My 17 year old foodie daughter and I are doing a whirlwind college trip next week to Boston and then driving to Ithaca to see Cornell. We are visting both BC and BU and staying at the Charlesmark Hotel. Would you have any suggestions for lunch/dinner that would be more specific to either BC or BU and give us a chance to absorb their respective "feels"? We have both Sunday night and Monday night to fill.

Specific to BC or BU...let's see, I would recommend taking the T(Greenline) to the St. Mary's stop and having dinner at the Elephant Walk, right on the Brookline/Boston line. It's French/Vietnamese and excellent. *OR* you could take the Greenline (B) to Brown Sugar Cafe on Commonwealth Ave. for excellent Thai *OR* there's Great Bay on Beacon St. at the Commonwealth Hotel (Fenway, C on the Greenline) *OR* there's the Petit Robert Bistro for non-stuffy French in Fenway *OR* there's Sweet Tomatoes (decent brick-oven pizza) in Newton Centre for a feel for the BC crowd....*OR* Tasca (tapas)in Brighton (Comm. Ave.)....I'm sure others might have some opinions to share on this. Lord knows there are loads of touristy, average, cheap eats that abound near BU and BC, but gathering from your 'foodie' described daughter you may want to eat at places that are known to serve solid, good food.

Also, the folks at the Charlesmark can help as well. If you describe yourselves as foodies they will point you in the right direction and steer you clear from the traps and sub-par food establishments that are all too easy to find near schools.

Sunset Grill on Brighton Ave.

T. Anthony's (pizza place)

Brown Sugar Cafe (Thai)


Have Fun

The BU food court should be on your list to visit and eat at -
for italian on Comm Ave we like Carlo's Cucina Italiana on 131 Brighton Ave just where it splits from Comm
Here is a link to some good restaurants, many frequented by BU students and families
http://tinyurl.com/l4jlc

Also the Anthony T Pizzeria (T's) which is frequented by many students

Jae's Grill in Brookline, a few blocks from BU is also a nice spot (for when the parents are in town and paying)

Walk around the Fenway/Landsdowne St area too, where a lot of student hang out, go to games, frequent the surrounding clubs, bars.

I don't know if you want to eat at 'great foodie restaurants' or really have your daughter get a feel for where the college kids can afford to eat when they are going out with their friends when the parents aren't picking up the tab - which I think are two very different types of restaurants. For great 'foodie' restaurants and not where the college kids will be around, you can look at zagats, boston on line and even opentable.com for links to menus, prices, etc and even make your reseravtions on line.

Unless your daughter will have a much bigger allowance than my BU kid, she will be looking forward to your visits during the school year, just so that she can eat out on a Mom budget!

You mught plan lunch out by BC, as its a long way from town and the trains run less frequently at night. We found several decent places right across from BC by the T stop.

There are several popular spots on Comm Ave in maybe the 600 block- one thai place in particular is very popular among students.

On my budget, I like the Great (?) Bay restaurant at the Commonwealth hotel, Aquitane, and Giacomos in the North End. Also Abe & Louies.

Get ye to the famous Boston Ice Creameries!

While it's been an ungodly number of years since I attended BU, I still fondly remember Mal's Deli on Comm. Ave. as the lunch spot for students. Wonder if it's still there? It was a crowded little spot, and a true deli, and Mal always remembered what my specific sandwich was...never knew how he managed that with so many people.

well seasweetie also an ungoldy number of yrs since my time at BU, although by godchild is now there - so I've been back more recently - but mine were the days of the Eliot Lounge and Rathskeller and Tom Thumbs Diner....yum.....but the budget was still the same - much nicer dining when the parents took me out !

escargot, I remember the Rat well! The other college hangouts in my days were FrankNSteins and (when we wanted to go 'upscale') Pooh's Pub. Mississippi's for more cheap sandwiches...

Many thanks for all the great suggestions so far. You have read between the lines correctly-I am looking for combination spots that give a picture of the "life" (off term of course) while still holding the tastebud attention of a foodie! College trips are all about trying to sponge as much info in a day or two as possible! I know you area all jealous that we will then spend 6 hours in the car on the way to Cornell!

You didn't ask about Cornell restaurants, so maybe you are familiar with the area, but here are some favorties: definitely eat in CollegeTown and two others that are fun are Plum Tree if you like japanese (with some saki bombings going on around you which is a hoot to watch even if you don't partake) and a middle eastern restaurant Aladdins.

As your daughter is also choosing her college, keep in mind the 2 schools are very different from each other including layout. While BC has a more contained campus (think circular) and in a more suburban feeling campus, BU is closer to downtown and spread out on a busy public road, Comm. Ave (think linear). The other reviewers including BU alums have given you great restaurants in the city and near BU. As a BC alum, I have to tell you that there are fewer near the Chesnut Hill campus, and students primarily eat at the dining halls b/c well, students are poor. Some nice lunch places frequented by BC students and locals are White Mountain Creamery (ice cream), Roggie's, Chef Choy's, Pino's Pizza, and Tasca (tapas dinner). As you will be travelling when the summer students are prob gone, it will be hard to gage a student feel around BC at least. So I would recommend enjoying the many fine Boston restaurants in your 2-day stay. If I might add, BC is not as far as another reviewer said. You have the choice of B,C, and (faster) D line into the city. I never felt too far or separated from any city action.

It's not that it is all that far to BC, but that the trains don't run as frequently at night, so it can take a long time. Last fall, it took us about an hour and a half - wait and travel time - to get back into the city at about 7pm. The BC students we were with said that is pretty normal in the evenings. Thats the reason I suggest you do a lunch by BC and dinner in town.

Are you doing tours with the campuses? That combined with a visit to the student center, talking to random other students, having coffe in a real cafeteria and meeting with the admissions office people were all very helpful to us in seeing which schools might be a good "fit" with our daughters.

Cornell was not on our list, but the students in Boston were very friendly and not shy with their opinions.

Dont forget to take pictures and write notes immediately after each visit. Its amazing how the details all jumble together once you've gone to a couple of schools!

Big thanks to all the great posts in response to my question. My kids always tease me about my Fodor's Talk Time, but even they will sometimes ask if I "heard about it on Fodors"! We had a fabulous time these past days in Boston-the weather was so beautiful. FYI-We loved the Charlesmark Hotel-location and room could not have been more perfect.
Brunch at Stephanie's was pretty good, but the people watching could not be beat. My daughter was greeted by a man who said she was his "next ex-wife" as he sent mimosas over to the table! Dinner in the North End at Pomodoro's was heavy on fish but I loved my shrimp/pasta entree. We especially loved the cash register (a big bowl of cash covered by a clip board)! Most unbelievably we stepped out into a scene from the Sopranos as St. Agrippina was hoisted down the street for her festival with dollar bills hanging around her neck. Dinner the following night at the Barking Crab was lots of fun and the lobster could not have been more tender.
My daughter fell in love with BU after her interview with the Dean of the Hospitality School, so hopefully there are many more good meals ahead!

I have always liked Audabon Circle (just outside of Kenmore Square on Beacon Street). Also, I second someone's suggestion of Elephant Walk (this is also on Beacon Street)

Best wishes to your DD. Hope she gets into BU! My daughter can't wait to get back there on Sept 2 to start her sophmore year!

lcuy-Thanks for your message. Although this is not the appropriate forum, I assume your DD's first year went well? We are from Chicago, so it would be a distance to send our daughter. Thanks for your info!

Yes, she loved it. Loved her classed, professors, her dorm and even the dorm food. Really likes Boston and even the weather. She went out for crew and loved rowing on the Charles as well, which was interesting as she was a dancer, not an athlete in high school.

She had applied and visited BC, Barnard, Columbia, and two Chicago schools as well. Barnard & Columbia were her first choices at the time, but she didnt get in. After her sister attended Columbia this spring, my BU daughter told me she was really, really glad she got into BU as both Boston, the city, and BU are a much nicer "fit" for her.

Another recommendation for T. Anthony's from my daughter whose good friend went to BU. They went there nearly every time she visited. Said friend has since transferred to a school closer to home. But insisted on eating at T. Anthony's when she went back to visit this past May!

Tamryn: while my years at BU were a long time ago, my godson is currently there and loves it, - my cousins son just graduated Cornell hospitality school and loved that too - different schools for different kids -

what I do like about BU/Boston and my godson and his family like is that Boston is a good, 'doable' city for a kid first time away from home - not too overwhelming, walkable, transportation around city and to other cities by train/plane/bus available, a good mix of city: cultures, religions, etc -

you and your daughter will know when you visit schools which would be a good match for her - but aside from ease of access (for you and her, going and coming home, getting around, campus size, etc) she should also think of weather - I know this might sound like a silly detail, but Ithaca gets and stays colder and 'grayer' longer than Boston in the winter - which bothers some kids and not others -
depending on their likes and dislikes -

Both excellent schools - good luck to her, I hope she has many wonderful schools to choose from -