Beantown

Last week, I traveled to Boston, Mass for my vacation. Little did I know that I was traveling to the site of the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the US. That is definitely blog-worthy, yes? My trip was fantastic (other than the rain that fell every single day) and I had some GREAT food. Here is a little morsel (I'm so clever!):

Union Oyster House, established 1826 - When I heard this was the oldest restaurant, I knew I had to visit it. What better meal to put in my blog? Their prices were a little high, so I went during lunch. I had the clam chowder (or chowda if you're a native) as my appetizer and the crab cake as my entree. The chowder was very good, worthy of a picture:


A little cup of history

The crab cake was slightly disappointing. As a southerner who has had probably hundreds of crab cakes in my lifetime, I was underwhelmed. This cake had a lot of extra stuff in it, overpowering the crab. It was also served with coleslaw that basically tasted like cabbage in mayonnaise. I was happily surprised that the cornbread served with the meal was sweet. Overall, the lunch was good but not anything memorable, other than the history of the restaurant.

I ate A LOT while I was in Boston, including 2 Thai restaurants, some Greek food, Soup from Zoup (we totally need those here), and two different servings of the best tiramisu I've ever had.



Heaven on a plate. I'm not kidding

If you think of the BEST tiramisu you've ever eaten, and then multiply it times 10, this is what you will get - tiramisu from Mike's Pastry Shop in Boston. I went there on a tip from my friend Nicole and now I owe her BIG time. It's in the North End, which made me not want to go there at night or else I probably would have eaten it every day. It's a huge piece but I could've eaten about 5 more pieces each time. This stuff is indescribably good. If you are ever anywhere near Boston, GO HERE!

Next, I took pictures of my meal in the North End before my 2nd serving of Tiramisu. I had been to the Old North Church and was starving. This little place looked good so I went in. I can't even remember the name but I got a salad and calamari. The salad dressing was balsamic and they had some shaved cheese on it - fantastic! The calamari wasn't the best I've ever had but it was pretty darn good. Not bad for a spur of the moment lunch decision!

Yummy in my tummy!

Lunch, tentacles included

Lastly, I would like to mention King and I, a Thai restaurant on Charles Street. This was one of the Thai places I visited while on vacation and definitely the best. I had my old standby, Pad See Ew with chicken, and it was fabulous. No one has been able to beat Taste of Thai in Knoxville, but this one came pretty darn close. That is high praise, King and I! I didn't get a picture of my meal (very dim lights) but here is the front of the restaurant:

Ahh, Pad See Ew, how I love you

Thank you Boston for a lovely time and some lovely food! I have dedicated this blog entirely to you and have even put it in Red Sox colors!

Back to the Future

I have been very lax in my blogging, mainly because I was on vacation (that blog is coming soon!) but here's another dish I ate before I left town for some R & R. I went to Big View Diner and had the Diner Deluxe Burger. Big View Diner is on this stretch of road that I have recently become more familiar with. I have no idea about its geography but it takes me kind of a back way from Rock Hill to the Ballantyne area. The Big View Diner is in this random shopping center and looks very futuristic...or do I mean retro?:

The diner was described in the magazine as a place where waitresses call you "hon" and retro stools line the counter. That wasn't really my experience, but I really did like the restaurant. They have a TON of choices there, including a nice selection of baked goods. In fact, walking in the first double doors, you're in an entryway into the restaurant where you can smell all the baked goodies - it's like a sweet-tooth heaven. The Diner Deluxe Burger was very good:

Good enough to eat

You get your choice of cheese and toppings and you can have the standard fries or jazz it up a bit by choosing sweet potato fries or another side. I went with swiss, lettuce, and mustard on my hamburger (which luckily was topped with a sweet pickle or else I would have had to send it back) and the standard fries. I pretty much cleaned my plate. This was a delicious juicy burger and the fries were perfectly crispy and potato-y (that's totally a word, you know). I didn't even have room for a milkshake, which was extremely disappointing. I will definitely be going back to try some other items on the menu, including the rugelach in the bakery (Zabar's got me hooked!). The Top 100 list has several versions of hamburgers on it, so I'll be interested to see how the other stacked up. All in all, a great meal!

Paco, Taco, Rulie, and Dulie

This past weekend, my sister, nephew, and brother-in-law came to visit me. The only logical thing to do was to force them to join me in my Top 100 mania. My sister chose Paco's Tacos and Tequila on Morrison Blvd. This restaurant is in a little shopping center that's so cute! I had seen almost all the stores advertised in some Charlotte magazine (maybe THE Charlotte magazine) and so it was fun to see them in real life. Our mission? Paco's Tacos (original). This was not hard to complete. The tacos are made with slow-roasted beef brisket, caramelized onions, and crumbled white cheese. You get your choice of tortilla, hard or soft, white or wheat. There are also several other taco choices. I went with the Paco's Taco and the shrimp taco. My sister got the Paco's taco and beef taco; my brother in law got the steak taco and Paco's...and maybe another one.....The tacos came with beans and rice. We also got queso and chips for our appetizer. My nephew ate avocado for his lunch:


Yummy!!!

The lunch was delicious! I had been burned by Cabo Fish Taco but this place lived up to its name!


You are getting hungry, very hungry

 
The Paco's Taco was so flavorful, kind of sweet and salty, mild and spicy, all at the same time. All the ingredients just really worked together to make a wonderful dish. The shrimp taco was pretty good, but it had a ton of sauce on it, kind of overwhelming the shrimp. I tasted my sister's beef taco and that was very flavorful. My brother-in-law really liked the steak taco, but then declared the shrimp taco his favorite after tasting mine. The beans and rice were good but I think all of us were full after the queso and our tacos. They also give you 2 different kinds of salsa and they were both fabulous - I love me some cilantro!! Honestly, if I wasn't so full, I could've eaten 10 of the Paco's Tacos. This was a great lunch and I will definitely be visiting them again.

Oh, and the title of my post? I had 4 imaginary friends when I was little (a sure sign of an intelligent kid, right??) and those were their names. Apparently Paco has gotten into the Taco business and I think it's a great choice!!