Phantom Gourmet Guide to Boston's Best Restaurants 2008
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Phantom Gourmet Guide to Boston's Best Restaurants 2008
208eBookSecond Edition (Second Edition)
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Overview
The Phantom Serves up the Best of Boston and Beyond
Do you eat food? Then follow these simple instructions for finding great meals everywhere from the North End to the North Shore, including standout restaurants in Rhode Island, Cape Cod, and even southern New Hampshire and southern Maine:
1. Buy this book.
2. Go to the table of contents on p. iii.
3. Select a location or a type of restaurant.
4. Read reviews of the Phantom Gourmet's eight favorite restaurants in that category.
5. Enjoy an unforgettable meal, and don't forget to tell them the Phantom sent you!
The Phantom Gourmet Guide to Boston's Best Restaurants is the ultimate guide to finding good eats in Boston and New England.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781429993852 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | St. Martin's Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 08/21/2007 |
| Sold by: | Macmillan |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 208 |
| File size: | 687 KB |
About the Author
The Phantom Gourmet is the famous New England restaurant critic who dines in disguise and always pays his own bills. He is thus able to serve up the most honest and trustworthy restaurant reviews through television, radio, newspaper, and online outlets.
Read an Excerpt
Phantom Gourmet Guide To Boston's Best Restaurants 2008
By The Phantom Gourmet
St. Martin's Press
Copyright © 2007 Phantom Gourmet, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4299-9385-2
CHAPTER 1
Phantom's All-Time Favorites
GREAT ATE
THE GREATEST: Wood-Fired Cooking
Fore Street
$$$
288 Fore St., Portland, ME, (207) 775-2717
www.forestreet.biz
Fore Street is one of the most rustic and romantic eateries in New England. Wood-fired cooking is their specialty, and it's all done in open view of the customer, sprawled across a soaring dining room of brick and dark wood. Pizzas come out of the brick oven topped with gourmet ingredients like roasted peppers, onions, and spinach. The roasted mussels bathe in so much almond garlic butter, you'll want an entire loaf of bread to sop up every drop. Tender dry-rubbed pork loins do laps on the turnspit, and the grill sizzles full of steaks, chops, and fish. For dessert, don't miss the warm apple tarte tatin with smoked bacon ice cream!
THE GREATEST: Beach Eats
Back Eddy
$$$
1 Bridge Road, Westport, MA, (508) 636-6500
www.thebackeddy.com
Whether you arrive by boat or by car, the Back Eddy is the ideal summer restaurant. It's a classy clam shack that takes full advantage of local farms and fishermen in modem dishes like sausage stuffed clams with Tabasco aioli. Giant seared scallops are wrapped in applewood-smoked bacon, and the yellowfin tuna steak takes on an Asian theme with wasabi, soy sauce, and kimchi. The light, airy atmosphere includes a patio bar, so you can sip a gin and tonic just feet from the water.
THE GREATEST: Be Seen Brunch
Sonsie
$$$
327 Newbury St., Boston, MA, (617) 351-2500
www.sonsieboston.com
Sonsie seems to have a dress code, and it's designer threads. The beautiful clientele pack the marble café tables, which offer a full view of Newbury Street through the French doors. Phantom goes for the eclectic brunch cuisine like thick French toast with rum bananas and caramel. The huevos rancheros are invigorating served with grilled chorizo sausage. And the brick-oven pizzas will warm you up for a dessert finale of individual chocolate s'mores. Sonsie offers one of Boston's liveliest social scenes, whether at the massive mahogany bar, in the European lounge with deep leather chairs, or around the big tables in the back.
THE GREATEST: Splurge
Sorellina
$$$
1 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA, (617) 412-4600
www.sorellinaboston.com
Sorellina is hardly affordable, but this is the reservation to get when you're going all out ... or someone else is picking up the bill. Extravagant Italian fare includes arancini rice balls filled with Jonah crabmeat. Homemade pasta is paired with Kobe beef meatballs, and sides like Parmesan truffle fries are so lip-smackingly delicious, you won't dare share. For dessert, the molten chocolate cake is served in an individual cast-iron pot with cinnamon ice cream. The striking modem decor includes backlit floor-to-ceiling murals and an all-white bar.
THE GREATEST: Maple Syrup
Parker's Maple Barn
$
1316 Brookline Rd., Mason, NH, (800) 832-2308
www.parkersmaplebarn.com
At Parker's Maple Barn, tucked back in the woods, you can actually observe the maple syrup being made before sampling it yourself in the nineteenth-century barn and silo, which now serves as a charming restaurant. The country-style menu includes seven kinds of pancakes, including maple walnut, blueberry, and pumpkin. Their sweet signature is maple-glazed baby back ribs and fried eggs. Savored with some maple-roasted coffee and cinnamon rolls smothered in icing, it's worth the morning drive. Customers can buy tins of their maple syrup from the gift shop next door.
THE GREATEST: Fine! Fine! Dining
Arrows
$$$
Berwick Rd., Ogunquit, ME, (207) 361-1100
www.arrowsrestaurant.com
When there's a $50-per-person cancellation fee, either you're being taken for a ride or you're in for something special. Arrows is the current record holder for Phantom's all-time highest restaurant rating, making it well worth the trip to Maine. Set amidst woods and gorgeous gardens, the eighteenth-century farmhouse is highly romantic. Dressed-up diners duck into the wood-and-glass encased porch, where a sprawling birch tree and square lanterns illuminate the scene. The playful menu changes daily; 90 percent of the restaurant's produce is grown on the grounds and they cure their own ham and fish. Each entrée is actually four mini creations. Seasonal inspirations might include red wine and honey poached beef or cedar-plank salmon with rosemary rhubarb candy.
THE GREATEST: Italian Subs
Bob's
$
324 Main St., Medford, MA, (781) 395-0400
www.bobsfood.com
Bob's is where you go when you're not on a diet. The Italian eats at this sandwich shop and specialty store are served big, fast, and cheap. They even sell a six-foot sandwich packing eight pounds of meat and cheese on a homemade loaf of braided bread. As for single-serving subs, they offer steak and cheese, tomato basil with mozzarella and prosciutto, and one of the best chicken Parms Phantom has ever tasted. Takeout platters include stuffed shells and meatballs, sausage cacciatore, and chicken piccata. The shelves are stocked with imported Italian goods, and Bob's makes fresh pasta with a $12,000 machine imported from Italy.
THE GREATEST: Dinner, Hayride, and Music
Golden Lamb Buttery
$$$
499 Wolf Den Rd., Hillandale Farm, Brooklyn, CT, (860) 774-4423
Golden Lamb Buttery is an extraordinary country escape that features great home cooking. The husband-and-wife team are the best hosts that Phantom has ever found. They put guests in high spirits throughout cocktail hour in a charming barn filled with knick-knacks. Then, owner Bob Booth fires up his tractor as everyone piles in the back for a sing-a-long hayride. The live music continues in the dining room with an intimate dinner prepared by his rosy wife, Jimmie. The prix fixe menu is money well spent for an entire evening of farm entertainment and a three-course meal. Reservations required, cash only, jacket and tie for gentlemen.
CHAPTER 2Bakeries
GREAT ATE
THE GREATEST: Wedding Cakes
Montilio's
$
638 Adams St., Quincy, MA, (617) 472-5500
www.montilios.com
Specializing in unforgettable wedding cakes, Montilio's has baked for icons like JFK, Queen Elizabeth, and Pope John Paul II. They do it all, from classy creations covered in frosting flowers to Elmo cupcakes. They'll top a chocolate cake with chocolate-dipped strawberries or whip up a whimsical gift-cake "wrapped" in frosting ribbons. All their shops are stocked with ready-to-eat sweets like M&M cookies and breakfast pastries, as well as cakes by the slice. Additional locations are in Brockton and Waltham.
THE GREATEST: Cupcakes
Lulu's Bake Shoppe
$
227 Hanover St., Boston, MA, (617) 720-2200
www.lulusbakeshoppe.com
Lulu's Bake Shoppe may be in Boston's famous Italian District, but this isn't the place for cannoli and ricotta pie. This sweet little spot is packed with made-from-scratch cupcakes instead. Chocolate and vanilla are ever so moist, smeared with rainbow-colored buttercream icing. Red velvet is Phantom's favorite, followed by carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Lulu's also has a coffee bar and other all-American treats like cream puffs, chocolate chip cookies, sticky buns, whoopie pies, and specialty muffins in flavors like Boston cream.
THE GREATEST: Fresh Baked Bread
Iggy's Bread of the World
$
130 Fawcett St., Cambridge, MA, (617) 924-0949
www.iggysbread.com
Iggy's is the loaf of choice at many Boston restaurants, and is sold at Shaw's and Whole Foods. Even with all that volume, they bake some of the best loaves around. Their hearth-baked bread is made twice a day using all-natural ingredients. Iggy's is known for affordable staples like country sourdough and seedless rye. It's worth a trip to their Alewife headquarters for pizza by the slice and baguette sandwiches filled with basil, tomato, and mozzarella. Sweet stuff includes chocolate croissants, chocolate oatmeal cookies, and the most amazing pecan sticky buns.
THE GREATEST: Birthday Cakes
Party Favors
$
1356 Beacon St., Brookline, MA, (617) 566-3330
www.partyfavorsbrookline.com
This store is a party planner's paradise. Every inch of Party Favors is crammed with colorful piñatas, inflated balloons, and wrapping paper, and the air is suffused by the tantalizing aroma of fresh-baked goods. The on-site cake decorators are artists in the medium of pure buttercream frosting. Decorations are done by hand, including flowers, penguins, pigs, and turtles. They can whip up an amazing Oscar the Grouch cake or a chocolate espresso torte with mocha beans. Everything from wedding cakes to cupcakes gets the same attention.
THE GREATEST: Fruit Tart
Pastiche Fine Desserts
$
92 Spruce St., Providence, RI, (401) 861-5190
www.pastichefinedesserts.com
Pastiche is a tantalizing dessert spot, turning out Phantom's favorite fruit tarts. A butter pastry shell is filled with vanilla custard and then topped off with fresh fruit like kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, and orange. The space is warm and inviting like a European café, with intimate tables and a working fireplace. Pastiche is stocked with superb sweets like orange chocolate Bavarian cake, Russian teacakes, biscotti, rugelach, and chocolate walnut truffle cookies. For sipping, you'll find coffee drinks, tea, chai, and rich hot chocolate.
THE GREATEST: Chocolate Buffet
Café Fleuri
$$$
The Langham Hotel, 250 Franklin St., Boston, MA, (617) 451-1900
http://boston.langhamhotels.com
Technically it's not a bakery. But then, the Saturday Chocolate Bar at Café Fleuri is in a category all its own. From September through June, chocoholics reserve for the extravagant all-you-can-eat dessert buffet. The jaw-dropping spread includes cookies, cakes, tortes, fondue, and made-to-order crepes. There's quite a range, from dark chocolate mousse and truffle pops to the chocolate fountain and experimental chocolate sushi. Phantom can't resist the chocolate croissant pudding or the juicy strawberries dipped in white chocolate.
THE GREATEST: Bite-Sized Pastry
Konditor Meister
$
32 Wood Rd., Braintree, MA, (781) 849-1970
www.konditormeister.com
Konditor Meister is a European-style bakery that's wedding central for any bride-to-be. Party supplies and tiered cakes line the window, and there's a cake tasting room in the back. These buttercream masters create an incredible variety of pastries, tarts, truffles, and petits fours. And their specialties are offered in individual servings from the dessert cases up front. Whether your pleasure is pecan tartlets or chocolate raspberry mousse cups, you can devour them on the spot or take them to a party. Chocolate-dipped strawberries are juicy and plump, and carrot cake muffins hide cream cheese icing in the center. Bite-sized cheesecakes and pastry swans filled with raspberry cream are the cherry on top.
THE GREATEST: Muffins
Gingerbread Construction Co.
$
52 Main St., Wakefield, MA, (781) 246-2200
www.gingerbreadusa.com
Gingerbread Construction Co. builds ornamented gingerbread houses for any occasion, but they're best known for baking fabulous muffins in unusually good flavors. Their 19 flavors include chocolate chip, gingerbread with cream cheese icing, and chocolate raspberry topped with chocolate flakes and chocolate icing. The strawberry shortcake muffin is a summer specialty enveloping ripe fruit and whipped cream. But Phantom's absolute favorite is the Chocolate Dreme, which is made by injecting a moist chocolate muffin with chocolate cream. There's a second location in Winchester.
CHAPTER 3BBQ
GREAT ATE
THE GREATEST: Regional BBQ
RedBones
$$
55 Chester Ave., Somerville, MA, (617) 628-2200
www.redbonesbbq.com
Covering the full sweep of the barbecue belt, RedBones has the best regional renditions of Texas beef, St. Louis ribs, and Georgia pulled pork. Tantalizing appetizers include the sausage of the day, hush puppies, Buffalo shrimp, and corn fritters. An eclectic crowd of bikers, families, and singles packs the psychedelic neon den downstairs, while barflies buzz about the bar upstairs, where 24 microbrews on tap change daily. Cyclists take note: RedBones offers a complimentary bicycle valet they say is the first of its kind in the nation.
THE GREATEST: Ribs
Uncle Pete's Hickory Ribs
$
72 Squire Rd., Revere, MA, (781) 289-7427
www.unclepetes.com
Uncle Pete's has the best ribs this side of the Mason-Dixon line. This meaty mecca is an unlikely intersection of Thai food and Southern BBQ. The wicked pork ribs are remarkably tender, thanks to a three-day cooking procedure that includes wood smoking over hickory, oak, and apple woods. The massive caramelized Texas beef ribs are steeped in rich spices, and the smoky pulled pork forgoes vinegar in favor of sweet BBQ sauce. Phantom also loves their Asian peanut slaw and the mango salsa served with fried tortillas.
THE GREATEST: BBQ Sandwiches
Blue Ribbon Bar-B-Q
$
908 Massachusetts Ave., Arlington, MA, (781) 648-7427
www.blueribbonbbq.com
Blue Ribbon Bar-B-Q does Phantom's favorite BBQ-style sandwiches, full of pit-smoked specialties like Texas sliced beef brisket, Kansas City burnt ends, and Memphis dry-rubbed BBQ ribs. The oversized offerings come with baked beans, slaw, and homemade pickles. They'll even put together a feedbag for four or supper for six. Most customers blow through like tumbleweed, but the colorful chrome room done up with vintage signs and license plates makes eating in a lively option. There's a second Blue Ribbon in West Newton.
THE GREATEST: BBQ Sauce
Firefly's Bar-B-Que
$$
350 E. Main St., Marlborough, MA, (508) 357-8883
www.fireflysbbq.com
Firefly's is a BBQ house where low and slow cooking is an art. Hickory, cherry, and apple woods smoke the meats, which are packed with intensity from dry spice rubs. For added flavor, the condiment bar includes five sauces (North or South Carolina, Memphis, spicy Beelzebar, Texas), assorted pickles, and 40 hot sauces. The best appetizer platter combines ribs, wings, brisket, catfish fingers, and homemade chips. And the grilled cracklin' bread is awesome topped with onions and smoked mozzarella.
THE GREATEST: Pulled Pork
Muddy River Smokehouse
$$
21 Congress St., Portsmouth, NH, (603) 430-9582
www.muddyriver.com
Muddy River Smokehouse is a comfortable BBQ and Blues house where smoking, grilling, and saucing are taken very seriously. Their pulled pork, marinated in their delicious secret BBQ sauce, is incredibly tender thanks to 15 hours of slow smoking and hand shredding. Another highlight is the moist, flavorful ribs, rubbed with spices and then slow smoked over hickory logs for 12 hours. They also do baby back ribs, meaty St. Louis ribs, and the massive Texas rib nicknamed the "Fred Flintstone."
THE GREATEST: Bison BBQ
Bison County
$$
275 Moody St., Waltham, MA, (781) 642-9720
www.bisoncounty.com
At Bison County, Texas and Southern-style BBQ are cooked on an eight-foot open grill in the middle of the dining room. They specialize in low-fat, low-cholesterol meat like bison burgers and grilled buffalo tips. But Phantom also enjoys the South Carolina wings, which are slow smoked and slathered with spicy mustard BBQ sauce. Order some sweet potato fries on the side. Thin slices and well-done crunchiness give them a familiar texture, but the natural sugars of the sweet potato add an irresistible flavor that the common spud can't match.
THE GREATEST: Roadside BBQ
M&M Ribs
$
200 Geneva Ave., Dorchester, MA, (617) 306-0788
Working out of a converted box truck, M&M Ribs is a roadside eatery turning out incredible BBQ. The family-run operation is made up of three generations of barbecuers who are all named Moe. There's Big Moe, Little Moe, Tiny Moe, and No Moe. Their secret BBQ sauce is off the hook, but Phantom can't get past their beef and pork ribs. Whole chickens come barbecued or fried, and sides include BBQ beans, spicy rice, mac and cheese, collard greens, candied yams, potato salad, and coleslaw. For dessert, there's real peach cobbler and banana bread pudding.
THE GREATEST: Mac and Cheese Bites
Soul Fire Barbecue
$$
182 Harvard Ave., Allston, MA, (617) 787-3003
www.soulfirebbq.com
"Serving all souls," Soul Fire Barbecue appeals to heat seekers with an appetite for brisket, pulled pork, and baby back ribs. The regional BBQ is pit smoked with a dry rub, and customers decide on the final slather from homemade sauces at the self-service BBQ bar. Choose from their signature Soul Fire Sauce, vinegar North Carolina hot sauce, South Carolina mustard sauce, and chili pepper Fiery Sauce. On the side, Southern fried mac and cheese bites are Phantom's dream appetizer come true. The crispy, crunchy nuggets are ooey-gooey inside, and they're irresistible dipped in molasses sweet sauce.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Phantom Gourmet Guide To Boston's Best Restaurants 2008 by The Phantom Gourmet. Copyright © 2007 Phantom Gourmet, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page,Acknowledgments,
Introduction,
"GREAT ATES" - by Category,
Phantom's All-Time Favorites - GREAT ATE,
Bakeries - GREAT ATE,
BBQ - GREAT ATE,
Boston Legends - GREAT ATE,
Breakfast - GREAT ATE,
Brunch,
Burgers - GREAT ATE,
Chain - GREAT ATE,
Local Chains - GREAT ATE,
Chinese - GREAT ATE,
Comfort Food - GREAT ATE,
Cookies - GREAT ATE,
Dessert - GREAT ATE,
Diners - GREAT ATE,
Dining Bargains - GREAT ATE,
Eight Top Tables - GREAT ATE.,
Ethnic - GREAT ATE,
National Fast Food - GREAT ATE,
Local Fast Food - GREAT ATE,
Fine Dining - GREAT ATE,
Food and Fun - GREAT ATE,
French Fries - GREAT ATE,
Fried Clams - GREAT ATE,
Guilty Pleasures - GREAT ATE,
Hidden Jewels - GREAT ATE,
Hot Dog - GREAT ATE,
Huge Portions - GREAT ATE,
Ice Cream - GREAT ATE,
Italian - GREAT ATE,
Late-Night - GREAT ATE,
Lobster - GREAT ATE,
Mac and Cheese - GREAT ATE,
Mexican - GREAT ATE,
New and Notable,
Outdoor Dining - GREAT ATE,
Pizza - GREAT ATE,
Roadside Legends - GREAT ATE,
Romantic - GREAT ATE,
Sandwich - GREAT ATE,
Seafood - GREAT ATE,
Snack Foods - GREAT ATE,
Steak - GREAT ATE,
Sushi - GREAT ATE,
Tiny Treasures - GREAT ATE,
Wings - GREAT ATE,
Worth a Drive - GREAT ATE,
"GREAT ATES" - by Location,
Back Bay - GREAT ATE,
Beacon Hill - GREAT ATE,
Cambridge - GREAT ATE,
Chinatown - GREAT ATE,
North End Restaurants - GREAT ATE,
North End Shops - GREAT ATE,
South End - GREAT ATE,
Theater District - GREAT ATE,
North of Boston - GREAT ATE,
South of Boston - GREAT ATE,
Metro West - GREAT ATE,
Central and Western - GREAT AT,
Cape Cod - GREAT ATE,
Providence - GREAT ATE,
Phantom's - 88 TASTY TIPS,
Index of Restaurants by Location,
Alphabetical Index,
Copyright Page,