Boston Part III - Follow Your Nose

We made a pact not to eat anything in Boston that we could get where we are (or in St. Louis, etc).  And we made it!  We did eat at an Uno Pizza, although it's a chain, because there isn't one anywhere near us anymore, and because it's amazing!!!!  We also tried some Greek style pizza that was pretty good, but we were so hungry I didn't worry about taking pictures of it.  :)  We also ate other things that were great, but also didn't get documented.  I know, you're all so disappointed.  Sorry.  :)

 

We tried a cannoli once at a restaurant in Springfield Illinois and it was NASTY.  After our friend Christine explained that what we had was indeed disgusting, but that cannoli themselves were amazing, we decided to give it a try.  We asked the locals where to get cannoli and all of them said Mike's Pastry.  We went and tried it, and BOY was it amazing!!!  Someone told us very emphatically the next day that Modern Pastry was better, so we had to have a taste-off.  The result?  It was a complete tie.  We really couldn't make up our minds which was better.  And it made a great dinner, along with something healthy - a Boston Crème Pie cupcake.  OH my gosh.  We were a little wired after that, but it was worth it.

And we had fun pretending that "Mike" and "Modern" were twin brothers with a vengeance against each other.  Because we are weird.

 

 

 We searched high and low for both Indian Pudding and traditional Boston Baked Beans.  We found it at a place near Faneuil Hall called Durgin Park.  It was...weird.  Mike liked the Indian Pudding better than I did, and the beans were okay, but nothing amazing.  We were glad to have tried them both, though!

 

The Omni Parker House claims they invented Boston Crème Pie, so we had to try it.  It was quite an adventure, as we accidently walked all the way from one end of the city to the other (literally) to get there due to some navigational errors and because we were enjoying seeing the city so much.  It was okay, but NOT worth the $8.50 sticker price.  Holy smokes.  The cupcake from Modern Pastry was much cheaper and we thought it was more delicious.  Lesson learned.  At least we walked off the calories trying to get there.  :)

 

I was determined to really try seafood while we were there.  The first thing I ordered in the city was Clam Chowder.  I ate a bite, and couldn't get over the grit of the sand in the clam or the taste, but Mike loved it.  I tried Mike's lobster and....wasn't a huge fan.  The crab cake from Legal Sea Foods was good, but I think I learned that I just truly don't enjoy seafood.

 The North End of Boston is basically a Little Italy.  It was so fun to walk around hearing little Italian women speaking to each other and everyone calling out, everyone speaking Italian.  The streets are lined with restaurants just begging you to come in and try what they have to offer.  It was the most incredible smelling street ever!    It smelled of garlic, bread, tomato sauce, and pure heaven.  :)  We were told you really couldn't go wrong anywhere there, so we stopped at Benevento's and got the eggplant rollatini.  It was just an appetizer but filled us both up.  It was simple, but super delicious!  Our one food regret in Boston is that we didn't get a chance to go back up and eat a big dinner there.  So if you travel to Boston, definitely visit the North End when you're very hungry! 

 

We ate at a restaurant called the Seaport Grille in Gloucester on both Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon.  The reason?  The onion rings.  For some reason we ended up ordering some, and they were in such a large quanitity and our waitress waited to come get our order until we were super stuffed with those delectably, gloriously fried beauties that all we had appetites for was a small cookie with ice cream and whipped cream.  We had NO idea it was going to be as big as our heads.  Let's just say we didn't finish it.  :)  BUT we did go back the next day because not only were we obsessed with the onion rings, but because everything everyone else had looked so good.  Plus it was right by the ocean, so the view was absolutely incredible.

 

This waitress was so excited for Mike to try his first full lobster.  We loved her.  :)

I was brave and tried it.  And then told him he could have the rest.  :)

 

We ate at a place called the Summer Shack.  Mike tried fried clams and a lobster roll while I went the kid's meal route with a corn dog.  I totally scored on that one!  It was seriously amazingly delicious.  I would totally go back there just to eat another corn dog. 

 

 Our last foodie experience was actually in the Chicago airport.  We ate there during our three hour layover and it was really good.  The restaurant's claim to fame is their 4 cheese pesto pizza.  And it  was incredible.  I got the Italian Bistro sandwich.  Also delicious.

 

We had such a fun time trying new things and spending time together.