A nice long weekend of wandering from the north shore around the west and finally to the south.
Started in Gloucester at Tonno for a fabulous happy hour (on food, I was reminded it’s illegal in MA to discount booze 
) — several rounds of $1 oysters, excellent grilled octopus, white anchovy pinxtos, tuna tartare tacos, and mussels.
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Dinner later at Lobsta Land was surprisingly good food for a restaurant with such a cheesy name. Full of locals on a weeknight. I loved the crab cake. Red curry mussels were good, but the ones at Tonno were better. Friend’s clam chowder was just okay she said, wedge salad was on point and HUGE.
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Lunch the next day at Lobster Pool in Rockport — lobster roll set the bar for the season. Lobster bisque was tasty and full of meat, but too thick and rich — yes, that’s a thing.
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Dinner was eclectic takeout from The Cottage in Newton. Steak frites were tasty but overdone (maybe traveling to us was some of the problem, but not all of it). Fish tacos were meh. Gnocchi with spring vegetables was good. Chicken piccata was fine. Salads were also fine. Not a repeat for me. No pics.
Another dinner at Cook Needham. I’ve eaten here before, and we only went back because it was the one place I could get a table within 45 mins of calling on a Sat night (my people won’t let me plan ahead, this is the hell I live in). Food was excellent — pizza had a thin and crisp crust and tasty and plentiful toppings, beet salad was dressed very well, short rib was well cooked and flavorful if a tad too fatty, fried chicken was pretty perfect, as was the roast chicken. No room for dessert.
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Mothers’ Day buffet lunch at Masala Art was more varied than I expected (but also about the level I expected). It’s been a long time since I ate at an indian buffet.
For the weekend only, they had a dosa station, a stuffed paratha station, fresh bhaturas being fried for chhole, pakodas, bhajiya, and jalebis that were apparently made on site (I was warned by a nice chap who brought out churros that I should take all the jalebis left because there weren’t any more, but that made me put back my second one because I’d rather someone else get a jalebi too!)
And a DIY chaat station which could have benefited from some bowls to mix bhel and chaat in. But also — pani puri! I introduced my young nephews to their first taste of Indian “street” food, but the big winner of the day was excellent garlic naan (I got only 2 tiny pieces, because every time I asked for a fresh one, a boy scarfed it down 
). Other surprise hits were pakoda kadhi and spicy green beans poriyal. The biryani rice was very well spiced, but the chicken was dried out. No pics.
I had planned to take my aunt to Le Madeline in Quincy for Mothers’ Day dinner, but we had an exhausting afternoon (6 exuberant boys + 2 exuberant dogs) and so neither of us could fathom sitting through a restaurant dinner after that. I’m sad because I was most excited about this meal, but we’ll go another time. (I made omelettes for us much later in the evening instead.)
Made up for it the next day with lobster rolls from Weymouth Lobster Pound (because the jiffy lube place had the audacity to take a day off). Just perfect — loaded with perfectly cooked, sweet lobster chunks. I insisted on jumbos (they have 2 sizes) and my aunt acquiesced and said she’d eat her other half for dinner — there was no other half, how do you set aside that deliciousness?
2 perfect lobster rolls was more than I could have hoped for this year (last year’s tally was ZERO), so if I don’t eat another one all season I won’t be too upset. Or, as my aunt responded to this comment, we’ll get another one or two the next time you’re here this summer or fall — I think she only eats them with me
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(This time I switched a dc visit to a boston visit and then tried to fit 2 sets of friends and 3 sets of family into 3.5 days 
)
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