Boston notes

[yendi]

I'm back in Atlanta, safe and sound as ever. No real attempt at LJ was made over the last four days, needless to say.

A few notes:

1. We have a place to live! It has hardwood floors, two internal staircases, gas heat (separate for each floor), a woodburning fireplace, a balcony, and sharks with frikkin' lasers. Okay, it's damned close to being a perfect house for us. A little pricier than we'd have liked, but we knew that would be an issue going in. We're happy.

2. I ate food. A lot of it. The best was a trip with mgrasso to A Savory Place in Arlington for lunch on Saturday. I had a wonderful Cuban sandwich (the Cuban, btw, is the only sandwich on which it is acceptable to put pickles; any other sandwich containing pickles, including fast food burgers, is an abomination), and a nice cup of sweet potato bisque. mgrasso had jambalaya. I also ate a lovely breakfast with my hosts (Ellen and Mark) on Monday morning at a local Arlington place whose name I can't remember. I had a yummy Irish benedict (eggs benedict with corned beef hash instead of canadian bacon).

The lowlight, food-wise, was dinner with jmspencer and his lovely companion Amanda on Sunday night. The company was wonderful, of course, but our attempts to go to Fire and Ice, Bertucci's, and John Harvard's were all met with ludicrously long waits (it didn't help that Harvard Square's Oktoberfest was that day). So we ended at a greasy spoon at which the food was okay, and the service was awful beyond belief. I wish I could remember the name so I could caution folks to avoid it.

3. I spent hours hanging out at Pandemonium Books, and you have no idea how hard it was not to spend money. I mean, I knew that the new Neil Gaiman and Kage Baker books were out. But I hadn't realized that stephen_dedman's Shadowrun novel was out, or that Diana Wynne-Jones was even working on a new Chrestomanci novel. I easily could have dropped $300 if it weren't for the fact that we're trying to not acquire things before the move. And because we don't have $300 to spare.

4. The MBTA is to MARTA as Hal Jordan is to G'nort. Although G'nort at least tries to be competent.

5. I really like the Delta terminal at Logan. It has a seafood place, Fuddrucker's, and Legal's Test Kitchen. And two Dunkin' Donuts, because Massachusetts state law requires a Dunkin' Donuts every 100 feet.

ETA 1: The restaurant to avoid is The Greenhouse.

ETA 2: The soup I ate was a bisque made from sweet potatoes, not a potato bisque that happens to be sweet.

Comments

[ydnic.livejournal.com]

I am guilty as charged of buying books BEFORE a move. :)

[yendi]

As am I. I just want to avoid another repeat offense. :-)

[jmspencer.livejournal.com]

The place to caution people to avoid is the Greenhouse in Harvard Square... it's a place where I'd say definitely avoid at the hour we went there.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

i was about to ask if it was charlie's...

[jmspencer.livejournal.com]

I've actually had decent luck at Charlie's, both with food and service... but with the crowds in the square last night, I wasn't even going to TRY there.

[trouvera.livejournal.com]

I've had decent food at the Greenhouse, but the service has never been all that great.

Harvard Square in general is somewhat problematic food-wise, particularly at the dinner hour. The economical options are crowded and the food is questionable, and the "better" places are better, but even more crowded.

Getting a little off the square helps, but not much. I usually found it worth the time to go to either Porter or Central Square.

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

Gherkin hater!

[yendi]

Gherkins are wonderful. On the side, where they belong.

[texmorgan.livejournal.com]

A little did-you-know: The reason we associate cops as donut eating slobs is because years ago Dunkin Donuts offered cops free donuts and coffee to come into their stores for protection.

[themaskmaker.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that there was a new Chrestomanci, either!!!!! Augh!!!!!!!!

Damn your eyes, yendi!

[felisdemens.livejournal.com]

Next time you're in Harvard, go to Algiers. (Next to the Brattle, upstairs.) I recommend anything involving mergueza. There's almost never a wait.

[zarhooie.livejournal.com]

When I visit over christmas, I'm taking y'all out to that pub that 'Song and I hit up last time I was in town. *nod*

[norda.livejournal.com]

Lightbulb DING! about The Greenhouse.

Chortlesnort re: MBTA versus MARTA.

[rollick.livejournal.com]

OoooOOOOOoooo. New Chrestomanci. I was without clue too.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

John Harvard's is very, very worth going to at a time when it's less crowded. It's on our exceedingly short list of places we go to just for the food. And the beer is a wonderful plus!

[mendoza.livejournal.com]

I mean, I knew that the new Neil Gaiman and Kage Baker books were out.

Awww shit. And me with way too much homework and absolutely no time to read. I guess I'll have to put them on my Christmas list. *sigh* School is hard. Work is hard. Let's go shopping!


In other news, Boston, yay! Congratulations! Yay!

[isis.livejournal.com]

Fire and Ice = awesome fun. I kinda miss having a place like that around, but it was always a blast to go there. (We usually went early, if I remember right, but it's been like...at least 3 years since I was there last. Also we would go to the Boston one, not the Cambridge one, so that might've been part of it too.)

And Dunkin' Donuts = Boston in my mind. On my little college campus, we had at least three of them. With at least two or three more that I can think of in easy walking distance. God! The place is littered with them!