Lord Hobo is nearby to Oleana and has an excellent beer selection.

I miss the Tasty as much as any one ("do you serve breakfast? yeah... double cheeseburger"), but I don't see it like that. I think they are just paying homage to a legendary institution which was down the block with a coincidental name. I'm just glad people still remember the Tasty and it is not yet lost to history.

Russel House has some great HSQ vintage photos in the downstairs dining room as well.

More Butter Chip for me. mmmmmmmmmmmm.......

Excellent food. Possibly the most obnoxious, entitled crowd in Boston. Waiting brings out the worst in people. I wish Toro was open straight through the afternoon like Coppa to allow for a relaxed mid afternoon feast.

I like Strip T's, but haven't had anything there I would describe as healthy. I was there today as well and enjoyed the roast beef sandwich with horseradish and Moxie sauce.

"nearly every piece of produce wrapped in plastic" ?

Are we sure we're talking about the same place? We are at Wilson about 2x per month and that's something I have honestly never seen. They bag some bulk produce for convient grab and go near the entrance, however the main produce section is almost exclusively naked to touch and smell if desired.

Where are you staying?

The food Charlie's is below average IMO, and the place is generally a bit gross and dirty to boot. It's fine for a drink, but I'm definitely not eating there. Charlie's qualifies as a dive, whereas Bartleys does not despite a comment earlier in the thread.

I would do Russell House for dinner, and Bartley's for lunch the next day to get a good feel for the current Square. Bartleys has both its fans and detractors here, but it is unquestionably a unique local atmosphere.

We have enjoyed some nice casual meals at the Boathouse recently.

A friend who has a nephew at Harvard asked us to pick up gift cards to Russell House, Wagamama and Pinocchio's for Christmas (as we live in the neighborhood and could do a quick errand). That's just one point of reference of what an actual student wanted to eat.

Some of the accolades probably need to be considered in the context of comparison to other local suburban options.

It's not entirely surprising that the (only 5,000) regular tickets may not have sold as well as the organizers hoped. $400 for a couple is pricey for this type of event, and lots of individuals and corporations have already donated very generously to the One Fund and similar marathon related charities.

Teatro does take reservations. Anywhere good is going to be pack afterward, so a reservation will be essential.

Moral to the story: it's GOOD to have a friend like Nab

I'm impressed by the chasing of whiskey with gin.

I've never had them at the Back Bay location, but have always found the oysters at the SS Alewife location to be consistently among the very best available in the area.

Has anyone seen shark brand sriracha for purchase locally?

Monica's will have 3 slicers in the new space, that will allow them to crank out more sandwiches at peak times. They said there will be a larger cheese selection as well.

Was the requisite pan handler out front? I think they are standard issue for Walgreens. That should help to create a nice atmosphere for a scary sushi lunch.

http://www.chow.com/search?query=frie...

I would still be interested in hearing some detail about a full made to order pie from the Brookline or BU locations of Otto. I find the reheated slices from HSQ to be well...reheat slices. Their basic sauce is also a bit bland for my taste.

10 games back, it's almost safe to break out your Sox hat.

Most people call it the North End. You might get some puzzled looks calling it North Boston.

My first stop for food would be Monica's Mercato (Salem Street). You can get most of what you need there, but you might as well check out Salumeria Italiana (Richmond Street) as well. People here have been speaking highly of Bricco Panetteria (off Hanover Street) if you want to get bread.

Monica's has wine as well. If they don't have what your looking for, Wild Duck (Salem Street) and V Cirace & Son (North Street) are good shops.

I'm not a huge fried seafood fan, however that grilled tuna sandwich sounds great. Looking at the menu looks as if there's other grilled options as well. Did you get a look at a lobster roll when you were there? It's on the way to my outlaw's house, and we're often looking for a place to stop and eat. We will check it out.

10 year old thread

http://www.bostonrestaurants.blogspot...

Even then I find that the restaurant can be (understandably) unkempt. It's just not the same atmosphere or level of service in my experience.

For the OP, I would recommend Neptune given the hotel location.

I like ICOB, but generally avoid it before and after Red Sox games. I find that the service, food and atmosphere suffer due to them catering to a quick turn game day crowd. They can make their money those 81 days, and I enjoy it at other times.

No, good Chicago style pizza does not exist in Boston.

The chain Uno locations are nothing like the original Uno and Due locations in Chicago (which are independently owned). The chain, now called Uno Chicago Grill is a crappy entity unto itself.

Yeah, I was in the same boat. We tried them again on a whim one night and it was great. Since we have had about six or seven good deliveries from them. The fish has generally been fresh and excellent. We had one instance where one of the items didn't seem quite fresh, and I called just to let them know. We had intended just remove it from the order and eat everything else. However they told us to wait that they were expediting another entire order. They had it to Cambridge in 30 minutes and called to make sure that everything was good 2x afterward. We thought it was great service to go with great fish. Hopefully they are picking their game back up as I really like their private rooms and booths for dining in, and it is somewhere we can go with our little ones in tow.

Genki Blah is nothing special, but (usually) nothing terrible. They do a good job of appealing to the masses with their marketing and menu as evidenced by their continued expansion. The concept of organic and sushi never seemed necessary to me, but we have neighbors who tell us how great it is because it's organic. I ask how its different from my sushi from Gen Sushi down the street and they can't really explain. They do a lot of americanized maki. I got a kick out of their using cream cheese in a roll with the work 'healthy' in the name.

I eat a lot of sashimi and nigiri, so quality of the fish is paramount. Genki Ya's fish was generally OK on the few times we tried it, but never 'wow' fresh. However, we did get one order where the maguro had a translucent sheen and the hamachi had obviously turned. That was when we stopped ordering from there.

If picking up, Gen Sushi is a few min farther and much better selection and quality of fish. They had some pristine blue fin recently. When possible, I have been making lunch runs to Toraya, Sushi Island or Oishii to satisfy my sushi cravings lately. If I need delivery, Fugakyu delivers to our area of Cambridge, and their fish has been rebounded to be really excellent in quality lately.

The rise of mediocre local mini chains (e.g. TITS, J Pace, Comellas, Genki Ya) bums me out almost as much as some national chains.

Genki Blah

Here's another one which will be helpful as well:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/835641

Older thread, but all of it is still relevant.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/777468

What places have produce out of season that hasn't been shipped from far away?

As far as the crowds. I try not to shop anywhere on the weekend. It always sucks my will to live.