Boston in Fall & 5 Local Eats
In all the years I’ve lived in New Orleans I’ve never missed a day of Voodoo Festival. It's not that I'm necessarily a Halloween person – as much as I love a good costume, I’m not excellent at planning in advance so I inevitably end up on the day of Halloween at Mardi Gras Zone. MGZ is a crazy little grocery store in the Marigny neighborhood that doubles as a brick oven pizza joint and a costume shop. Last year I was a disco wood fairy, the year before a snow queen, both costumes included sprinkling glittery fairy dust everywhere I went and I made both costumes a few hours before Halloween festivities began.
I've mentioned it before - I love Voodoo Fest for the music and the magic of City Park in October. This year however I made a fairly last minute decision to head to Boston for All Hallow’s Eve. City Park ended up under water from a round of nasty rainstorms so it turned out I wouldn’t be missing much.
Boston plans were made because Ben’s band had show nights at the Orpheum Theatre and then the band would have 3 full days off – so it worked out that we’d have almost 5 days together. Yes!
I hadn’t been to Boston since I was a little 9 year old kid; on that trip I flew alone for the first time, decked out in my denim jacket covered in band pins and patches with a backpack full of Tiger Beat and YM magazines. I suppose I haven’t changed much. What I remember of that visit was a trip to the children’s museum and a 50’s sock hop party at my Aunt Jill’s house. In those days I would sip ginger ale in a champagne glass and pretend I was a super fancy grown up. Ben went to school in Boston so he had a good list of people and places to see and hangs planned. My friend Luca, who’s house I spent last summer living in in Spain, grew up there too – so I had a good list from him.
If you’ve only got 24 hours in Boston here’s the list Luca gave me. Luca has incredible taste so if he recommends it, it's got to be great.
1. ANY, and I mean ANY Barbara Lynch Restaurant
My absolute favorites: Sportello, Menton, B&G Oyster, No. 9 Park.
2. Island Creek Oyster
A bunch of super cool guys who revived an abandoned oyster farm down in Duxbury, found great success, and now their oysters are found in Michelin star restaurants. They decided to open a spot of their own at the Hotel Commonwealth in Kendall Square. Hotel Commonwealth also houses a great bar/brasserie called Eastern Standard.
3. Franklin Cafe
In the south end for a killer late dinner? The Franklin Cafe’s kitchen is open till 1am.
4. Il Panino
For REAL Roman-style pasta, head over to this trattoria on Hanover Street in the North End. Ran, cooked and served by Romans. They are hilarious.
5. Neptune Oyster
This stop at Salem St. in North End has the most amazing warm buttered Lobster Roll. Or just grab some pretty oysters and a glass of Sancere. It’s worth the money. Trust me.
My favorite part of the city was Beacon Hill. Cobblestone alleyways, the cutest little shops lining Charles Street and the falling leaves… a real autumn experience.
Since Ben started playing with Grace, I’ve been to maybe 10 shows or so, and I think the Halloween show was my favorite so far. Half way through the show the crew staged a “hostile takeover” and gave a killer rendition of Billy Idol’s White Wedding as a lead in to a proposal from the front of house guy in front of the entire crowd. The band and crew dressed as an 80’s hair band and the whole night was so much fun! I'm reminded, often, that it's weekend's like these that will be stamped into my memory for as long as my brain can hang on to things. And damn, I'm so f'n grateful that like Billy Idol said everyday is a nice day to "start again."
It ended with a late night wine and cheese party at one of the crew guys homes and then at 8 a.m. we took off on the bus for Burlington, Vermont for those 3 days off.
xoxo,
Andi
