One night in Boston

Well, actually it's 2 nights but the 2nd night we'll be at Fenway watching the White Sox vs. Red Sox so we are covered there. Looking for a great Boston dining experience for a Thursday night where somebody else is picking up the tab. I've been to Boston several times and love the city but this will be a biz trip of the hit & run variety; fly in Thursday, meeting Friday, ball game Friday night, and fly home Saturday. There will be 3-4 of us and while I'm interested in something great I would also want it to be more "fun" than, say, a Trotter's type of experience. We want to be relaxed and enjoying our meal rather than praying to it, if that makes any sense. I'm scanning the Boston Area section of another board to catch up on the lay of the land (It's been probably at least 5 years since I've been to beantown) but am hoping that some LTH'rs can steer me to someplace good. TIA.

Two words. Legal Seafood. It's corporate, but good and fits the bill for an expense account dinnr nicely.

I would recommend Jasper White's Summer Shack. We had a terrific dinner there a couple of years ago. I recommend the clams, steamed or fried.

Here's a link to their website:

www.summershackrestaurant.com

Suzy

I guess since I've been before I should have mentioned what places I've already dined in, Legal Seafood being one of them (but thanks for the nod, it is a Boston stalwart). Summer Shack looks like a lot of fun and I've added that to my list for the next time I'm in town for a longer stay - it's just the kind of place Mrs. Kman and I like to relax in.

For this trip for just one Thursday night dinner I'm looking for something a bit more upscale. So far my list of possibles looks like:

No. 9 Park - http://www.no9park.com
Mistral Bistro - http://www.mistralbistro.com
Caffe Umbra - http://www.caffeumbra.com
Hamersley's Bistro - http://www.hamersleysbistro.com

Looking for more places in that vein, experiences with them, or reasons not to go there. If I had to decide right now from the above list (and I'm hoping to build the list) I'd probably go for Hamersley's but am sorely torn about No. 9 Park.

Thanks again.

Inman Square in Cambridge has a lot of great choices. I can vouch for the East Coast Grill, co-owned by Chris Schlesinger of "License to Grill" fame, and the S&S Deli, which is probably not really what you're looking for but which is worth a side trip if you've got the time. Based on a quick look at http://www.inmansquare.com, there are a lot of newcomers at both the high end and the low end -- that neighborhood's certainly gentrified some in the last few years, but it's still between a number of great ethnic neighborhoods and manages to draw from all of them. (I'm amused to see a restaurant called EVOO -- don't know if you get your meals in 30 minutes or less, though.) Standard procedure for my friends and me back then was to head over to Inman Square and wander around until we found a place we were all in the mood for; that stretch of Cambridge St. is pretty nice and very diverse, and most places could generally accommodate smaller groups without reservations with a relatively short wait.

Central Square in Cambridge also has lots of great ethnic spots, mostly from the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, again skewing toward the low end but with a few decent "nice" spots as well. (Plus it has Carberry's, where the best cinnamon rolls on Earth are made.)

I remember Sol Azteca in Harvard Square as being a fairly decent, higher-end Mexican restaurant. Although it's not a burrito joint, I wouldn't call it rigidly traditional either, but back when I lived around there, at least, it was reliably flavorful.

Can't think of any good places around Porter Square (as you might be able to tell, my life there revolved around the T's Red Line); in Davis Square, I very much loved Gargoyle's (http://www.gargoylesonthesquare.com/). Looks like there's a new chef, so I can't promise the standards are the same, but it looks promising.

If you all enjoy seafood, a friend suggests the No Name Restaurant on the Fish Pier (http://tinyurl.com/9xmsy) over Legal Seafood. (The link goes to the Google Local page for the restaurant.) Although the reviews on that page are mixed, a friend says:

An IRC pal from Boston's North Shore wrote:<Joe> it's actually split in two sections, one a to-go type place, and the other half a sit-down restaurant with a more extensive menu
<bob> cool... does it suck? reviews linked from google are mixed
<Joe> I haven't been there in about 5 years, personally, but it was always my favorite seafood restaurant in town
<Joe> then legal, no-name still has the hole-in-the-wall family feel, while Legal is more upscaled and pseudo-trendy
<Joe> not that Legal is *bad*, just not as much of a real NE seafood place anymore

To be fair, some of the reviews on that Google page are pretty unhappy, so you might want to ask around among friends out there who might be more up-to-date.

I forgot about No Name. It's also very good. My parents are originally from the east coast (Bridgeport, CT and Liberty, NY) and most of the relatives are there, including my brother, who lives in Watertown, MA. Since he eats no meat except fish, we usually end up at a fish place when we are in town. No Name is one of his regular hangouts.

Makes me wish I could get on a plane now for some steamers.

Suzy

I hit "No Name" tonight since it's one of the few restos within walking distance of the convention center.

I was much less than impressed. Fried clams were delicious, but kind of soggy within seconds of delivery. The plate was a slop of clams, fries, slaw and tartar sauce in about equal proportions. No silverware was delivered until I complained, it took 15 minutes to get some cocktail sauce (see one of my rants about may to understand my aversion to tartar sauce). An 8-oz bottle of coke with a paper cup of ice for $1.75 is not the "cheap eats" this place has the reputation of -- I have no problem with the $17.95 for a plate of whole belly clams though. $3.95 for a small slice of mediocre cherry pie (claimed to be homemade, but if that wasn't a canned filling, I'll eat a can) doesn't help that pricing though.

Service seems to be a problem in general in this area -- the table next to me got the broiled instead of the fried seafood platter, and the night before I was nearly ignored in the hotel restaurant ("Sauciety" -- meh)

Kman wrote:Looking for a great Boston dining experience for a Thursday night where somebody else is picking up the tab.

I want to recommend Anthony's Pier 4 but I havent been in several (many) years. It used to be my go to Boston expense account restaurant. 3 lb lobster stuffed with lobster, check. Nice chowder. Check. Obligatory shrine to the Kennedy family, check. This is the boston restaurant that time forgot. However, a cursory glance at yelp suggests that this place might have done a swan dive. Anthony's is my quintessential Boston seafood dining experience. I havent been to no name in 20 years but i used to like it too.

Also maybe Union Oyser House, Americas oldest seafood restaurant and haunt of the Kennedys and John Kerry while in town. Union is very good but very crowded and very expensive.

Anthony's Pier 4
140 Northern Ave
(at B St)
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 482-6262

Union Oyser House
41 Union St
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 227-2750

**EDIT I just realized this post is 3 years old. Hope the OP enjoyed his dinner!

sdritz wrote:I would recommend Jasper White's Summer Shack. We had a terrific dinner there a couple of years ago. I recommend the clams, steamed or fried.

Suzy,

We had a terrific Sunday brunch at Summer Shack as well. Ellen, who feels about lobster the same way I do about crisp rice noodles with duck and BBQ pork at 'Little' Three Happiness, had lobster.

Happy anticipation of crustaceans to come



Summer Shack
August 2006


I had Lobster Hash, big hunks o lobster, crisp pan fried potatoes and perfectly poached eggs.

Lobster Hash
August 2006


A very pleasant brunch, though, along with oysters and lemon meringue pie, large enough we (mostly) snacked on fruit from the Farmers Market for dinner.



Enjoy,
Gary

Enjoy,
Gary

Great pictures!

The Summer Shack can be hit or miss. The seafood is generally excellent, in my opinion, but the rest of the food can be so-so, depending on what you get. I live almost within walking distance of the place, but don't go there very often because there are a few other places nearby (with Moulton's in Medford being my favorite) that have what I consider better quality seafood dishes.