Thursday, January 18, 2007

A Trip Back To College-Town; Boston

I just came back from a trip to Boston; a place where I called 'home' for almost 4 years while I was going to school at BU. Returning there always gives me nostalgia, but at the same time reminds me of how I could never live there at this point. Going back when you are not in school, you tend to do some things differently and some things kind of seem the same. Maybe it was also the fact that school was not back in session yet from winter break for my little trip. Even though I went to some of the same college haunts, the bars and clubs didn't seem to have that college-feel but rather a masshole influx.

When I was in college, we barely knew restaurant life beyond comm ave. Birthdays were always done at Jaes, Carlos, or Fugakyu (our fav Japanese joint) or wherever they sold scorpion bowls. Otherwise we'd tend to order-in from places like Angora (our favorite fro yo place) or Mykonos (the best place for salads freshman year before they switched management). If we ventured somewhere, it might be to the town of Brookline for Zaftag's or Coolidge Corner Clubhouse (fondly called triple C) and if on Newbury Street to Sonsie. Otherwise, my eating-out experiences were kind of isolated to the place I waited tables, Laurel. There was the occasional dinner somewhere really good like Union or Radius (which I found over rated) or when your parents came to town and took you for a great piece of steak at Abe & Louie's, but if someone asked me for recommendations in the North End, I'd come up pretty blank. I might say Mama Maria because I've heard about it but never been. If someone asked me for a recommend by Fanuel Hall, I'd once again stare into space. We pretty much stuck to what we knew and the areas we knew best. Oh and that other little thing, cash flow.

So on my trip to Boston, I really wanted to try a restaurant I had never been to; somewhere I had never even possibly heard about in college. My friend K-fag sent me a list of restaurants to sort through. We came up with two top choices at the end: Neptune Oyster and Grotto. On the day of, Lauren, K-fag and I made our final decision and we ventured to the North End for Neptune Oyster, one of the only seafood restaurants amidst a sea of Italian eateries.

Because it was a Monday, it wasn't hard to get a table. Lauren explained that they don't take reservations and in the summer, there is a line out the door for the few tables they have at this small raw bar. First thing was first, since they were known for their oysters, we had to get some. I might've had oyster once before, but I couldn't remember (obviously they had made a good impression on me). Lauren order a half dozen oysters ranging from small and sweet (what I liked best) to big and saltier. Surprisingly, I liked them especially with the sweet onion vinaigrette on top. Then we ordered crudo to share. This app was unbelievable. It was a tower of flash seared yellow fin tuna, crispy eel, and mushrooms, tops with a seaweed salad. The fish was extremely fresh and the sauce complimented every asset of the tower. We couldn't get enough of this one. For dinner, K-fag ordered their famous lobster roll, hot with butter and fresh cut fries. Lauren ordered their special, the Lobster spaghettni and I order their Jumbo Sea scallops with a hazelnut and fontina pudding. All of our dishes were exceptional. The sauce with my scallops was ridic and the pudding was like a sweet treat. K-fag's lobster roll was a fresh and simple classic, with the butter soaked into the bread to add the flavor to the already sweet lobster. Lauren's spaghetti was perfectly garliced and sweet with lobster. Even our server was perfect. He gave suggestions as we asked and was there when we needed him but not over-zealous. We were all extremely satisfied. I for one was also very happy that if someone queried where to go for a meal in the North End, I now had a place to say with an experience to back it. I guess you can't do everything while you're in college and that’s a quarter of the reason for the trips back. Obviously the major reason is to see your friends still there! A dinner is never great in bad company. But if you ever find yourself in Boston, go!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

haha right on. i think the only restaurants i've been to in boston are carlos (obviously), fugakyu (obviously), jaes, laurel, teatro, sonsie and some place with a v that we went to for renee's birthday. we were deprived. congrats on the exploration. now, its time to review freemans! mmmm

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work.