Trip to Boston needs some brewpub planning...

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TerapinChef

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Anybody make suggestions as to where I should be looking to go? We'll be in Boston for a week, and have a fairly open schedule. I'd like to do the Sam Adams tour, but would like a few good suggestions on places for a good pint. And any killer local lunch spots...
 
Well the sam adams tour and the harpoon tours are both great, but you have to do those on the weekends, during the week they are not open. In terms of places for beer you should go to the sunset grill and tap. Food is ok, but they have about 100 beers on tap.
http://www.allstonsfinest.com/

There is also a place called Bukowski's, food is mediocre, but they have about 20 beers on tap and almost anything you could ever want to taste in a bottle. It is a little funky, but the good beer really makes the place.

Other than that there are many many great places to eat and drink, it depends on what your budget is and what type of food you want. I used to reccomend places for a living, so I know most of the good places in boston and cambridge, let me know more details about your trip and I'll see what types of places will fit you best.
 
Map is awesome! What's up with the "Don't go here" and the "Danger" section? Without explanation, those are likely to be the first places I go.
 
Check out Sunset Grille in Allston, right off of Commonwealth Ave. Over a hundred beers on tap, even more in bottles.
 
I haven't looked at the map but I'm betting Dorchester and Roxbury. Don't ask and don't go there.

Yes big john, it was dorchester and roxbury, I also circled the bromley heath projects and the old colony projects as well... Oddly enough I used to live in dorchester, and across the street from the old colony projects, just really not for outsiders.

They are the areas of town where baby mommas get in fights with other baby mommas and you see a liquor store on every corner. Not the nicest areas, and if you are looking for good places to eat, you won't find them in those areas.

One of my favorite quotes that sums up the neighborhood of dorchester would have to be from the day I was sitting on my back porch listening to my neighbor on her porch having a conversation. I only heard one side but it went something like this:
Her: " I'm not threatining you... I'm not threatining you... Look I see your point and I am staying calm... I'm not threatining you."
Breif Pause "someone on the phone says something"
Her: " ***** ! I'm gonna ****ing kill you!!!!!"
She then threw her phone off of the porch.

I have been to quite a few good places for food in boston, the one drawback to the good places in boston is that they are a little on the pricy side. If you are looking for beer centric, the map and suggestions people have made are excelent. If you are not being a beer centric tourist, and perhaps want to try some fine wine or decent seafood there are other places I can suggest.

Oh and by the way, there is a rock bottom in downtown boston, but I didn't put it on the list, because well it isn't that good. And there are rock bottom's everywhere.

I myself live in the city, so I can confidently say as a beer lover you will most likely like the places listed. As a food lover they are all fairly good but not great. Oh and I marked out the strip clubs and where to pick up hookers as well.

Hey what dates are you going to be in town I might be able to recommend some interesting local events if you already know the dates.
 
LOL this has been a suprisingly interesting topic.
Being from Detroit, I'm not to worried about what Boston has to offer, but it is nice to know where these areas are. I'm also a chef, so I would totally be interested in some food-only recommendations as well. Especially some nice seafood, especially if it's the dirty, local, fresh as hell kind of seafood place :)

I will be in town from the 21st to the 28th, right through Memorial Weekend. I'm sure there will be cool things going on, and I would love to hear about them!
 
Stop in at the Daily Catch on Hanover Street for some Italian Seafood... mmmmmmmm good. Then go to Mike's Pastry down the street for some cannoli. Somewhere near Harpoon is the Noname. Wonderful seafood but it's cash only.
 
Allright, I looked up some statistics on Roxbury/Dorchester.

Roxbury looks like something I can relate to....

" In particular, a riot in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. resulted in stores on Blue Hill Avenue being looted and eventually burned down, leaving a desolate and abandoned landscape. Rampant arson in the 1970s along the Dudley Street corridor also added to the neighborhood's decline, leaving a landscape of vacant, trash filled lots and burned out buildings. The arrival of the crack epidemic in the 1980s helped make Roxbury one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Boston. " - Wikipedia

This I can relate to parts of Detroit, for sure. But a search in the same engine for Dorchester yields:

" The eastern areas of Dorchester (especially between Adams Street and Dorchester Bay) are primarily ethnic European and Asian, with a large population of Irish Americans and Vietnamese Americans" "the northern section of Dorchester and southwestern section of South Boston is the Polish Triangle, where recent Polish immigrants are residents" "Western, central and parts of southern Dorchester have a large Caribbean population (especially people from Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago). "

These all sound like they lead to one of my favorite things....good food! Although it may be different in actuality than in statistics, for sure...
 
Also for some seafood, the sail loft is a decent place, but the daily catch is great and not super expensive.

A lot of pepople are going to reccomend Legal Seafood once you get into boston, and granted they are good, but there are other local places that are just as good and a little less expensive. If you want the legal seafood experience, go to the legal test kitchen it is on the waterfront near the harpoon brewery. It is a more modern less stuffy version of legal seafodds where they test out dishes before adding them to the menu.

And about dorchester, it is huge, there are nice areas and not so nice areas, the thing is that there really are not that many good places to eat (I used to live there) and if you don't know where you are going and make a wrong left turn, well you get the idea.

I'll update the map with some good food places later today, the drink places have martinis next to them the breweries have green push pins, and I'll put something next to the good places for some food.

Oh and memorial day weekend in boston is going to be a blast. There will be tons of stuff to do.
 
Additionally boston is a good city for Yelp, I yelp quite frequently and have some reviews of places that are decent on the site. www.yelp.com
 
LOL this has been a suprisingly interesting topic.
Especially some nice seafood, especially if it's the dirty, local, fresh as hell kind of seafood place :)

them!



Well then the only place you want to go is the "NO Name" It is ON the fish pier!

15 1/2 The Fish Pier
Boston, MA

No Name couldn't be more of a hole-in-the-wall if it tried. However, it has good seafood and some of the freshest lobster you will ever taste.

And you can walk to the Harpoon Brewery !
 
I don't know how much you were planning on traveling from Boston, but there's a wonderful tapas bar in Somerville (yeah yeah slumerville) that is supposed to be incredible! In peabody about 20 minutes north of boston theres a Brazilian Churrascaria called FireBull that has portuguese and brazilian beers on tap as well as an INCREDIBLE rodrizio.

I live about an hour north of boston, so if you wanted some great places up this way I know plenty of them.

As far as boston, you have to do top of the hub, its expensive but its at the top of the Prudential Center and the food is supposed to warrant the price.
 
I don't know how much you were planning on traveling from Boston, but there's a wonderful tapas bar in Somerville (yeah yeah slumerville) that is supposed to be incredible! In peabody about 20 minutes north of boston theres a Brazilian Churrascaria called FireBull that has portuguese and brazilian beers on tap as well as an INCREDIBLE rodrizio.

I live about an hour north of boston, so if you wanted some great places up this way I know plenty of them.

As far as boston, you have to do top of the hub, its expensive but its at the top of the Prudential Center and the food is supposed to warrant the price.

We go to top of the hub somewhat regularly after work as my office is in the prudential tower. They are O.K. but waaay over priced for what they are. My reccomendation is to go up to the bar and have a drink, then "get lost" when you are looking for the bathroom. A cheap beer up there is $9, but the skywalk, or observation deck one floor below is $12 to go up, so I mean save yourself the 3 and get a beer to boot.
 
Just as an update, I will be staying in Jamaica Plains but don't have the address. I will for sure be checking out Ten Tables (hopefully for their wine dinner), James' Gate, and the Noname place. Also will be checking out the Sam Adams Brewery, and possibly Garden @ the Cellar. But I have a lot of time here, and will probably be eating a lot more than I will be drinking :) Although I plan on doing quite a bit of each :rockin: Was also thinking of the Craigie Street Tavern, but only if I can get in for the Wednesday or Sunday tasting.
 
Ten tables on Tuesday nights is great, I live in Jamaica Plain myself, and can't speak highly enough of the neighborhood and the restaurants in the area.

James's Gate is pretty cool, just stay on the bar side, or eat outdoors, the dining room is a little weird for my tastes. The bar is great in the winter with the huge open fireplace. They also have old speckled hen on tap, or at least they did about 3 weeks ago.

Right up the street from james gate is the JP seafod cafe, they have great sushi if you are in the mood and make some good soup.

And don't forget to stop by JP licks, they had a special leprichaun brew ice cream that they made with sam adams beer, it was a seasonal thing for the spring, and I don't know if they still have it but beer flavored ice cream was great.
 
Nice! I already had JP Licks on my list I just couldn't remember the name when I was posting. Also on my list (now that it's in front of me) were Chau Chow City for Dim Sum, Union Oyster House for raw bar (and history), and The Formaggio Kitchen, because I love cheese and charcuterie!

Is it tough to get a spot for Ten Tables Tuesday night coursing?
 
Nice! I already had JP Licks on my list I just couldn't remember the name when I was posting. Also on my list (now that it's in front of me) were Chau Chow City for Dim Sum, Union Oyster House for raw bar (and history), and The Formaggio Kitchen, because I love cheese and charcuterie!

Is it tough to get a spot for Ten Tables Tuesday night coursing?

You should call ahead and make reservations for yourself and whoever is going to be attending. But for a four course meal with 4 glasses of wine for $40, how can you go wrong.
 
Boston Beer Works and the Salem Beer Works are excellent and have many of their own micros on Tap. I was fortunate to try a Dunkelweizen the first day it went on tap and it was superb.

Also within reach of the city is the Cambridge Brewing Company which has 5 or 6 of their own brews on tap at any given time. When I was there about 3 or 4 weeks ago, they had a Gruit on tap. I was floored to see that.
 
After looking at the google map, I can say that they hit the nail on the head with most of the places. I haven't had the chance to get to the sunset grill yet as I'm down in CT for school, but I've been told time and time again that I have to go there.

As for Top of the hub, meh. mediocre food and way too expensive. If you're looking for a classic taste of boston, try Anthony's Pier 4. Classic styling on the water, great seafood and a great location. I like Legal, however I only go to them when I am out of state (in NY, for example) because there are so many better places.

If you're looking for steakhouses, skip the capital grill, skip the stockyard, skip abe and louis, and try and head towards the coach grill. It's a bit out of town, but it has one hell of a steak. The Capital Grill/Abe and Louis have unreal wine menus, but I'm never wowed by my food there. Both have great porterhouses, but the menu hasn't really changed besides the specials since the beginning of time.

If you're in town on a night when the sox are playing, either go about 2 hours early and get a seat somewhere, or wait until the game is almost over. I'd try and get a seat outside of game on or cask and flagon and just relax.
 
Starting to pack, look like we're going to have some nice weather for at least the end of the trip. I'm bringing the laptop, so I'll update you guys, maybe post some pics of SA or Harpoon. Thanks everyone for all of your help, you've all been great!
 
All right...I've been nowhere on my list so far except James' Gate. Had a good experience, our hosts are friends with the chef. We're staying at the end of the Orange Line...but here's two places that no one mentioned...
Santarpios Pizza was out of this world.
Charlie's Deli was also a great nostalgic sandwich place. :)
Hit Mike's pastry for a cannoli, it was good.
Went to Cheers (on request of SWMBO's dad) and it was exactly what you would expect, overpriced and not very cool.
JP's Seafood is now on my list of places to go as soon as possible, I saw their menu the other night and it looked awsome.

Also, Blanchards liquor/beer store was very cool...not as great for beer but an excellent wine store. Abe was very helpful in picking out some bottles for our hosts.
 
Yea, JP seafood is actually pretty good, they have some nice sushi, believe it or not. Sounds like you are in my neck of the woods, I hope you are enjoying the neighborhood man, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the trip to boston. Keep us updated and let us know how it goes.
 
Santarpios is amazing. Did you ask for a menu? Hahahaha Lefty (the big guy working the grill) would hit ya if you did.

Combo plate + Peperoni pizza + wine from the spigot = heaven.
 
if u want to take an hour trip north, you can hit up the redhook brewery in portsmouth nh
 
Here's my final itinerary, now that I'm home. Pics and more info to come...

Santarpio's pizza
JP Seafood
Real Deal Sandwich
JP Licks
Union Oyster house
James' Gate
Mike's Pastry
Charlie's Deli
Sam Adams
Harpoon
Smuttynose Brew Pub (Portsmith, NH)
Kelly's Roast Beef (HOLY CRAP WAS THAT GOOD!)
No Name Fish Place
Christ, Scientist Mapparium
USS Constitution
Fort Constitution & adjoining Lighthouse
Old North Church
Copp Hill Burying Ground
Blanchards Liquor Shop
and countless others.
Thanks to everyone that helped, I had a great trip and love Boston.
More details to come...
 
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