Southern food in Yankee land: Boston area suggestions?

@passing_thru. We did live in Texas for three years.

If you consider Texas to be the South (they sure don’t) then these two spots are pretty good.

The brisket at Smoke Shop in Kendall is really good. Not so good? The sauces and sides. We have been known to buy some brisket by the pound [well fraction of a pound] to eat with sides I make at home.

Sweet cheeks also does a good brisket and her biscuits are worth the calories. Again, the sides are a bit too chefy, but I remember enjoying her cole slaw.

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For “southern style”, the Coast Cafe in Cambridge does decent fried chicken (I always get thighs). That’s something I can make at home so I don’t go there often. I’ve also had some good eats at Tupelo; I especially like the fried oysters.

I think both places are good for the area but as folks have pointed out, this isn’t the south.

Petsi Pies. Renee Macleod, the founder/owner, is a genuine Southern baker and a charming, gracious lady.

Just recently, the Phantom Gourmet program did a feature on Southern food in the Boston area. You might be able to find it online.
There seems to be a pay to play aspect to PG recommendations, but they are not entirely without merit; the main value of the show is that it includes pictures of the venues and dishes.

I lived right up the hill from Petsi’s when it opened in Somerville. I have always thought it was good (though I only get things from there infrequently of late) but I tell you, when it was just Petsi in there all the time as a solo act it was fantastic. But I have to try Tupelo, I think her quality control at least is respectable.

Re: T.B.: thanks, I forgot about Coast Cafe! liked that when I lived in C. Sq. For a long running spot, that one is really under the radar.

BT’s Smokehouse in Sturbridge is still the best BBQ I’ve had in New England. I can’t even imagine baking any meat for 8 hours. How did it not just disappear into a little hard pork chunk?

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Is Frogmore in JP still open?

I ate there a few times and it was ok…

I agree. I’m from the south and some of the servers play up what they think are southern accents and preening and excessive, fake friendliness to the point where I felt like we were at a dinner theater. I’m guessing they are coached to do this, but it is very unappealing. Some of the food is okay (I like the fried okra and the biscuits), but it is overpriced, overcrowded, and the service is either great or appallingly bad/disorganized. We went several times in the first few months and will not go back.

Currently looking forward to trying B3/Back Bay Beats, after hearing good things about it. I’m from the South myself, but had long given up on getting similar food up here.

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went here the other night before seeing Pharaoh Sanders at Northeastern. It was reasonably good, but not outstanding. Shrimp and peas yielded some well cooked black eyed peas topped with succulent head on shrimp, with some red pepper rings for sharpness. A good entree. The s.o. got a decent arugula salad accompanied by a side that was some really delicious flatbread and a smear on orange squash puree of some kind that I thought was flavorful, and a nice accompaniment.

Service was cheerful, and it’s a nice room.The one thing I really didn’t like was my cocktail. Got the Sixteen Tons, which was whiskey, apple + cinnamon syrup and bitters. This thing was way too sweet for me and totally out of balance with not nearly enough edge to it. When the server said the drinks tasted like pie, I should have known better and just ordered a martini!

Not a bad spot for the area, though.

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Thanks for the report! Since I live nearby, it definitely sounds like a good option to have.

2 posts were split to a new topic: Southern Ham in Boston area?

resurrecting this thread since I finally went to Sweet Cheeks for lunch last weekend and I don’t really want to start a thread just for that. Brisket was good enough, 3 juicy slices with a nice crispy outside. Loved the chunky, low mayo cole slaw. Ordered the collards too, and the server had mentioned that they came with a little pork. I think he meant a LOT of pork, because the cup I got was like 40% pork with a little unwelcome bit of bony pork knuckle thrown in. The texture and taste of the vegetables were properly savory, but I sure could have used a little less pork. (This is not something I often say). Side pickles and onions were average.

The space is nice, service was competent, the portions were ok, it’s a little more than you want to pay, and it’s all…fine. I liked my lunch but I doubt I’ll rush to go here again.

I did really love the biscuit, though. (Honey butter I could take or leave). If I’m ever over here when they’re serving breakfast sandwiches on these, count me in.

biscuit

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Oh you are killing me, the likelihood I will ever be over there on a M-F morning is near zero.

Speaking of biscuits, they had excellent biscuits at Formaggio Kitchen at the prepared food counter last Saturday. I don’t know if they were leftovers from their Saturday barbecue earlier that day, and are therefore available every Saturday (it’s been a couple of years since I braved that Saturday morning line), or they just happened to have them that evening. (One of the cooks in their kitchen also fancies himself as a baker, I am told, so they sometimes have “cooks whim” baked goods with the prepared foods, separate from the bakery.)

These biscuits were of the flaky kind, so those who like ultra-soft, fluffy interiors may not like them.

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Agreed on Sweet Cheeks - biscuits are genuinely good, meats are “good enough” but not up to real smokehouse standards, fried chicken is IMHO a little better but not a standout even in “Yankee land.”

If you’re looking for brisket, as mentioned upthread by @smtucker The Smoke Shop does a very good one (best thing on that menu by a fair margin), and I have to agree with @kimfair that BT’s Smokehouse does absolutely everything better than anyplace else I’ve found in New England. BT’s is a real destination-worthy spot even if their logo is oddly disturbing.

Assorted thoughts on other places - a couple from the OP, a couple from the thread above, and a couple not mentioned yet:

  • Buttermilk & Bourbon is mostly Cajun/NOLA, and not particularly authentic at that. Has echoes of other “Southern food” (mac’n’cheese, black eyed peas) only as they might be reinterpreted in NOLA (andouille bits in the mac’n’cheese) or Boston (let’s make the black eyed peas into HUMMUS! I’m pretty sure that was Scarlett O’Hara’s favorite dish). Fine enough as a themed bistro.
  • Tupelo’s menu looks to me to be leaning Cajun, but they claim to be “influenced by New England, Louisiana, and Virginia” (their ordering!). IMHO it’s a bit more true to its roots than B&B, and I think of it as tasty “comfort food”.
  • Highland Fried has been covered in another thread, but deserves mention here. I don’t think they’re trying to project a Southern heritage, but their mainstays are foods from the South, and they do a workmanlike delivery of them.
  • Coast Cafe (mentioned by @T.B above) is pretty good Soul food - fried chicken, smothered pork chops, fried catfish, braised ribs (sorry, just drowning it in BBQ sauce doesn’t make it BBQ), cornbread, candied yams, non-hummus black eyed peas, banana pudding with the Nilla wafers at the bottom. Plus a tiny bit of island thrown in (plantains, beef patties, jerk). Oh-so-comfort food.
  • Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen - their normal menu is a mix of Cajun & Southern and for parts of it I think they try too hard to make it upmarket in New England. We go occasionally for their Sunday jazz brunch buffet - for brunch they stick to the comfort food repertoire instead of reaching too far, and while buffets bring their usual quality issues, hey, jazz.
  • Just a couple blocks from Darryl’s is Slade’s Bar & Grill, an institution which I’ve been meaning to try out but haven’t gotten to yet - can anyone give a report? Their menu sticks to core Southern & Soul food: fried chicken, smothered pork chops, fried smothered chicken livers, fried catfish, black eye peas & rice, fried okra, candied yams. If you’re looking for real Southern country cooking, this might be a spot to check out.
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this is great. thanks for the capsule reviews!

I already mentioned that I was in Wakefield on Saturday in my Meletharb mini-review, but I also went and had lunch at The Porch so I thought I’d write it up too. It’s a nice airy space with counter service and a few simple tables, with relatively ok country music as soundtrack, next to the train tracks.

Got the BBQ pork plate with two sides (which at 14$ is a way better value than somewhere like Sweet Cheeks!) and some biscuits. The pork was pretty good though not great, flavorful and moist and with some delicious charred bits on the ends. For one side I got mac and cheese, which the chef made up fresh in a skillet and was creamy, delicious and perfectly cooked. And my other side, the collards, were amazing–seasoned right with just a little bit of meat for flavor and done pretty much in the way I think is ideal, where they are cooked all the way through but still have a bit of snap to them. So score another one for The Porch over Sweet Cheeks, where I thought the collards were meat heavy, overcooked and frankly terrible.

The biscuits are sure better at SC tho–the ones at the Porch are not bad, but just a little bit heavy. The s.o. was with me for lunch and being a non-bbq person went for the Banty, a fried chicken/pimento cheese/pickle sandwich that she really liked. There are other good looking and reasonably priced sandwiches on the menu here too, and the pan-South plates run the gamut from Texas brisket to St Louis ribs on to shrimp and grits. It’s a good, focused menu as well–6 sandwiches, 5 or so plates and a bunch of sides. And that’s it, which I think is smart–if you’re going to pluck things from assorted regional styles, best to pick a few and concentrate on making them good.

Not mind blowing, but I’d go back.

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oh and also, since I dredged up this thread: there have been positive thoughts here and there about Southern Proper. Any reports from the front?

My son and I went to the The Porch for dinner this past week as part of our continuing hunt for local BBQ. Split the hell wings which we really enjoyed with a nice heat and crunch but not “hell” especially.
I did the fried chicken with smashed and cole slaw. The chicken was well cooked, nice crunch but not too much batter. Not much heat with the chicken, I tried the espresso sauce ( really good) and the tangy sauce, which had a tart vinegary taste. Liked that as well.
DC had the brisket which was very tender, well seasoned. Had collard greens and corn bread as sides. The corn bread was so-so and the collard greens came home for my husband. Who enjoyed them with some grilled chicken.
We will continue our quest! The Rusty Can is next on the list.

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this place is on my list too. would love to hear what you think when you go.