SquashSoup

My wife's family has pretty deep ties to the North End (her great-grandfather helped start a pasta company), and Saturday we were hanging out with her 97-year-old-grandmother, who was teaching me how to make her famous ricotta pie, and she reminded me that the family's favorite pastry shop in the North End is Modern Pastry. I guess Mike's Pastry is bigger and more famous, but the family swears by the cookies and cannolis at Modern. I've tried both and both are damn good. Just a though for those in the area next time...

Pax,

Brian

I would guess that most Bostonians prefer the Modern...

When I lived in Arlington there was a Starbucks in the building next to mine.

Now that I live elsewhere, I am 30 miles to the closest Starbucks. And that one is in a Target.

Children will be an incovenience for customers in the upstairs dining room because the staircase is very narrow and you must navigate the entire restaurant with the stroller before you get to the aforementioned narrow staircase. I think I am a reliable source...then again....

That is assuming that parents actually use strollers. That is assuming that parents would find walking through the restaurant to be an "inconvenience". Wish you well with your second floor. My family and I won't be there.

I find it most fitting that only chains are going into Reston Town Center.

Chain restaurants, chain stores, total homogenization.

But then again I'm a New England girl that thinks the whole idea of the fake/planned center is odd.

Probably too late as well, but Smokjack's is fabulous for brunch or dinner, and they always have a great cheese plate.

I was actually there yesterday!

Bravo!

I was also at Chez Sophie last week.

How was your experience? How did you find the food?

I was a bit hesitant going there, because I thought some of the charm might be lost with the end of the diner.

Very interested in hearing about your experience.

I love the Jacques and Julia series that still runs now and then on PBS.

I also love Barefoot Contessa, but I suspect it's because I love, love, love her house.

I don't know the backstory of most of the restaurants that I go to, and I don't see how that takes away from my experience.

To suggest otherwise I find very snobbish.

Having the steak and the bacon "bond" together sounds vile to me.

Can we assume his results are less embarassing than last time?

Santarpio's is in East Boston.

The West End of Boston hasn't exsisted for several decades.

Biting my tongue so hard I think I'm bleeding....

Wow, my horse is high! I'll come down now.

Bravo!!!

Again does anyone have a problem with the old blanket trick!  Seriously.  No problem with breast feeding but really do  you need an audience?  Throw a blanket over the kid and nobody would care.

When everyone else starts putting a blanket over their head to eat, that's when I'll put a blanket over my child's head.

But... If you're going to bring your baby to dinner in a crowded dining room, for pete's sake- don't breast-feed the infant at the table in the middle of dinner. 

Only a man would say that.

A few years ago, we stumbled across the Little Rooster Cafe, which is just off the main shopping drag.  It was a pleasant little gourmet sandwich shop-- if I recall correctly, we had really good salmon sandwiches.  It had a nice "New England" feel, and while we were waiting for a table, saw that either Gourmet (or similar publication) had given it a mention as a "best" place for the area.  Not being from there, I can't vouch for that, but I thought it was a great lunch place.

Little Rooster Cafe is a tiny, cute place open for breakfast and early lunches only. If it's cold out, you wait on benches outside on Route 7A (not ideal in my book). Little Rooster is also cash only.

My neck of the woods!

In North Bennington, try Pangaea. It's fabulous.

www.vermontfinedining.com

In Manchester, I've been fairly disappointed with everything. Manchester is a very touristy town, and sadly the dining reflects that. Nothing is very good because it doesn't have to be.

That being said, I had a very nice dinner at Chantecleer a few years ago. The starters were much better and more interesting than the entrees, however.

If you're looking for a very casual lunch to go, Al Ducci's in Manchester Ctr makes very good sandwiches. Make sure you get mozzerella on your sandwich, they make it there.

Good luck, have fun, and please report on where you end up!

In my neck of the woods in New England, it is very easy to find pasteurized (as opposed to ultrapasteurized) cream in supermarkets.

But I can't ever remember seeing unpasteurized butter anywhere. Thanks for the tip!

I loved the burgers at the Five Guys in Old Town. I loved the soft-ish fries that reminded me of fries from my youth on the New Hampshire seacoast. I loved the greasy-ish (in a good way) burgers. I loved the melty orange cheese-like product, even though I'm from New England and grew up on white cheese. After I moved out of the area, I thought my Five Guys days were over.

Imagine my delight when a Five Guys opened in a not really close to me (but closer than driving to VA) Albany suburb. The burgers and fries were almost as good as in Old Town. Almost, but not quite. Something, I don't know what, was definitely lost in translation.

My only real quibble was that they did not have pink lemonade, my beverage of choice at Five Guys