomo's Menu


And there is another blackboard with the daily specials.

Giacomo's Specials


All of the food is cooked in the tiny open kitchen in the dining room.

Giacomo's Kitchen



We started with fried calamari, which is an excellent version of this all too often pedestrian dish.

Fried Calamari


The calamari is breaded to order, using very fresh squid. The tenticles are usually my favorite part and in this version they are very large, not the little baby tenticles you normally see. What really sets Giacomo's version apart is the inclusion of fried rings of pepperocini in among the calamari. The peppers add a little heat and extra taste to the preparation.

For the main course, I ordered the homemade fusilli with seafood from the specials menu.

Homemade Fusilli with Lobster & Shrimp


The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente with a fair amount of lobster and lots of large shrimp. Purists might argue that it was slightly oversauced, but I didn't mind in this case because the fra diavolo sauce was very much to my liking and there was bread available for sauce sopping. NB. I know that you don't add grated cheese to a seafood dish, but it was done for me before I could stop it.

I asked the waiter about desert and he recommended that rather than order it at Giacomo's, we should head down the street to Mike's Pastry Shop and have a look around.

Mike's Pastry Shop


This place has a line out the door at all times. The selection of Italian pastries was phenominal. Like Ferrara's Bakery on Steroids. There were also a few small tables inside where you could get table service, although it was a challenge to catch the eye of one of the few servers who also doubled as behind the counter sales people. I opted for a cappuccino and a cannoli.

Mike's Pastry Cannoli


The cannoli was made to order and stuffed with a very smooth and creamy filling. They offered at least 5 different "flavors" but I opted for plain.

The next morning it was time to head to the airport to return our rental car and to head home, but not before stopping for breakfast at 3 Yolks Breakfast & Lunch, which we spotted from the car as we were looking for a gas station to fill up the car.

3 Yolks Breakfast & Lunch


This was a classic roadside diner that offered up a great breakfast. The Chow Poodle ordered up a banana-walnut waffle, which was on special and got not one, but two full sized waffles on her plate. I got the biscuits & gravy, eggs and bacon special.

Breakfast at 3 Yolks Breakfast & Lunch


The biscuits and gravy were very good and made up for the somewhat dissapointing version I had gotten at the Maine Dinerthe day before and the hash browns were done crispy. Just the way I like them, although they were chunky rather than shreaded potatoes (not a bad thing). There was something about the bacon that was really delicious. I'm not sure what brand it was, but it beat the pants off of Oscar Meyer or any other kind I usually encounter. The "bottomless cup of coffee" talked about on their sign was just that. A very large, swimming pool sized cup-o-joe that they would have gladly refilled had I ever seen the bottom of it. They were also serving up some really good looking grits. An order of grits came served in a normal sized coffee mug on the plate next to your eggs. Our entire tab was somewhere around $10. If you ever find yourself in Revere, MA. Check out 3 Yolks Breakfast & Lunch. You'll be glad you did.

Giacomo's
355 Hanover St
Boston, MA 02113-1910
(617) 523-9026 (If they bother to answer)

Mike's Pastry
300 Hanover Street
Boston, MA 02113
617.742.3050
http://www.mikespastry.com

3 Yolks Breakfast & Lunch
419 Lee Burbank Hwy
Revere MA
(781) 286-2997

stevez wrote:What really sets Giacomo's version apart is the inclusion of fried rings of pepperocini in among the calamari. The peppers add a little heat and extra taste to the preparation.

Steve,

Sorry for the late follow-up, but wanted to say thanks for the Giacomo's recommendation. We followed closely in your footsteps, starting with dead-crisp, tender squid. Nice crunch and, as you say, the peperoncini add a delicious dimension.

Giacomo's Fried Squid


We enjoyed our antipasto, in particular the breseola which had been marinated.

Giacomo's Antipasto


Ellen went with homemade fusilli with lobster meat and shrimp. Though, instead of straight-up fradiavlo sauce she had Giacomo's sauce, which is simply fradiavalo with a bit of added heavy cream.

Fusilli with lobster, shrimp and Giacomo Sauce


I had lobster ravioli also in Giacomo sauce, which I very much enjoyed.

Lobster Ravioli w/Giacomo Sauce


With dinner we drank a very nice, and reasonably priced, 2002 Ruffino Chianti reserve.

Dessert was cannoli at Modern. I loved the place itself, very friendly, bright, nice mix of tourist and local customers, but thought the cannoli just ok. Not, by any means, bad, just not quite as exuberant as I expected, at least in comparison to to the cannoli I had a few days earlier at the North End's Saint Agrippina festival.

Modern Pastry Cannoli


Pistachio gelato was also just ok, more ice cream than gelato with just a hint of artificial flavor brightness.


I did, however, absolutely love Modern's almond nougat which I brought back to our hotel room One bite and I had a serious case of wish I had bought more

Modern Pastry White Torrone (vanilla nougat with roasted almonds)


Giacomo's was really terrific, thanks for the recommendation Steve.

Enjoy,
Gary

Sadly, 3 Yolks closed a few weeks ago. Another old-school Boston joint closes it doors [sigh].