I agree. I like the restaurant scene. It may have been that he was very focused on his former neighborhood in Back Bay (seems like near Clarendon and Comm?). I think there are lots of great places you just have to know where to look.
As for golf – I think Franklin Park and George Wright are about as good as it gets for munis. Fresh Pond is also in great shape. I have never really loved Putterham – place just drains horribly thanks to under-investment after it was a parking lot in 1999 (they couldn’t even bury the drainage pipes!). But the private courses are VERY good.
Anyone listen to season 1 of Crimetown? Once they started talking Providence I thought we might get a little touch on the mafia & corruption angle.
Tron underrated the Boston food scene, but he is not wrong about the Providence scene. I actually think he undersold Federal Hill by kind of mentioning the North End as the go-to place to get Italian. There are quite a few places up there that just do not get it right
As someone who works in Back Bay (or did until March, 2020) and lives in the suburbs (Needham), I agree that Back Bay is a bit underwhelming for restaurants, but if you live in Back Bay there is no excuse for not at least making it to the South End on a regular basis, and you could eat at a different restaurant every night for a month within the confines of Columbus, Mass Ave., Harrison, and the Pike and have a great meal with a different cuisine, and 4-5 better Italian spots there than anywhere in the North End, too.
As for the munis, I agree those are wonderful courses, but good luck getting a tee time on a weekend. Unfortunately, private clubs are so much better than public golf in Boston, and so expensive to join. Looking at Top 100 Golf Courses.com as one arbitrary ranking, George Wright is the highest ranked truly public course in the Boston area, and it is 34th in the state. The 33 courses ranked before it are either completely inaccessible to non-members or require extreme travel from the Boston area (e.g. Taconic and Farm Neck).
I think the South End food scene is so good but everyone looks in the wrong places when they come to Boston. They go to Faneuil Hall, Fenway, and Theater district looking for the food that is in the South end and Seaport.
Agree, though Fenway has come a long way with the mini-Faison empire leading the way and Time Out Boston food hall was a great addition, though a tough business model at the moment.
South End is so good with Kava, Coppa, Meyers and Chang, Burro Bar, Gallows, Banyan, Aquitaine, Metropolis, Ilona, SRV, Picco, Barcelona, Butcher Shop, B&G, Oishii, etc.
I agree with your point about tee times on weekends at public courses. And rounds are really slow. But I think for public Wright and Franklin are really excellent if you get them on a good weekday. But obviously if you can get on a private club, it makes access easier (and some of them are REALLY REALLY good).
I lived in Brighton for most of my 20s and I didn’t realize just how good the food scene is in the South End until I moved here a few years ago. Preposterous amount of awesome restaurants in the neighborhood.
I think a lot of the neighborhoods are starting to sprout great restaurants, Rozzi square with sophias gratto, Lower Mills with yellow door(also south end). West Roxbury has West and porter cafe. Charlestown’s navy yard. JP has so many small restaurants I don’t know where to begin.
My wife and I ate there a few weeks ago in our first Covid-era outdoor dining experience, and it was phenomenal. My 6 and 8 y/o daughters (who love Top Chef but don’t actually want to eat anything interesting) were incredibly jealous that we saw pink-haired and masked Karen on our night out.
Nice! I think it’s excellent. Speaking of Top Chef, I thought Carl Dooley’s Table at Season to Taste was the best non-crazy-expensive meal in town (O Ya is the best but the hole in your wallet is real), but unfortunately closed due to COVID. I know he is going to reopen somewhere worth keeping an eye on.
Asta, Deuxave, Island Creek, Row 34, all great. And someone mentioned the seaport – Chickadee and Woods Hill Pier 4 are phenomenal.
Also some really nice options in the suburbs, as presaged by Ming Tsai. Sycamore and Little Big Diner in Newton Center, James Pub and Sweet Basil in Needham, Juniper in Wellesley are all go-tos for us.
I’m not a big fan of F+K - the most over hyped restaurant in the city for me. The menu hasn’t changed much if at all since it opened in Feb. 2019…that’s ridiculous. For me, the Cambridge/Somerville/Boston list goes like this:
Oleana, Alden + Harlow, Yvonnes, No Relations (seriously good sushi), Sarma, and Celeste. Really want to get to Tanam.
Good friend works at sophia’s and have been for drinks. Super good atmosphere. A lot of good food on Moody St. in Waltham too. Backroom, tempo, and a lot more.
As a gui who grew up and still lives about 8 miles south of Providence in Warwick, this could have easily been a Trap Draw Providence Pod. I will say, I greatly enjoyed the Pod regardless - one of the best yet and DWH added a TON here as his energy is infectious. He was 100% a fan favorite among Pats fans, myself included as he put his body on the line on every play. In terms of the Tour pros, ALL of the players, in “normal years” stay, eat, hang in Providence during typical TPC Boston (insert the new sponsor here) weeks. They all stay downtown and eat on Federal Hill nightly - best Italian food west of Italy. In regards to the Hill, it is very much still controlled by “Sanitation Consultants,” to address the Crimetown reference above. They all mainly fly into PVD as opposed to Logan as it is a nightmare going from BOS to Norton daily. Some may leave from Logan though given where their next stop may be. Providence to Norton is maybe 20 mins with zero traffic.
Also, I will put the Ross designs and many of the costal gems in RI up against many of the MA courses. I know I am bias here. Just my 2 cents for what it is worth.
I don’t take this conversation to refute what RI has to offer, I think it’s just defending that someone will listen to it, and assume Boston’s food scene sucks but I think people just don’t know where to look. PV like Portland is perfect for food scene since they all are near each other and the city is not large.
I live directly between both Boston and Pv. I grew up in Boston and can navigate it all but we choose PV for everything since it is so much easier to get in and out of. If the MBTA could be better about their schedules, I think Boston people would travel more to PV and vice versa. Sucks having to be on a train by 10 to get back to PV or same to Boston when both cities have a lot to offer through 11pm.
Never made it to Carl’s place, but will be very interested to see his next move. Row 34 was a favorite when I worked close to South Station, and Island Creek is another great spot where I like to take out of towners for Boston seafood. I really hope Covid does not totally destroy chef-driven restaurants in Boston, but we have already lost a number of good ones.
