Boston: Wasting Time Until Giacomo's

:: Been a little busy lately but finishing up the last few posts for Boston! ::

Last full day in Boston, we were determined to check out one of the popular Italian restaurants.  A lot in North End do not take reservation so we decided to check out the Giacomo's in South End because they actually accept reservation!  The Giacomo's in North End is probably one of the best Italian restaurant in Boston, and from the reviews, it's South End brother is just as good.

We wanted to grab brunch, but since we woke up late, we didn't get to eat until around 1pm with the wait at the small North Street Grille.

North Street Grille

229 North St 

Between Langdon Pl & Sun Court St

North End

Boston, MA 02113

northstreetgrille.com

One of the highest rated spot for brunch. Waiting outside for a table.  Place is really small.  

We decided to get a pticher of mimosa.

Jadosn and I both got the Lobster Benedict.  I usually don't go for benedict's, but I've yet to eat lobster in Boston so I went for it.

Lobster Benedict with light hollandaise.

Lobster chunks and the poached egg.

I wish I can poach eggs like this hahah.

I paid $3.00 for the pancakes add on.  Legit maple syrup.  Didn't care too much for the pancakes.

Diana's Lobster & Asparagus Omelette.

Lobster chunks + asparagus + hollandaise.

It was good, but not sure if I'd wait an hour for it the next time.  Or maybe I'm just not a brunch person still.  

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We really didn't have any plan for the rest of the day until Giacomo's, so we decided to check out the touristy Faneuil Hall Marketplace.  It's essentially a few historical buildings converted into a nice outdoor shopping mall.  It also serves as a visitor center for the popular Freedom Trail.

Faneuil Hall Marketplace

4 S Market Bldg 

Financial District

Boston, MA 02109 

faneuilhallmarketplace.com

Quite a few buildings makes up Faneuil Hall Marketplace.  Quincy Market is the building that hosts all the food vendors though!


Had to stop by Boston Chowda Co., another award winning clam chowder spot.  Better than Pike Place Chowder???


"Soup & other Great Stuff"


Clam chowder was good, but I still think Pike Place Chowder has it beat.  Jadson got the lobster bisque, so I got to try a bit of it.  Very sweet.


The Boston Chipyard.  They sell mini-sze cookies.  Couldn't resist... I have a weakness, especially with warm cookies.


Around $6-7 for a bag of cookies.  Pretty pricey for 12 small cookies, but at least I got to mix & match!  Pumpkin chocolate chip was the most interesting!

There were also a lot of souvenir shops, as well as some big name retail stores like Abercrombie.  People weren't lying when they said it is very touristy.  Seemed like almost everybody there were from out of town.  There's also some street performers.

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Before we headed off to the South End, we decided to stop by Boston Commons, and wanted to make a stop and check out where the area of the recent bombings.  Once we got there, we saw plenty of people around the quick makeshift memorial area, and there was this silence around the area, whether people were paying their respect or just going through.  Plenty of TV station vans around as well.

Stopped by Thinking Cup for iced latte before we headed towards the site.


Area near the bombings.


Pretty amazing I must say.  Lots of people leaving flowers, notes, and everything Boston related.


Lots of marathon runners left their shoes here as well to show support.


One of the bomb sites.


You can see the damaged it caused to the building next to it with the boarded up windows.


Boston Strong.

I must say, didn't really know what to expect before I got there, and once I did, really didn't know what to think.  I must've stood at one of the remembrance area for about 10 minutes just reading what people wrote.  It was also a bit surreal to see the boarded up windows, because it really is a reminder that it did happen and that I was no longer sitting behind a TV or a monitor looking at this from afar.

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After the visit, we made our way towards Giacomo's, one of Boston's most popular Italian restaurant.  Good thing we made reservations too cause the place was packed on a Sunday.

Giacomo's 

431 Columbus Ave

Between Pembroke St & Holyoke St

Back Bay, South End

Boston, MA 02116

giacomosblog-boston.blogspot.com

Outside of Giacomo's.


Very small, and somewhat cluttered.


One of the best thing about Giacomo's is that their bottles are extremely affordable.  I believe this was less than $40.


Had to start with some Fried Calamari. Love the fresh seafood Boston has to offer.


Caprese! Tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil.

We really wanted to get the Zuppa di Pesce, which was this huge pasta dish with clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops, calamari, and a WHOLE lobster over linguine, for $55.  BUT they ran out of lobster so it was a no go...  C'mon... how the hell did a restaurant in Boston run out of lobster??? :[  We were all very disappointed since we wanted that meal to be our lobster feasting meal.  In the end, we went for the Frutti di Mare with the Fra Diavolo sauce.  It had mussels, calamari, clams, scallops, and shrimp.


Ok, it was still tasty, but still, not lobster :[

I wanted the Squid Ink Parpadelle Putanesca with swordfish and tuna since I love squid ink, and it definitely did not disappoint!

Putanesca is a slightly tangy tomato sauce with capers and it goes really well with the parpadelle.  I love fresh parpadelle, especially when made with squid ink.


"I'm okay with anything as long as it isn't an almond dessert."  Guess which dessert they chose?   Freaking Almond Amaretto.  It's good but I just don't like the taste of... almond dessert flavor, like almond tofu.  I like real almonds :P

Seriously so sad that we didn't get to eat lobster, especially we saved up the lobster feast for this dinner too.

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A trip wouldn't be complete without visiting a high rise with a view, and for Boston, we decided to check out the Top of the Hub, located high up in the Prudential Tower.

Top of the Hub

800 Boylston St Ste 52

Between Fairfield St & Gloucester St

Back Bay

Boston, MA 02199 

topofthehub.net

If you've ever been to the Chicago's Skydeck, located at the top of the Willis/Sears Tower, then Top of the Hub will seem very similar.  Definitely not as crowded though!


We wanted to sit in the lounge since they are lined along the glass windows with a great view.  $24 minimum, which was easily achieved wit two drinks.


View from our seat!


Also the front for the live jazz band!


Black Barrel Cider.


Boston's Bully Boy Smash.  Bully Boy White Whiskey, lemon, mint, and cane sugar for the cocktail. Bully Boy Whiskey is actually a small distillery in Boston! Pretty cool.


Diana's Strawberry Basil Lemonade.


Valrhona Warm Chocolate Cake for dessert.  Since I didn't really get a proper dessert (Jadson & Diana did most of the damage of the almond dessert), I wanted something and went with the super rich molten chocolate cake with chocolate toffee crunch ice cream and cherry sauce.


 The best part is probably opening up the chocolate cake and watching the chocolate lava slowly oozing out. Dayum it was chocolatey!

After that we went back to the hotels and prepped for our half day in Boston before my flight out and before Diana & Jadson continue their East Coast swing to NYC!

Boston: Oysters, Lattes, and Cannolis in North End

April was a pretty crazy month since right after I got back from Philly, I took a red eye flight the next night from LAX to Boston.  Needless to say, 4 transcontinental flight, with two of them being red eye, took its toll.  Might even be worse than the time I flew to NYC right after I got back from Taiwan.

Me completely dead at 7am at the Boston Logan Airport haha (from Diana's Instagram @deltalove).  

To be honest, we didn't do much sightseeing since both Jadson and Diana weren't too into US History (sad face), so I focused all my energy into finding something to eat.  That's something I'm good at anyways.  In fact, I started off the first day in Boston with two breakfasts :P  

Saw a Potbelly Sandwich Shop located inside Boston Logan!  Decided to try it since there's none in LA.

Decided to get a Bacon, Egg, and Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich.  Got it with some hot peppers!

DEFINITELY get it with the hot peppers.  Bomb.

After we got off the Silver Line that took us from the airport to the city, we had to walk through Chinatown.  As always, there's a gate.  Much cleaner than Philly's Chinatown, that's for sure.

While walking through Chinatown, I noticed this bakery, 101 Bakery, sells milk tea!  Yelped a bit and found out that it is a Taiwanese bakery so decided to get a morning drink.

Came out with a milk green tea and a bun.  Milk tea... was actually not bad at all.  Way better than the TapEx or the JJ Bakery near where I live.

Chocolate bun.  A little dry, but very soft!  I'd probably come here a lot if I lived in Boston haha.

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After checking in and freshening up at the hotel, we decided to head to the North End, Boston's famous Italian neighborhood.  We didn't really have a place in mind for lunch, but we knew we wanted to munch on some cannolis and Boston's also small enough that we can walk to where we want to go from the North End.

Right when we got off the T, the first place that we see is the historic Union Oyster House, the oldest continually operated restaurant in the US!  We weren't planning to eat here since I heard the wait can be long but when we peeked in around 11am, there were actually 3 spots open at the infamous oyster bar, so we sat ourselves down.


Union Oyster House
41 Union St Boston
MA 02108
unionoysterhouse.com

Union Oyster House!  Probably the most historical thing we visited that whole weekend.

Established 1826.  Crazy.

Built in 1717 and designated as a historic landmark. Since Boston's such an old city, a lot of buildings are actually under the National Park Service and you will see park rangers at various spots.

The famous oyster bar! They shuck anywhere from 3,000-5,000 oysters a day.  Dayum.

Part of the menu.

I started off with some clam chowder.

Creamy chowda.

Jadson's Sam Adams Red Brick Irish Ale.  Of course, in Boston, must get Sam Adams.

Our Seafood Platter, with oysters, cherrystone clams, and cocktail shrimp.  Forgot to ask where the oysters came from, but they do have 3-4 farms they source it from.

Cocktail sauce and their bombtastic horseradish.

I am not a huge oyster fan so this was the only one I ate, with a little Tabasco and horseradish.  

However, I do like cherrystone clams, so we ordered half a dozen more!

I just find I enjoy the texture of clams so much more than oysters.

The guys have fun when they work too. This guy took a lobster, made it grab on to a fork and napkin.  This dude's pretty awesome. 

The old school beer elevator.  Since the oyster bar is also where the draft line is at, they transport the beer upstairs dining room this way!

I actually enjoyed my time at Union Oyster House a lot, and I think a big part of it was being able to sit at the oyster bar (seen on TV so many times) and watch the guys just shucking away.  Quality-wise, I'm sure there's better shellfish or food elsewhere, but I can now say that I've dined at the oldest restaurant in the US!

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After Union Oyster House, we wanted our dessert, which meant cannoli!  We were debating between Mike's or Modern Pastry, both famous for the cannoli.  Mike's is more well-known but we just didn't want to wait in the long line so we chose Modern Pastry.  Before that, the red eye flight was starting to get to us and we needed a caffeine fix first.


Thinking Cup
236 Hanover St
Between Richmond St & Board Aly
North End
Boston, MA 02113
thinkingcup.com

Hanover Street, North End.

Thinking Cup!  A pretty hipster cafe with two locations in Boston.

Big Thinking Cup sign right when you walk in.

Their grinder & espresso machine.  Espresso here served as ristretto double shot.

Hazelnut latte and regular latte.  Thinking Cup's baristas has also won awards for latte art, and yea, they are pretty damn good :P

Jadson's single origin pour over.  Forgot where it was from, but very fruity!

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As for the cannoli, Modern Pastry Shop may not be as famous as Mike's but it was also featured on Food Network, and the line was pretty long too.  A friend of mine told me that some preferred Mike's because it is bigger, but locals dig Modern Pastry Shop more?  I'm a cannoli noob so I just wanted a good cannoli.

Modern Pastry Shop

257 Hanover St 

Between Richmond St & Board Aly

North End

Boston, MA 02113
modernpastry.com

Modern Pastry, located on Hanover Street.

The neon sign would probably look really cool at night when lit.

Line at Modern Pastry Shop.  Very warm in there too.

Menu.

I decided to get a Chocolate-dipped Pizzelli and a Chocolate-dipped Cannoli with Fresh Ricotta.

I did not know one of the ingredients for Italian pizzelli is anise seeds so I was pretty surprised when I took my first bite.  Chocolate and anise was a little bit weird, sorta like Chinese medicine to me.


The cannoli, however, definitely lived up to its hype!  The crispy cannoli shell is great and the chocolate only made it better.

They fresh make the cannolis to order, so they don't pump it with the filling of your choice until you order it.  Very glad I got it with the fresh ricotta.  I was expecting it to be heavy but it was the opposite!  Very light and delicate.

Jadson ordered the same cannoli, except filled with vanilla custard.  Much much heavier and sweeter than the traditional ricotta.  I didn't like it as much haha.

After cannolis, it was off to the New England Aquarium to see some penguins since we had time to kill before our Boston Red Sox game at Fenway.  Here's a picture of the penguins!  Too bad the penguin exhibit was under construction so you can only view them through a small glass window in their feeding area.

Penguins all day every day.