The Rest of the Good Stuff in Boston

Like I said previously, Boston was full of good eating and I wanted to put together a post of the bits and pieces I had throughout the week and they’re listed here in no particular order.

One afternoon, I skipped the conference lunch and headed off looking for my own, better one. I came across a series of food trucks near Kendall Square in Cambridge and the name of one caught my eye – I’d heard good things about the Clover Food Truck. They have a few trucks and even a few proper restaurants now.

It’s only at this truck though that you can get the Brussels Sprout – a sandwich of fried brussels sprouts, cheese, pickled red cabbage, hazelnuts and a garlic sauce. It was fantastic – I love fried Brussels sprouts and making them the centrepiece of a sandwich is genius.

Clover Food Truck
Kendall Square
Carleton St
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA

One night we headed down to The Barking Crab for more seafood. And more seafood we had! There was about a 20 minute wait since we didn’t have a reservation for the loud, bustling restaurant but we got a big table, necessary for our platters of crab legs and lobster…

…and our lobster roll.

Our table was full! The Barking Crab has its critics but we all had a great time with great food. I really need more crab legs in my life.

The Barking Crab
88 Sleeper St
Boston, MA 02210
USA

I took the opportunity to try the Bonchon on the Harvard campus while I was taking a look around. This is a Korean chain of restaurants that are famous for their Korean fried chicken.

I wasn’t able to order from their lunch menu (only available on weekdays) so had to make do with the a la carte menu (which was also full of other classic Korean dishes). I ordered the smallest possible order of wings in their famous hot sauce and a side order of rice; the wings came with pickled radish (fine) and coleslaw (watch out for the garlic!).

The wings were outstanding – the skin of the chicken was shatteringly crisp, even towards the end of the meal and there was a pleasing heat in the sauce that made my lips tingle happily. Please come to London, Bonchon!

Bonchon
Harvard Square
57 John F Kennedy St
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA

For most of the week, I stayed at a hotel a stone’s throw from Toscanini’s Ice Cream in Cambridge. The New York Times calls their ice creams the best in the world but I’m more content with calling them the best in Boston (sorry, the gelati in Italy wins hands down!). Coffee Hydrox and Creamsicle were both very very rich – their full cream ice cream is some seriously heavy stuff. The flavours were good though not mindblowing.

I did better after I got recommendations on Instagram – this is their B3 – brown butter, brown sugar and brownies. I also heard good things about their burnt caramel but never got around to trying it.

Toscanini’s Ice Cream
899 Main St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA

I had one day off in Boston and, this being by first time in the city, used it to walk along the Freedom Trail. I diverted a bit on Hanover Street to get myself to Mike’s Pastry for one of their famous cannoli. It’s not difficult to find – just go in the opposite direction of the happy looking people clutching bakery boxes from the shop.

I battled my way through the indecisive crowd and got myself an espresso cannolo. The fried pastry was wonderfully crunchy even when filled with the cream (the filling is much lighter in texture than the Sicilian ones I’ve had in the past). It’s definitely worth the detour.

Mike’s Pastry
300 Hanover St
Boston, MA 02113
USA

Finally, I can’t finish the series on Boston without mentioning Legal Sea Foods. We went to the branch at Kendall Square (Cambridge) for a work dinner on our first night there and the selection of starters we split first really shone compared to the mains – here were their excellent New England fried clams. Or maybe I just filled up on the starters and didn’t have a chance to properly appreciate my crab cake. Hmm.

I even found time to fit in a final cup of their fantastic clam chowder at a branch at Logan International Airport (there’s a Legal Sea Foods at every terminal, I believe). It was a good end to the trip.

Legal Sea Foods
5 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA

And that’s it for Boston (and Cambridge)! As is usual, all my photos from Boston (and photos from my walk along the Freedom Trail) can be seen in this Flickr album.

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