Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Easter Weekend in Boston -- Trip Report

Back a couple months ago, it seemed like Boston would be a great place to go for Easter -- should be lovely spring weather. Well . . . not so much. Incredible wind storms for two days, temps dropping to around freezing at night, highs just around 50 but mostly in the low to mid 40s, and lots of rain off and on all day Saturday and Friday evening. Oh well.

Peter took Friday afternoon off, so I picked him up at his office in Somerset, NJ at 11:30 for what should have been a 4 and a half hour drive to Boston. Ooops. Horrible traffic. We tried to follow directions of a couple Fodorites using the Saw MIll River Parkway and I-84 to I-90. The Saw Mill was mainly 40 miles an hour -- jammed with traffic heading north, and I-84 was at a standstill a number of times. We arrived Boston about 6, not 4:30 or 5 as expected, but surprisingly there was almost no traffic once we got to Boston (at least inbound).

Meanwhile we stopped for a sort of annual "fix" -- a Whopper at a service center on the Garden State Parkway. After standing in line we were told "It's Good Friday. We have no burgers today, just chicken". Was that a joke? What kind of sense does it make? Fish, maybe (but still a real stretch) but chicken only for Good Friday? Anyway, we had chili dogs from Nathan's instead -- thinking how much better the $1.50 foot longs are at Costco!

We checked into the Hyatt Regency -- theatre district, or more accurately what is now called Downtown Crossing). Nice hotel and we were double upgraded (we're both Hyatt Platinum) to a 19th floor corner room which had just been redone -- we were the first people in this room. Especially nice since we were using two nights as our free nights from our Hyatt credit cards (our free rooms would expire this month) and only paid for one night which had reduced twice after booking to only $162. Nice.

We had a 7:45 reservation at No. 9 Park. After a quick clean up at the hotel, we headed that way. We were actually quite hungry -- Nathan's hotdogs had worn off. We had read that the bar there is wonderful, so the plan was to arrive an hour early and have cocktails in the bar. But when we arrived, first we were surprised by the place a bit. We had read it is very dressy, even having a fairly strict dress code, although jackets and ties are not required. When we walked in were faced at the table almost blocking the door by two guys who looked like they just jogged in -- both is sweat pants, one in sweatshirt, the other in a wet T shirt, trainers, etc. OK. Just kind of a surprise. It was a very young, VERY LOUD crowd. We checked with the host, and said we were an hour early but we'd just have a drink in the bar. We received attitude, "We are very busy and you are far too early, you can't just walk in and expect to be seated". HUH? Did he really just say that? We repeated that we were just going to have a drink first in the bar -- maybe he missed that but we thought we were clear -- but then he pointed out the bar was full. It was, and it's a very tight place. Not a seat at the bar. There's a sort of curved bench in the front window which was sort of filled, but a couple moved over and we squeezed it to share a tiny table with them. After awhile the waitress came and we ordered our drinks. Not wanting to start drinking with nothing in our stomachs we asked if they had bar nuts or nibbles. She looked at us like we were from another planet and said "we don't do that here". Huh? The Ritz Carlton does, the Four Seasons does -- are you suggesting that's only a sports bar thing? But she handed us bar menus -- really pretty full menus, with the only "nibbles" sort of thing being a $9 bowl of olives. Peter doesn't even eat olives in his martinis, so we'd do without. But here we were faced with an hour wait drinking, and not even a peanut. So I walked over and checked with the host, asking if by any chance there might be an earlier table. He seemed shocked that I'd even ask, but then said "You can eat in the bar", and yes there were a couple of high top tables (you're not allowed to sit there UNLESS you're eating), actually fairly well spaced that were available, including one at the far end, which frankly looked like it offered a lot more space and privacy that the two tops in the dining room which are lined along the wall and pulled out for someone to sit in the banquette, then pushed back -- you know, like basically communal dining with 3 or 4 inches between the tables. This was NOT what we had expected in the dining room either. So we said "sure" and took the more spacious high top in the bar.

We asked about the menu "are these meant to be small shared plates, or more like individual entrees?" "They could be shared, but essentially they are the equivalent of a full entree". OK. Peter had already had his eye on the pork belly, which he loves. It's called "Crispy Pork Belly,apple jus, poached egg, kale" . I ordered "Marinated Lamb, gorgonzola fondue, brioche, mixed greens", which the waiter said is probably their top entree. (These were $21 and $24). There weren't any appetizers listed and we thought about splitting a third dish as one but nothing else was grabbing us, so we stuck with that. Finally the drinks we had ordered at the bench up front arrived (it had now been about 15 to 20 minutes since we had ordered them). Peter ordered a rye manhattan and I had ordered my usual Dewar's Dry Robroy straight up with a twist. She had returned to tell me they don't have Dewar's, would Famous Grouse be OK, and I said yes. But when the drinks came they looked alike, very dark -- way too dark for a dry robroy, and I mentioned that but she said "no this one is the dry robroy" -- seemed to have a lot of attitude again. Well, I don't know what the drink was -- some sort of concoction of vermouths and bitters, and maybe there was a splash of scotch in it. Peter, actually kind of liked his, but clearly it was not simply rye and sweet vermouth -- although she had asked if he wanted a cherry or a twist, he said a cherry, but he actually got a wedge of orange. Was this an old fashioned -- but served straight up perhaps? Who knows?

Then our food came. Our eyes opened. If we had ordered the tasting menu, these would be appropriate dishes for one of the many "tastes". Entrees? Seriously? Let me say, we do not normally like huge portions of food, in fact we complain way more about "too much food" not "too little". . .but. Mine? Picture a 3/4 inch thick piece of bread that is about 2 inches square, toasted, and cut tic-tac-toe fashion into 9 cubes or croutons. Atop each of those little cubes was a smaller cube of lamb, about 1/2 inch cube. So the 9 tiny pieces of lamb could not have been more that maybe 1 1/2 to 2 ounces total! There were also three (count 'em) bites of Boston lettuce lightly drizzled with oil and vinegar. But on the plate was an individual ceramic fondue pot with a candle burner. It had a layer of gorgonzola fondue in it -- which was amazing. But after I dipped the first piece of lamb into the pot, I realized "what's the point of the lamb as you can't taste it covered with gorgonzola?". The waiter meanwhile brought us bread and suggested it was for dipping up the fondue. The lamb was good, but very plain and of course, very tiny. The fondue was delicious and very rich. It was an odd combination I thought in retrospect. But then there was Peter's pork belly. The dish came in a small bowl with a big rim, sort of like a soup plate. There was maybe a large teaspoon of cooked greens in the bowl surrounded by four pieces of pork belly, I'd say 3/4 inch by 1 inch each. Total perhaps a little more than I got of lamb. But "crispy"? Not at all. Pork belly is of course, basically fat with a little streaky meat in it. Not crispy and it is like eating soggy fat. That's what this was. Not even a hint of crispy crust or even browning on the pork belly. So that was our experience. We didn't want dessert at this place. We paid our bill and left. HUGELY disappointed. We laughed about it for two days!

OK, we were tired, so early night.

Saturday was cold, but fairly sunny. We headed up the street to Boston Coffee company for Americanos and muffins (this is normally our preferred traveling breakfast). We then took the subway to Cambridge and did a lot of walking, poking in some stores (we >almost< bought hats at the wonderful hat shop, but backed out). We looked at the Harvard Museum and the Library. Just had a pleasant walk. I spotted a surprise. Wagamama -- one of my favorites from London has come to the US. There are now 4 of them in the Boston area (the only US ones so far) and there was one in Cambridge. We had lunch there -- fantastic huge bowls of ramen. Mine was with duck (some crispy, some shredded, but all delicious). And Peter's was -- you guessed it -- with Pork Belly. No.9 should go take lessons. Even though the pieces of pork belly (easily twice as much as the night before) were sitting in broth, they were still delightfully crispy and delicious! This was a wonderful lunch which couldn't have been better on a cold, blustery, drizzly day.

We took the subway to Park Street and did lots more walking, kind of following the freedom trail. Passing the Omni Parker House I mentioned it was the home of Parker House Rolls and Boston Cream Pie, both of which I had to explain to Peter who had never heard of either, except he did mention he thought Boston Creme Pie was a flavor of Dunkin Donuts! So what could we do? Into the bar and had coffee and split an order of Boston Cream Pie. Surprise -- not looking like what I know as Boston Cream Pie, but now rather individual pastries with a fancy white and dark chocolate "spider web" on top" and the sides covered with almonds. Hmmm. You invented Boston Cream Pie which became famous, but you felt the need to change it to something else? I fully expected a wedge like I've know Boston Cream Pie to be. Frankly, it was kind of stale and not fresh tasting, and the custard filling had absolutely NO flavor.

But on we went to Quincy Market, Fanneuil Hall, etc. then ended up walking back to our hotel about the time I thought my legs would fall off.

We had made a reservation for dinner at Ostra that night, but in the morning we had a discussion. With our horrible experience the night before we started expecting more of the same. I'm not sure why, just a thought about "hot, trendy restaurants". Do we want a "trendy" perhaps "pretentious with attitude" place again? Will the servings be more like tastings -- more about being "presentations"? We read some mixed reviews (mostly clearly written by true "foodies") which were hard to interpret. Meanwhile across the street from our hotel is a one year old Legal Crossing (LX) which is new "trendier" version of Legal Seafood. We read reviews which really seemed to be more basic raves than Ostra. >>>>Yes, we know they are two totally different things, but we decided let's just do LX.<<<< We cancelled our Ostra reservation in the morning and rebooked LX, thinking "this could be a huge mistake". It wasn't. First we walked over to the fireplace bar at the Ritz Carlton and had the best cocktails of the trip (served with a wonderful mix of nuts and those super mustard pretzels). They actually knew what a Dewar's Dry Robroy was and made a PERFECT one. Peter's Hendrick's Dry Martini was equally PERFECT. (Oh, by the way, they were less expensive than our horrible drinks at No.9 Park.)

LX was wonderful. We were given a large booth. The atmosphere is fairly dark and -- dare I say it -- even romantic in a sort of industrial chic sort of way. Nice selection of wines by the glass. We shared a wonderful tuna sashimi, with 8 nice slices on a wasabi aioli, with seaweed salad and pickled ginger. Perfectly fresh, delicious, and a nice presentation. Peter then had Citrus Grey Sole with lemons, capers, butter, croutons, spinach, brown rice -- it was wonderful! I ordered a special -- a whole grilled red striped bass. It was stuffed with olives, fennel, and not sure what else, and topped with shavings of fennel. It was huge and it was absolutely amazing -- served whole, head on so I could dig out the "cheeks", and pull the perfectly cooked meat off the bones. I couldn't have been happier. We were thrilled with this place, and had the most wonderful cheerful, perfectly trained server. Pretty much a perfect evening! (Money wasn't the issue, but I'm sure we paid way less than half of what Ostra would have been, and while Ostra might have been "fancier", I'm trying to imagine how the food itself could have been more impressively tasty as LX.

Sunday, we discovered (actually I spotted it Sat. night next to LX) another London import. The first (and I think only) Cafe Nero in the US is right there. This is what Starbucks should be. A wonderful decor, huge antique bar back, old looking wood, antiques, leather sofas in front of an ornate fireplace with modern "fire line" inside, and super coffees and pastries. I was in heaven. After this quick breakfast, back to our hotel (less than a block) to shower, dress, and then subway to Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where we arrived right at opening 10 AM. Lesson to all. Easter morning is a great day to go. We had the largest room of Impressionists totally to ourselves. It was very quiet, although by noon it was getting busier, and the Japanese woodblock special exhibit was truly packed with people!. We ended up staying for lunch there -- but the Bravo Cafe was only doing a special 3 course $48 brunch -- way more food that we wanted to do, so had fantastic burgers at the American Cafe in the huge open glassed room facing the giant Chihuly green spear. Then some more museum exploring, particularly the wonderful John Singer Sargents and interesting American Impressionists we were not familiar with.

We headed back "downtown". Thought we'd walk the Common, but we were truly "freezing" and the wind was just plain bitter! We heard there was a lot of wind damage even downtown during the night. There was a street blocked off where some huge construction materials had apparently blown off a roof. So we went back to the hotel and simply relaxed and watched an HBO movie.

Headed out to the North End. We had a 7:30 PM reservation at Mamma Maria's, right by the Paul Revere House. We were again early and kind of looked for a bar, but other than really loud "sports bars" we didn't really find any in the area -- most restaurants not really having a bar or just a tiny one. So we arrived a little early, and it was no problem, they seated us and we ordered a nice bottle of Nobile Di Montepulciano and just relaxed before ordering. The dining room, I guess there are a number of them, was pleasant, traditional, spacious, and comfortable. Amazing freshly made pesto (they make it every day) to spread on the hot from the oven multi grain bread, along with a great assortment of olives (which of course Peter left totally for me to eat). We shared a buratta appetizer with grilled baby tomatoes on the vine, drizzled with balsamic and covered with slivers of fresh basic. Delicious. Peter had Day Boat Scallops, perfectly grilled (browned) served on risotto with pancetta and mushrooms. I had an amazing rabbit Pappardelle -- about as close to anything to Tuscan traditional as anything I've ever had in the US. It was truly fantastic!

We had passed the crowds lining up at Mike's Pastry a couple blocks away and decided to forget dessert at Mamma Maria's. We were stuffed anyway. So we stopped and picked up one big chocolate covered cannoli, (they offer about a dozen varieties), which the guy put in a box and tied up with string. We headed back to the hotel, stopping at three places -- Cafe Nero, Walgreen's, and a convenience store hoping to find a small container of milk to share with our cannoli, but the closest we found was a gallon at Walgreens! So we made tea in our room instead and shared this amazing dessert. Perfect!

Monday morning, we headed back to Cafe Nero, but then left Boston about 9:30 hoping the rush hour would be over. No problems with traffic. But the car's GPS kept changing the route "due to changing traffic conditions". So while we were going to go back the way we had come, we ended up being sent down Ct. 8 from Waterbury to the Merrit Parkway, the Hutchinson, and then 287 across the Tappan Zee. It was fine -- avoided any real traffic tie ups, and I could see on Waze that there was a complete standstill on I-84 just below Waterbury. It was still being reported as a standstill 45 minutes later! Oh, and since we never got our Whoppers on Friday, we stopped in the little town of Seymour and had Quarter Pounders at MacDonald's. That'll take care of that yearning for about another year!

So with the exception of our first meal, it was a great weekend. Weather sure could have been a lot nicer, but we managed. By the way, it was way too windy to use an umbrella whenever it would rain. In fact one of our umbrellas ended up in the trash there, literally ripped to shreds by the wind when we tried to use it.