Well yet another “where to eat in Boston” article has come out. So figured I’d post. I haven’t been to most of these places and my “where to eat” list is so huge already that I’m overwhelmed (that isn’t a bad thing). But figured I’d post and see what people’s feelings were . . .
This is from the folks over at Food Republic:
Seafood:
Island Creek Oyster Bar (Boston)
Row 34 (Fort Point/Boston)
Uni (Boston)
A nickname for Boston. I originally thought it was attributed to one of our famous resident poets, but here’s an early (and famous) reference per wikiquote.org:
And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod.
Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots,
And the Cabots talk only to God.
John Collins Bossidy A toast given at Holy Cross College alumni dinner in 1910. McPhee, John. Giving Good Weight. p. 163.
Clearly, I am not hip and cool since I have only eaten at one place on this list. The categories do seem a bit limited. Do they release other categories over time?
And “Beantown” is a moniker that makes me shudder whenever I hear it. Yes. There is a history of starting beans Saturday at sundown for eating on the Sabbath, but it is not a nickname that Boston uses to describe itself. And that whole Saturday bean over a fire has faded now that we have electricity and running water.
Eh. I moved here from Cincinnati, called “Porkopolis” and “The Queen City”. Nobody in Cincinnati uses those terms in casual conversation, any more than we in Boston say “Beantown”, but they amuse tourists and make for fun marketing materials, I guess. Cincinnati has its Flying Pig Marathon and pigs everywhere, even though it’s no longer a pork packing city, just like Boston sells little bags of Boston Baked Beans in the airport. Nicknames don’t bother me.
I wouldn’t say the nicknames necessarily bother me but I definitely take note when they are used. If a publication is going to use Beantown in the tagline of an article, I go with the mindset of “consider the source”. I guess nicknames like Beantown sort of do fit with any kind of best of list in the first place.
Committee is the only one that stands out to me, too - if that’s what you’re saying. I haven’t been yet, but it doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest on the list.
right. it doesn’t fit and for sure is not of sarma caliber. we have erbaluce, coppa, oleana, toro, prezza, etc. (although if they went with sarma i get why they wouldn’t also go with oleana.)
I lived in Boston for about four years (twice) in the past two decades. I love the entire area! The best place I ever had the pleasure of encountering was Iggy’s in Cambridge. Mind you, it isn’t a restaurant, but if you bring your own salamis, you can feast on their breads and they have a cinnamon bun to die for!!!
