Three More from the Road

While I was on my trip, I enjoyed going to several eating establishments other than Mary Chung's. Mary's is closed on Tuesdays, so we had no alternative but to look elsewhere that night.

After the day of visiting the New England Aquarium and shopping, and at my brother's recommendation, we went to Durgin Park. It was founded in 1826 and is one of the oldest restaurants in Boston. It has an excellent reputation for steaks, but I still don't eat beef and I realized that it was my last real opportunity to eat lobster. I was very impressed, because they did an excellent job cooking my 1 1/4 lb. creature. I barely used any melted butter and I've found that I enjoy it much more that way now. To me, the sign of a well prepared lobster is plenty of soft and tasty protein deposits, because if it's overcooked, they will be all dried out. It was just splendid and it was lovely eating outside along the main pathway through Faneuil Hall. Their apple pan dowdy was good, but I would have probably chosen something else given another opportunity.

Earlier in the visit, my brother, Karl, suggested that we all go to Basta Pasta Trattoria, which is one of the places that he and DC visit regularly. The chef/owner has apparently worked in several famous restaurants, but always dreamed of owning a neighborhood pizza joint. They have just a few tables and the dining is very informal, but it's a nice place to sit and enjoy handmade pasta dishes. I had pasta with chicken, walnuts and gorgonzola, which was delicious.

Most visitors to Cambridge quickly find out that the place to have ice cream and related desserts is Toscanini's. When I was in the area five years ago, I got to visit the original location, in Central Square, as well as one in the MIT Student Center, building W20. I was horrified, if not devastated, to find out that the one in W20 had been replaced by a Mexican place. The original Tosci's is not exactly wheelchair accessible. They have about four large and unusually shallow steps. With calorie-burning anxiety and the help of two strong male family members, it's still doable. Unfortunately, one of Tosci's freezers had malfunctioned and they'd lost half of their ice cream stock. I chose to have a vanilla ice cream soda with mint syrup, which was subtle, but very good.