Provincetown and Boston

David · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:57 pm Post subject: Provincetown and Boston

Have booked myself a quiet little holiday in P-town and Boston. Will be in Provincetown Feb 19-20-21 and Boston Feb 22-23, flying back to Ottawa on the 24th. Any suggestions would be gladly entertained!
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Erin · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:13 pm Post subject:

Check out the Back Bay neighborhood in Boston, it is a great restaurant area. Aquitaine is a lovely restaurant. I'll email my friend and ask her, because I am forgetting names of restaurants.

The museums on the Harvard campus are great. I really enjoyed the Fogg. The rare manuscript library is also worth a peek. Last time I was there they had a beautiful Rumi exhibit.

If you make it to the North End hit Michael's Pastries for their florentine cannoli. I am not kidding, it is one of the best things on earth.

I just adore Boston, I hope you have a wonderful time.
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David · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:37 pm Post subject:

Thanks Erin---I knew I'd hear some good things from you! lol And I've booked myself in at www.463beacon.com right in Back Bay!
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David · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:41 pm Post subject:

Aquitaine sounds excellent! Any word on Pierrot Bistrot?
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Erin · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:22 am Post subject:

I will check with my source.
_________________
"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

georgia · Joined: 16 May 2006 Posts: 456 Location: california

David, Hammersleys Bistro is wonderful, too. Same neighborhood as Aquitaine.

My best friend lives in Marblehead, which is a 40 minute bus ride from downtown Boston. It's a lovely coastal town with more original colonial homes (still inhabited) than any other city/town in the US. If you've got a chance, you might like to take a detour to the North Shore.

I'm a big Boston fan, too. Have a wonderful trip!

David · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:05 pm Post subject:

Thanks georgia! I hadn't run across the Hammersley--will look into it. This is my first trip to Boston and am quite looking forward to it. i enjoy history and sadly my grasp of American history is even worse than of my own--and Boston seems a decent place to start! Many of my fellow Ottawans enjoy Boston and I intend to go back for a bit longer later on in the year with some friends from Calgary---so any tips I garner from this thread that don't get followed up this trip will be worthy fodder for another foray! Oh and my friends from Calgary are foodies, needless to say Very Happy

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georgia · Joined: 16 May 2006 Posts: 456 Location: california

David, I misspelled the bistro name. It's Hamersleys (one n). They've got a fine website with menus, etc., so you can get a better sense if it's for you. (And their cookbook is great. So many times, a "restaurant" cookbook doesn't translate very well for the home cook, but this one works.)

www.hamersleysbistro.com

I'd advise a reservation, especially if it's a weekend. I've also heard great things about Aquitaine, Erin's suggestion, and hope to get there on my next trip.

And, if you have a chance, leave P'town and drive down the old highway on Cape Cod to see more of it as well. I hope you get good weather for this outing!

Rachel · Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 296 Location: Santa Barbara, CA

If you're going to Boston in February, you'll need a steady supply of hot drinks (although you're a hardy Canadian, unlike me, a Chicagoan ruined by too many mild British winters Wink

) - so I suggest Tealuxe. They have two branches, the original one in Harvard Square and a newer one in Newbury Street, and offer a variety of teas rivalled only by Mariage Freres.

Chinatown has some venerable dim sum places - I can't for the life of me remember the one I went to (it either had Pearl in the name, or was in Pearl Street... sorry this isn't very helpful) but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The New England Aquarium is nearby and wonderful (not that there's any connection between the two, of course. At least I hope not...)

Erin is definitely right about the Harvard museums, but the MFA and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum aren't bad either. And at the opposite extreme, apparently there's a Museum of Bad Art (I've never been, but it sounds like a laugh riot!) And of course Cambridge has amazing bookshops, but perhaps that would be too much of a busman's holiday for you?

Have a wonderful time!

David · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:39 pm Post subject:

Mmmmmm, Museum of Bad Art! Love the concept! Thanks Rachel I appreciate the input (and i'm not kidding---i love the idea of a museum devoted to bad art!!!)

Well I've checked the reviews and menus for both Aquitaine and Hamersleys and since I'm there for 2 dinners i think I'm pretty well fixed! And dim sum in China town (will try to narrow down that Pearl clue lol)
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Rachel · Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 296 Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Have just checked for you - the dim sum place is called China Pearl (the address is 9 Tyler Street). And the Museum of Bad Art has a website with all the details (www.museumofbadart.org) - which is a good laugh even if you never make it to the museum itself!

David · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:46 pm Post subject:

You folk are priceless! Thanks for the research Rachel!!
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Erin · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:19 pm Post subject:

Yay Aquitaine! If you want to pay homage to Julia Child they have a lovely sole meuniere. We tried several of the appetizers and the plat du fromage is lovely and has a wonderful little slice of fig cake. The desserts are decadently coma inducing and after trying four of them still can't decide which is best. This restaurant just makes me smile. Enjoy!

We are so checking out the Museum of Bad Art next time we're in town.

Oh, also the Boston Public Library usually has a great exhibit going on. It's also just a beautiful place to visit.
_________________
"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

tschuetz · Joined: 24 Jan 2008 Posts: 3

Hi,

I'm glad to hear you're coming to Boston for a visit... it's great here and we have a wonderful restaurant scene! How long are you staying in the city? There are SO many good places.

I actually write a food blog on Boston: www.bostonfoodandwhine.blogspot.com

Which should be helpful to you. I'm also more than happy to make recommendations. The restaurants listed so far are all good. They are a bit older, but still yummy. There are a TON of new places as well. As mentioned in a previous post, Back Bay is a very popular area... but even better for food is the South End, which is just one "neighborhood" over. In fact, Acquitaine and Hamersley's are both in the S. End.

Check out my blog. I have links to a bunch of resaurants and also can give you more names if you like.

Have a good trip,
Tammy
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--Tammy
www.bostonfoodandwhine.blogspot.com

David · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:02 pm Post subject:

Tammy! Thank you and WOW you've done a great job on your site! This is just a quick little introductory trip to Boston. I'm thinking if I like it Boston could become my "go to" city, you know, a place you escape to now and again just to break the daily routine. It is close enough to Ottawa to be affordable and far enough to be different, big enough to have an interesting mix of things to do but small enough to get around. So while I may not even get a pinch of Boston this time I'm looking forward to further adventures in the future.
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