galleygirl

I respectfully disagree. We had a wonderful meal at Barking Crab. The community tables offer a unique opportunity to share and converse with (otherwise) strangers. Our table partners when we were there were both locals who said they go there often. The mix is about 50-50 / tourists-locals, so I can't imagine it being the MOST touristy place. It is fun, it is right on the water, and the food is excellent. We loved the place. P.S. I also noticed that their chowder won the Globe's "Best in Boston" survey last year... Barking Crab Gayot Review ← Count me as one of the "locals" that also goes there...Haven't had their chowder, I generally would suggest the bar at Legal (any lLegal) for that (and maybe some raw bar), and I'd sit at the bar at Union Oyster House for the steamers and raw bar, but nothing else... Fried clams and a lot od cooked food is also good at Barking Crab. I persoanlly like it for the clam shack feel without going up to Essex, or Ipswich.

Actually, the ORIGINAL Legal location burned down years ago, so not sure which one you mean. All Legal chowder is made in their central commissary, but it IS my favorite in town...

What'd ya get?

A block away is a great deal for Contonese lobster, and Hong Kong style seafood, at Victoria Seafood. Across the street from that is a real deal, Quan's Kitchen. Look at the specials board for homey, authentic Chinese...Great congee.

Sea to You is good, but only open for retail saturday 12-3, maybe also Friday now... For very good options near the World trade Center,I would suggest Yankee Lobster, further down Northern Ave, great for fin fish, despite the name, and James Hook and Co, at the Northern Ave bridge, the BEST for packing lobster to go, as well as other seafood. Make sure you get an $8 lobster roll for the trip home! With these two, I really don't see the need to treck across the city to go to Fresh Pond Seafood, it's not any better, and there's NO quick way to get there, car or not... Yankee Lobster Fish Market (617) 345-9799 300 Northern Ave Boston, MA 02210

Oga on Rt.9, for very good sushi and cooked Japanese specialties. Oishii,Too, on Rt.20 in Sudbury (very close) for excellent sushi, related to Oishi in newton, which many consider Boston's best.. Sichuan (sp?)Gourmet on Rt.9, for incendiary and authentic Sichuan dishes.

For the last 3, maybe four years, Pandan Leaf has been Khao Sarn, a white-tablecloth Thai restaurant that serves lots of authentic thaoi dishes, and has a great bar.... Equally exceptional, but much more home-style, is Dok Bua, right down the street.

North African; Addis Red Sea, in the South End of Boston. Reasonable, authentic, amazingly flavorful food. The best boston has to offer. It's not washington, DC, but it's GOOD! Indian; Tamarind Bay in Harvard Square is doing amazingly creative things that people are comparing favorably to the best in London. Also try Bhindi Bazaar, on Mass Ave and Newbury Street, in Boston, for an authentic menu divided by region. Close to the waterfront, and on the Fort Point Channel, is the Barking Crab, the closest you'll find to a clam shack without heading out of town...I believe their heated, closed-sided tent will be open for the season by the time you're here...Big picnic table, lovely view of the Boston skyline. The fried clams are great, as is anything on the specials menu. lots of fun.. East Coast Grill, in Inman Square, Cambridge, is a popular choice among locals for their favorite seafood, and a great place to bring out-of town guests. There's an oyster bar, Black and blue tuna tacos that are a crime they're so delicious, with their sashimi-grade tuna and avocado slices, my favorite entree, black and blue pepper-crusted tuna, and creative, everchanging specials using the freshest seafood. There's ever some great BBQ options if you have recalcitrant carnivores. It's probably my number one recommendation for you. To get a grip on your lobster craving, i would suggest going to peach farm seafood in Chinatown, and getting their twin lobster special. Two hacked and stir-fried lobsters, in ginger and scallion. Also, great steamed oysters on the half-shell with black bean sauece(you can order individually) and supreme steamed scallops on the shell with ginger and scallions. I have to disagree with a previous poster; I wouldn't send a dog to Jimmy's or the No Name...Both WERE good, in the case of the No Name, it used to be great. No more.

Sage is indeed in the North End,and it's very good..haymarket takes place on Friday and saturday, all winter long...Make sure you get some cherrystones from the clam guy; the only seafood I get down there. Peach Farm is most definitely a Chinese Resto, albeit specializing in Hong Kong style seafood...While I'm a big proponent of Mix Bakery for banh mi, i think you should pick one up as a snack, but maybe go for a sit-down meal elsewhere in Chinatown; it's pretty much just a bakery with a couple of tables...Not that there's anything wrong with that, but you could do better...Maybe gorging on your own order of soup dumplings at Taiwan Cafe? For a great Irish bar, you should take the D-Branch of the green line out to Brookline Village and get a pint at matt Murphy's, which also serves the best fish and chips in the area, and wonderfully updated versions of Irish pub food...

Many parts of Dorchester are actually very well served by the T (our "L", if you will, short for MBTA) The JFK Library (which is wonderful) is served by its own stop on the redline, JFK/UMass. Afterward, get back on the redline, and go another stop or two to Fields Corner, which stop is about a block or so from Pho 2000, the best Vietnamese restaurant in Boston, IMHO...Also in that block are two other good Vietnams places, Pho So 1, and Pho Hoa, and Ba le cafe, good for banh Mi and snacks...But since you're already there, I'd hit Pho 2000. Before or after Filene's basement, you'll hit Chinatown for lunch...Taiwan Cafe offers amazing choices for its lunches, at $6.95. These aren't geneeric stir-fried specials, but true Taiwanese offerings, from their dinner menu, but cheaper...my favorite Chinatown Restaurant, tho, is Peach Farm seafood...gottah have those steamed oysters and black bean sauce.Or splurge and have a hacked and stir-fried lobster in ginger and scallions...if you want, dim sum at Chau Chow City would also being a great shopping day lunch.

Lemme get this straight, you don't consider Regina's (and of course, I mean the *original* Regina's, on Thatcher St., in the North End) gourmet, but you consider Pizza Republic, a joint that's always empty and gets panned on other Boston forums, a favorite? Chacun a son gout, of course, but I heard the only time they had customers was during the blizzard.

You should call Connolly's, then. They can usually turn them around in a day...Actually, you might be surprised, Kitchen Arts may do that too...

KitchenArts on Newbury St. does a very good job, but I'm too lazy, so I take mine to my local hardware store, Connolly's, in Washington Sq., and they do 'em for $2 a piece...

Naked Fish, Legal Seafood...Both chains...Why would you do that?

Pizzaria Regina is still fabulous! But, of course, only if you go to the original in the North End, at the corner of Thatcher and Endicott Streets, I believe...They are the ones with the 90(?) year old gas-fired brick-lined oven, and they have a sourdough started they use or their dough...The other outlets, like Fanuiel Hall (Quincey Market) and Saugus, don't...

I have a friend who says you could put huitlacoche on a cigarette butt, and it would taste good.. Well, yeah....

I csn't stay quiet, I do have o take exception to the Cottonwood Cafe rec....They are just awful; I can only hope Pam hasn't been there for awhile, so she's unaware of the demise....Sorry, but I have a few non-foodie friends who inist on going there, for birthdays and such, and it's really bad...Think uncooked flour tortillas, with Krab-with-a-K in melted Velveeta masquerading as seafood quesadillas...There's lots more awful stuff, but that says it all..The margaritas would HAVE to be good to dull one's senses.... For Mexican fonda cooking, hit Tu Y Yo outside of Davis Sq. in Somerville.. And yet, the fish burritoes at El Pelon make my heart sing...

I don't think it's open on Saturdays.

If you end up deciding on the North End, you're probably best served getting off of the T at Government center, on the Blue Line, 2 minutes more walking, but a lot less changing lines to get to the Green or Orange Line.... Also, going in the other direction from the airport, consider Floating Rock, a hole-in-the-wall but wonderful Cambodian restaurant at the Revere Beach stop.

The restaurant is the Union Oyster House....I love their raw bar, but that is the only thing I eat there; the cooked food is dull and boring, to be charitable....I've never heard anything favorable about their chowder...Perhaps, since JFK ate there regularly, John Kerry has also made it his luncheon choice on election days.

Wow, Melonpan, this is great; thanks especially for all the great photos detailing everything....I usually buy my banchan to go, and my pancakes from a place that makes them on weekends mornings, but I'm gonnah give it a try.. I have one question about the pancakes...I always thought they were made with ground soybeans, or soy bean flour? Am I confusing them with a different version?

Here's a link to the last Dok Bua discussion here Dok Bua I love this place, it's BYOB....Khao Sarn is also a favorite, with the added attraction of a lovely room, and Yoshi's amazing mango and lichee martinis... I'm spoiled for any other Thai... If you want a dive that serves the best cambodian I've ever tasted, go to Floating Rock in revere, Revere beach stop on the Blue line....You should probably plan it for lunch, tho, since they close around 7:30,....Seems to be par for the course for Cambodian restaurants... I'd also consider Atasca, or Sunset Cafe in Cambridge for Portuguese food...Mind you, they're not as good as O Fado out in Peabody, but they're T-accessible... My all-time favorite for Hong Kong-style seafood is Peach Farm in Chinatown....You can get great lobsters in ginger and scallion, wonderful eel, fabulous steamed oysters on the half-shell with black bean sauce, as well as the best spicy-salt fried squid in town.... And another vote for the east Coast Grill, tho I wouldn't call it ethnic....

Hi John, there's so much great ethnic in Boston, can you tell us where you'll be staying, a hint of your favorite cuisines, or things you can't get where you are, and where you're staying? Near Hynes Convention Center, or the new one in South Boston?

I'm gonnah second these recs for the Clam Box (best source for BIG bellies) and Essex Seafood, my favorite all-around winner up there...I especially like the lobster bakes, 2 lobsters with steamers and clams, and their lobster rolls are the winners, altho you have to ask them to grill the bun....Their clams are equal to the Clam Box's, except for size.. Their chowder is not worth the calories, IMHO...It's BYOB, by the way. Bring a nice, crisp white and enjoy..I like Farnham's spicy scallop (?) chowder, and their fried cod cheeks if they have them, but I'm not a big fan of their clams..... And, of course, I save the big thumbs down for Woodman's, an overpriced dinosaur with rotten atmospere resting on it's laurels...Yuk..It's got the atmospere of an all-you-can-eat buffet, with large people unhappily eating large orders of greasy food. The only reason to go there is for the Raw Bar upstairs, unaivable downstairs, which the otherds Essex joints don't offer...

I went to the Mushroom Dinner that Ben Maleson presided over at Harvest, in Cambridge; it was fantastic! Well, the sampler dinners at Harvest are always a good deal...May have to sign up for the classes to get my foraging credentials; just took a trip to Alaska that convinced me I need to be more self-sufficient!