re: Most overlooked foodie destination: East Boston

MC Slim JB — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 03:25:46 GMT

Fantastic insight, JimB: there's nothing like an impassioned local to get the real flavor of a great restaurant neighborhood like Eastie. I hope you're posting on Chowhound, would love to hear more about what you uncover.

re: Most overlooked foodie destination: East Boston

JimB — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:54:50 GMT

I can't agree more. I have lived in Eastie for 3 years and one of my favorite things here is the food. First of all, the prices are generally so low that you can really afford to eat out all the time if you want. That makes it easier to try all the different places. The other difference here is authenticity. All new immigrant communities historically make East Boston their first stop. So their restaurants tend to be much closer to the original that is found in their home countries.

There are of course many Italian restaurants here, because it is the primary Italian neighborhood in the Boston area (yes, there were and are many more Italian-Americans in Eastie than the North End). I would put up John's espresso (daytime barrista) at Cafe Italia against any espresso in the North End. I would challenge any North End restaurant-goer to try Cafe Italia's, Carmen's Kitchen's, Reno's Place, or Zafferano's food and tell me that they still think the standard Italian-American dishes in the North End are worth $30-$40/plate. We also have great pizza places (Dough, Santarpios, etc.), sub shops (Meridian St Market), and takeout/family-style Italian places (Jevelli's, Marios, Italian Express, etc.)

For Latin American food, the big thing about Eastie in comparison to the Ana's Taqueria-style places is that the food here just tastes more authentic, like it was cooked by some Latina grandmother in her own kitchen. Its a taste you rarely find outside major Latino US cities or Latin American countries. Salvadoran food reigns supreme here, some of the best places to try are El Bueno Gusto (upscale), Mi Pueblito, Montecristo Restaurant, and Taqueria Cancun. There are two small taquerias that are very good. Rosticeria Jalisco has the best tacos and Rosticeria Cancun has good food, with a crowded, high energy feeling of a real taqueria in Mexico or Central America. There are also excellent Colombian places (El Jardin), a Peruvian place, and two Brazilian churascarias.

The best Latin American food (and possibly the best food in Eastie) belongs to Angela's Cafe on Lexington St. An elderly woman with 40 years professional cooking experience serves up authentic dishes from Puebla, Mexico from breakfast through dinner. My wife is from Mexico and swears it is the best Mexican food in all of Boston. Everything is made completely from scratch - the mole poblano has over 100 ingredients and takes 3 days to cook! They also have traditional "American" breakfast food and some other typical family restaurant dishes (chicken parm, buffalo wings, etc.) Ask the waiter about the specials and try to focus on the typical dishes from Puebla - you won't regret it.

We also have a new hipster cafe/restaurant called Cafe 303 on Sumner. They have an international menu and a great atmostphere. It is the type of neighborhood gathering spot that Eastie has been missing and the owners have done an excellent job in balancing quality food/coffee with a cool environment to run into neighborhood friends.

There is also a really good Vietnamese Pho restaurant on Meridian St that rivals any Chinatown or Allston Pho place.

There are many more places in Eastie to talk about, but those were a few that are all worth a trip over here. The two newest growing immigrant groups here are Moroccan and Eastern European, so I expect that we will soon find and authentic Bulgarian or Moroccan restaurant opening here soon!