Boston, next week

**DeusVult** · 06-25-2012, 10:04 AM

I've said before that B&B needs a travel section, but I'll post here since the fellows who know all the good stuff read The Speakeasy. I'll be going to Boston on Sunday for a week long scientific conference. I'd like to hear what I need to see, where to eat and drink, and whatever else, while I'm there. Wouldn't mind hitting a tobacco shop or shaving store either. I'll be staying in the Back Bay neighborhood, Copley Square, and will be on foot so I can't go too far. I guess a cab is an option, unless someone knows about other good public transportation. I'd appreciate any thoughts. Thanks in advance.

**professorchaos** · 06-26-2012, 05:31 PM

The T will get you where you need to go. From Copley take the Green Line inbound to Park Street. Change there to the Red Line outbound. Get off at Harvard Square. Within blocks of each other you will find Leavitt & Peirce Tobacco and Colonial Drugs.

As far as eating and drinking goes ... there are tons of options. If you are up for an early dinner, I highly recommend Toro. They don't take reservations and the place fills up about 5 minutes after they open. Petit Robert, also in the South End, is delicious too. If you want to see Boston as it once was and isn't anymore head to Revere for Kelly's Roast Beef for the clam roll or Kowloon in Saugus for Chinese and stand up comedy.

Oh, and stay out of China Town. I've never found a place worth trying twice.

**David in Boston** · 06-26-2012, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by professorchaos

The T will get you where you need to go. From Copley take the Green Line inbound to Park Street. Change there to the Red Line outbound. Get off at Harvard Square. Within blocks of each other you will find Leavitt & Peirce Tobacco and Colonial Drugs.

When you go to Leavitt & Peirce ask for Paul the owner/manager and let him know your from the B&B.

**DeusVult** · 06-27-2012, 06:45 AM

Thanks for the replies fellows. I was getting worried that no one would notice my post. I'll definitely have to try to make it to Harvard Square.

**jpakstis** · 06-27-2012, 08:02 AM

A newer place in that area that has the best burger I've ever had: Back Bay Social Club. Its on Boylston street, pretty much across from the Prudential Center. Its $20 but it tastes like you're eating a steak. Its an incredible burger. As Henry notes, Boston's a weird town for seafood; all the iconic places for fried food are outside of the city, like Woodmans in Essex, or the Clam Box. Another Boston iconic restaurant, Hammersley's, is in the South End, nearby, but its more of a "romantic dinner" type of place. Ah, I just remembered a pretty fun place nearby - Summer Shack. It tries to do that "lobster pot" type of atmosphere but in the city, and the chef-owner, Jasper White, is part of the older-generation of chefs here. Its attached to Kings, which is a bowling alley and bar.

**Hirsute** · 06-27-2012, 09:23 AM

The Liberty Hotel is a fun place to drink. It's the old Charles Street Jail at the base of Beacon Hill, and it's been turned into a luxury hotel with several bars and restaurants. Kind of a scene, but also fun. And when you go there, stroll down Charles Street if you want to poke into antique shops and look for old razors.

Also, you have to go to the North End. You can walk there, or take the Orange Line T from Back Bay to Haymarket or North Station (heading North). When you're there, check out Stanza del Sigari for cigars (underneath Cafe Vittoria). You MUST have a cannoli at one of the great shops there too--either Mike's Pastry, Modern Pastry, or Cafe Vittoria. Also, you must, must, must eat dinner in the North End if possible--excellent Italian food. Lots of great choices there. One of my favorites is Giacomo's because they have excellent seafood. I suspect you could also find Italian shave goodness at shops and old barber shops in the North End, but I haven't explored that side of things.

If you have time, the Freedom Trail is excellent and a great way to see a lot of the historical stuff in Boston--it's a walking tour with museums, graveyards, the U.S.S. Constitution, etc.

**redrako** · 06-27-2012, 09:29 AM

Excellent suggestions in the previous posts. I"ll just add that Boston is an older city, meaning that it's smaller than many cities so distances between Copley Square, Harvard Square, North End, Beacon Hill and Charles Street are closer than you would think.

With time, they are all within walking distance of each other.

Enjoy your time here.

**Acmemfg** · 06-27-2012, 09:38 AM

The Black Rose near the Haymarket is a MUST, even if you're not Irish.

Durgin-Park (the Faneuil Hall location) should also be on the short list. They've been doing it since the 1700s, must have a handle on it by now. Don't miss the Indian Pudding.

**professorchaos** · 06-27-2012, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by jpakstis

A newer place in that area that has the best burger I've ever had: Back Bay Social Club. Its on Boylston street, pretty much across from the Prudential Center. Its $20 but it tastes like you're eating a steak. Its an incredible burger. As Henry notes, Boston's a weird town for seafood; all the iconic places for fried food are outside of the city, like Woodmans in Essex, or the Clam Box. Another Boston iconic restaurant, Hammersley's, is in the South End, nearby, but its more of a "romantic dinner" type of place. Ah, I just remembered a pretty fun place nearby - Summer Shack. It tries to do that "lobster pot" type of atmosphere but in the city, and the chef-owner, Jasper White, is part of the older-generation of chefs here. Its attached to Kings, which is a bowling alley and bar.

You reminded me that right across from Hammersley's - which is absolutely fantastic - is The Butcher Shop. It is worth finagling a seat at the bar for the Petite Charcuterie and Hot Dog a la Masion. Yeah, that is it's name and it is a $15 dollar hot dog. And pretty damn good.

And as Hirsute wrote, The North End should be on your short list. There not too many neighborhoods like it in the US.

**DeusVult** · 06-27-2012, 06:55 PM

If anyone's in the area, drop me a PM (somebody already did) and we can meet up and have a few drinks and talk about shaving and the finer things in life. I'll be getting there on Sunday noonish, and I'm not sure of my schedule the rest of the week. This is supposed to be work, but I gotta have a bit of vacation time too. Never been to Boston; closest was DC, so I'll be up for just about anything as my schedule allows. It'd be good to meet some fellow B&B'ers.

**redrako** · 06-27-2012, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by DeusVult

If anyone's in the area, drop me a PM (somebody already did) and we can meet up and have a few drinks and talk about shaving and the finer things in life. I'll be getting there on Sunday noonish, and I'm not sure of my schedule the rest of the week. This is supposed to be work, but I gotta have a bit of vacation time too. Never been to Boston; closest was DC, so I'll be up for just about anything as my schedule allows. It'd be good to meet some fellow B&B'ers.

I'm going to be in Vermont over the weekend, but otherwise would love to meet some fellow B&B'ers. For you other folks I'd recommend the opportunity to show some hospitality to our visitor.

DeusVult, I wish you a pleasant time here!

**professorchaos** · 06-28-2012, 05:10 PM

We should get a New England meet up together! Deus - we expect a full report.

**DeusVult** · 06-30-2012, 01:23 PM

You'll get a full report once I'm back. I've made note of everyone's suggestions. My wife filed for divorce yesterday, so I've been addressing some other matters for the last couple of days. That situation deserves its own thread, for sure. Perhaps the barber shop would be the appropriate place? Anyway, I'm glad to be going out of town for a few days; I need a break to say the least. I'm doing fine despite all of this. I just hope I don't come back home to find all my things piled in the yard or worse, destroyed.

**professorchaos** · 06-30-2012, 05:54 PM

Wow ... I hope you weren't surprised!!

**DeusVult** · 07-01-2012, 04:20 PM

@ProfessorChaos - no I wasn't surprised, but I had to do some detective work to find out that it was going down. It still was rather petty of her (crazy actually, but that's what she is) to wait until the day I was leaving town for a week to tell me.

I'm in Boston, had a very late lunch just down the street from the Copley Marriott, place called Thornton's. It was tasty, but nothing super special. It looked like they had pretty good breakfast offerings. I had a pastrami sandwich. It was close and my co-workers were hungry, so that's where we went. One of my co-workers has a bunch of food sensitivities, so we were looking for a place, quickly, where she could get something satisfactory. Found there was a supermarket right across the street from the hotel, so I'm set for cheap beer if I need it.

Trying to decide where to head out to tonight.

**martym** · 07-02-2012, 12:09 AM

I went to Boston last month for my daughter's graduation. Very 1st trip. Using the T was easy even for the South Texas boy. Went to Samuel Adams and took the tour and participated in the tasting afterward.
Besides her graduation, the best part of the trip was going to little Italy and Firacano's Barbershop for a great haircut and straight razor shave. If I remember correctly, I got off the T at "State". The Quincy market is also righter there.
martym

**DeusVult** · 07-02-2012, 07:16 AM

Well, I said I would give a full report when I got back, but I have some time this morning, so I'll update since last night. I decided to go to the Summer Shack on Dalton. This, of course, was Sunday night. I was amazed at the number of people out and about, but it is a holiday week, so maybe people were vacationing. I did hear quite a few English accents, two groups of Germans, and one group of Russians (or at least speaking Russian), not to mention various Asian tourists. So, it seems there is quite an assortment of people around.

The Summer Shack was a fairly typical bar, with a fish/oyster house theme. The place was quite crowded, people waiting for tables. Music was very loud, more so than I thought was necessary. Don't get me wrong, I've been to a lot of hoppin' bars, but I was expecting something a little different I suppose. Since I was solo, I found a seat at the bar. Bartenders were very busy, but I got service pretty quick. I ordered a Scotch old-fashioned, which is a favorite drink of mine. Studied the menu a while. They had several raw oysters on special, but I chose a clam seviche special with tomatoes, lime, jalapenos. It was $8 for four clams. It came out pretty quick, and was quite tasty. I also ordered a baked scrod, which was supposed to have tomatoes and bread crumb crust, with a side of jasmine rice and spring greens salad.

I have to say, I was very disappointed with this dish. The rice just tasted like plain white rice, not even any salt. The greens were half-covered by the fish when it came out, and were wilted. The dressing was very bland; tasted like a bit of vinegar and oil, again, no salt or other seasoning. The fish was baked correctly, flaky, not tough, but bland as cardboard. No salt, just tomatoes smeared on top, and breadcrumbs sprinkled on that. I didn't even finish it.

I had struck up a conversation with a fellow and his wife who sat next to me. He ordered fish chowder, which came out quickly. It looked like a brown broth with some white fish tossed in the middle. He ate it and then leaned over and said, "That was so damn salty I could barely eat it." I guess that's where my salt went. Anyway, I told him not to get the scrod.

Got my check and I was disappointed to learn that my old-fashioned had set me back $8.00. I mean, really, it wasn't worth that. So, all in all, a mediocre trip to this restaurant. I saw people eating lobster, which looked good, but I wasn't in the mood for that much food.

Spent the remainder of the evening reconning the Back Bay area, specifically Boylston Street, but didn't go into any other bars. It is a good walking city. I was surprised to see cars waiting for people jaywalking. Where I come from, people aren't that deferential to pedestrians. I have also found every Bostonian to whom I've spoken to be very friendly. I suppose I expected a bit more stand-offishness, but it has been, so far, a very friendly place. I'm enjoying the atmosphere.

**pdillon** · 07-02-2012, 07:53 AM

The Trinity Church in Copley square is very significant, so you should definitely check it out since you're in the area.

Definitely try a lobster roll. You can get them many places. Union Oyster in the North End makes a damn fine one with amazing fries, but it gets crowded and is $$$. The North End is the Little Italy of Boston. Very fun to walk around the streets there. If you make it up there, make sure to stop by a pastry shop, like Modern Pastry.

As this is in the Speakeasy section, I have to mention the Publick House. This is one of the best places to get Belgian beer in the country. It is a hike to Brookline from where you are, but if you're into beer, it is definitely worth it.

**DeusVult** · 07-02-2012, 08:24 AM

Just got back from walking down to Trinity Church. It's a magnificent building. I didn't have a lot of time, so I was just looking around the immediate area. And I got a damn blister on my achilles tendon from my shoe -- that never happens to me. So, in the words of Jimmy Buffett, I had to cruise on back home. I'll head back north later this evening, since I have a conference this afternoon. If my colleagues are up for it, perhaps we'll get some Italian there. I'm thinking of going over to the Harvard area tomorrow, since I have a free morning. I've got Wednesday afternoon free after 1:00 pm. The rest of the week looks full. Ya know, I am supposedly working. haha

**DeusVult** · 07-03-2012, 06:55 AM

Update from last night. Got an invite from one of our suppliers to meet for drinks and appetizers at the Top of the Hub, which is the the restaurant on the top of the Prudential building, 52nd floor. I suppose this is the tallest building in Boston? Amazing view of the city from up there. I had Tanqueray and tonic, very good but how could they mess it up? Appetizers were very tasty as well, calamari with tomatoes and pepperocini, risotto croquettes (I'm naming them that), tempura shrimp, steamed mussels, and something they called chicken lollipops, which were small chix legs with a sweet/savory glaze. Chicken was a little dry, but still tasty. There was also some sort of lo mein, but I didn't try that. After that, some of our vendors were hosting receptions back at the hotel so I didn't go anywhere else last night.