So, on a whim, I packed MrsJimbob and the fam down to World’s End Reservation in Hingham to tromp around and check out an unexpected English-looking park dropped on the South Shore coast. We loved it, and on the way back, I shopped to my heart’s content at Kam Man. But I’m thinking that the next time we go back, I need to plan out lunch. In this time of quarantine, we’d be looking for take-out.
So: looking for a good seafood place. Ideally a seafood shack that doesn’t deep fry everything beyond recognition, and that has salads that aren’t afterthoughts. A perusal of the board suggests that Burke’s in Quincy is one place to look, and that the clash between the Clam Box and Tony’s Clam Shop on Quincy Shore Drive is sort of like a Harvard-Yale, Carnegie-Katz’s type rivalry, with each place having its own partisans. Any other places I should check out?
The other thing is that I’m looking to explore the authentic regional Chinese options in Quincy. Chili Square in Quincy looks particularly intriguing – the Chinese name, 蘭州牛肉麵 (LanZhou Beef Noodle Soup) implies they do a regional dish that I have not found easily elsewhere in greater Boston. In a previous thread, I saw props for Taipei Cuisine (though the menu looks a little too much like it can’t make up its mind which cuisine it’s doing), Jenny’s House (which looks like a promising dumpling-and-bao-and-noodles joint), though I take it the SuZhou place in President’s Place is now gone.
The Bloomy Rind in Hingham also looks interesting as a quirky cheese shop with potentially tempting looking sandwiches. And there are a ton of gastropub-looking places up and down the coast. Are there any standouts that I should check out?
The lanzhou noodle soup in Chili Square is pretty good from what I remember (haven’t been since the winter) and have all the requisite fixings. If you got this dish in Lanzhou, you’d be able to specified the thickness of the noodle…I don’t think the noodle at Chili Square is hand-pulled, unfortunately. Jenny’s House has a pretty nice wonton soup and scallion oil noodle in the Shanghai style. A new Yunnan noodle soup and a Sichuan place recently opened (in Wollaston and Weymouth, respectively), the Sichuan menu looks especially intriguing, but I haven’t been to either.
If you pass through Weymouth, don’t be put off by the bad name of ThaiBarShi and try it out. It reminds me a lot of Cha Yen Thai, in the way they pay attention to plating and serving ware, and has some interesting things on their menu. The khao soi (with fried protein of your choice) is the must-get in my opinion, although the takeout comes in three containers (one with the curry soup, one with noodle/toppings, and one with the protein), so I’m not sure how good that is for a hiking picnic!
With the caveat that I have not been this year (but have for many, many years prior), Jake’s in Nantasket does great seafood, many non-fried preps, and has excellent salads. My most-frequent order there is a large Caesar salad topped with grilled swordfish.
In the Quincy 'hood, Tony’s is your best option for fried clams in my opinion. They do a decent fried scallop too, but I find their fried fish a little bland. The rest of their non-seafood items are hit or miss in my opinion If you do take out from them, call ahead. Maybe it’s calmer now, but they still had crazy lines in the summer time even with the limits to takeout only.
Winsor dim sum is a decent option if you’re craving dim sum. They do deliver and offer take out; just be selective as to what will travel well.
If you want a really close to HK wonton noodles experience, go to Saigon Corner (ignore the misleading name) on Billings Rd. It’s a tiny hole in the wall, but their soup noodles are excellent, especially their wonton or dumpling (shui jiao) noodles. They offer a number of cha chaan teng (HK casual eatery) type dishes that are quite good. I really like their spicy chili condiment, which they make in-house. You can buy a jar to go.
If you’re at Kam Man, Pho Countryside, which is in the same plaza, does very good Vietnamese.
I think Pad Thai and Yaowarat Rd are decent Thai places. Pad Thai does the typical Thai menu, and Yaowarat Rd focuses on Thai-Chinese street food.
And if you’re a fan, Popeye’s in Quincy is now open.
EDIT: I should note that there are two noodle shops that have been mid-construction since early this year. When I was in the 'hood last weekend, I noticed significant progress. Both are “mixian” places – a type of rice noodle that is popular in Southwestern China – so give it a few more weeks or months, and maybe there will be more worthwhile places to add to the list.
I live in Quincy and, of course, have my favorites. Burke’s has always been my fish market of choice for both quality and consistence. They make some wonderful clam and seafood chowders. At the moment, because of the pandemic they are takeout only with a limited menu.
My go to for fried clams is Grumpy Whites. Their fry guy gets it right every single visit. Never greasy, nice crunch and sweet flavor. Grumpys generally only has fried clams on the weekend. Once the cold winter hits they may not have them at all. Always good to call first. Grumpys also has an outdoor deck for dining.
Tony’s is another good spot for fried clams but I always go for their lobster roll. IMHO it’s one of the best on the south shore.
What’s good there? Perhaps I wasn’t ordering the right things, but I find their food just mediocre, even for Quincy. You’d get much better pho at Pho Linh or even Banh Mi Le (formerly Lee Han Sandwich), which also has some great banh mi for takeout.
Really, maybe different strokes for different folks. I find them to be pretty good for many of the things I’ve tried. Even at other Vietnamese places, I find they either do good pho, or they do something else good and only meh pho. Or sometimes within pho, they don’t do my favorite soup noodle dish Bun Bo Hue really well.
In any case, I’ve enjoyed both the various beef pho dishes there and also their rice dishes. They do a pretty decent version of Bun Bo Hue, though maybe not the best. Helps a lot that they have super fresh herbs and sprouts that they bring to the table . I enjoy the rice dishes at Pho Linh, but I find their pho to be ok. I do think Pho Linh has a great quail appetizer though. I think they still are affiliated with Pho Hoa, but when they were still called Pho Hoa, I thought their pho broth was soo bland. And their pre-bagged sprout/basil toppings were often wilted and looked like they were going bad.
I never order Bun Bo Hue so that’s probably why! Pho Linh does a great Bun Rieu (crab and tomato vermicelli) and the meatballs they used seem to be made in the back (not the generic frozen kind). I think the Vietnamese places in Dorchester and Randolph are still better overall, but the meatball makes it a go for me. I don’t remember having a topping issue, but you don’t get the a nice mix of herbs with culantro and fish mint (I think) at any of the places in Quincy anyways…
I’ll have to try the Bun Rieu at Pho Linh, now that they’re opened again. It’s one of my friend’s favorites, but the few versions I’ve tried are more tomato-y. I like a good pungent slap of shrimp paste in mine! Many of the restaurants seem to keep the shrimp paste mild so as not to turn off newbies.
Culantro would be great; fish mint…no so much. Guess I should be glad I don’t regularly get those in Quincy.
All recommendations are solid. As far as seafood is concerned, and I know I’ve beat this to death, Burke’s is the pick for me. All options are top notch and you might even leave with some fresh fish to cook at home. I don’t work for them and I’m not related, but you can’t miss with anything from them. Did I mention they have the best coleslaw? HA!
Enjoy,
CocoDan
If you like shrimp paste in your Bun Rieu, Pho 89 or Pho 98 (not being cute, these are two restaurants on the same street) in Randolph would probably be better than Pho Linh. They are heavier-handed on their crab/pig blood/shrimp paste situation, and I imagine you can tell them to go hog wild on it as well.
“But fish mint is so good for you!” Said my relatives from Sichuan as while ordering stir-fried fish mint as the only non-spicy thing on the table every single meal…it was not good for @sunnyday, not good at all.
The Hingham Lobster Pound has always been a favorite of ours since I was a kid. It’s on the edge of Hingham Harbor and is take out only. It’s about 1-1.5 miles from World’s End. The best!
@kobuta: Are there particular dishes you recommend at Saigon Corner in addition to the dumpling noodles? I looked at their menu, but it is hard to decide.
I’ve mainly stuck to their noodle soups. They really do decent versions of HK cha chaan teng foods (aka HK style tea cafe). Think like HK style western dishes, such as baked pork chop on rice. From what I’ve heard they do decent lo mein, HK style (thin noodles, not the thick stir fried noodles in American Chinese takeout places) too.
If you want a different type of noodle soup, they also do a tasty braised beef brisket noodle soup or on lo mein. You can ask for more tendon pieces too (my favorite bits).
I was going to start a new Quincy / Wollaston thread but found this one so I’m just going to add to it.
I’ve gotten banh mi and cha gio from Banh Mi Boston in Wollaston twice now, quite pleased with the banh mi, but the cha gio were inconsistent, and also different from what I expected filling-wise.
I’ll try Banh Mi Le next time to compare and contrast.
(Right next door to BMB of course is Winsor, the home of many satisfactory dim sum orders, which is how I happened upon BMB in the first place.)
I do want to explore the area a bit more for other eats. Any recs for regional chinese, or Korean, or really anything else around there?
I haven’t been to Banh Mi Boston, but Banh Mi Le is pretty great in my opinion - try their wonton noodle soup; it’s a great take on the Cantonese wonton noodle soup but with lots of extra topping (garlic chive, bbq pork, crunchy pork rind i think?, and more). The cold rice rolls plate (sorry, don’t know the name) is also great; I haven’t seen it offered elsewhere.
I like Banh Mi Le too. It’s a tad closer, and since they’ve always been solid, I’ve never strayed too far from them (and they have great avocado shakes!). I’ve tried their cha gio and found them pretty good, but I really have to give a shout out to their summer rolls (goi cuon). They usually wrap up a few for grab and go - pork, shrimp, or pork and shrimp. I’ve always found them to be fresh, and they have a tastier peanut sauce than the average peanut sauce. It’s got a little kick to it.
@Saregama - would love to hear how it compares though. Nothing wrong with getting more bahn mi options in the area.
Have you tried Chili Square? They do a decent rendition of the biang biang noodles, like Gene’s. Their noodles are a bit thicker, but they come in soup or dry with garlicky/cilantro toppings version too. If you like noodle soup, their Lanzhou style beef noodle soup is worth a try; it’s a lighter soup. I’ve also had their biang biang noodles with chicken in soup and enjoy that too.
Ming’s is another decent dim sum place. Bigger sit down traditional dim sum. They do a few fancy takes on dim sum, and it varies from good to ok. The win they have over Winsor is way more seating and not feeling too crowded. East Ocean City also does a popular dim sum on weekends, but also gets packed.
Taipei cuisine is my go to for Taiwanese. Their soup dumplings are better than average for the Boston area. They have a good version of the classic Taiwanese beef noodle soup, but I also like their stir fried rice cake dishes. Generally, they have a solid menu and some real gems (eggplant with basil, 3-cup chicken, etc.)
We are very weak on Korean offerings unless you count the new Korean fried chicken place bbq that is now in North Quincy. The best bet for Korean is actually the SDG that is in the plaza where Kam Man is closer to Quincy Center, and even that is good not great compared to Allston. It might be more fun going to HMart in Quincy to buy the prepared foods or marinated meats and cook them at home.
I mentioned Rubato in the cheap eats thread. Their menu is small, but they have a few fun modern HK cafe items. Just beware that they have (had?) reduced hours as they apparently have been selling out of food.
Guess I should be glad I don’t regularly get those in Quincy.
