Boston Italian food?

I was told by someone who "used to" live there, that Boston had some great Italian food. What are the best Italian restaurants that are not too expensive (in Boston). Is there a "Little Italy" there?

"Little Italy" in Boston is called "The North End"! Many great Italian restaurants there! I just can't think of one right now! LOL When hubby gets back I'll pick his brain and let you know! Also go to "Mike's Bakery"! Fantastic Italian bakery! Get a "Lobster Claw"!!! (No lobster involved!!!) Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy eating! KokomoJoe

Mikes Bakery is a MUST!!!im partial to the ricotta pie---food wise---My grandfather had ONE italian resteraunt he would eat at(why bother if you live my grandmother!!!)--it was in the North End and i believe it still is--was a few yrs ago when i was back--The European--it was great!

OK...Hubby and I checked our Delorme Map Program (2003) and we love it...anyway...The name of the restaurant that we both like is "Damores". It's on the corner of Salem and Stillman Sts. Your "Best Buy" at any of these places...especially Damores...is lunch! Had excellent Veal Parm. and hot homemade It. bread! Was CHEAP!!!(It's on Salem!) in the heart of the "North End"! Mike's is walkable from there! Also walkable from there is "Quincy Market Place"! Great take! Lots of good food there! And a MUST see is the "Holocost Memorial"...an out door powerful exhibit that every human should see!!!
Hubby also tells me if you want a "VERY CHEAP" full lunch...cafeteria style...over at 174 Portland St.(about 5 blocks from the North End...toward "The Fleet Center") on the top floor (5th or 6th ???) in the door and elevator right ahead...soup,entre,and dessert for UNDER $3.00. It's "average diner type,home cooking food..." to quote hubby! It's a community service training program for "challenged adults". It's opened to the public!
Also while in Boston do the "Freedom Trail"!! Boston is a very "walkable" city! My 2 kids and I walked from one side to the other when they were about 10 and 13! Freedom Trail is great!Check it out on the Internet! LOVE Boston...have fun! Happy eating! KokomoJoe

Forget Mike's. They've been coasting on their rep for years. Go to Modern Pastry, about a block and a half away. Besides the cannoli, get the ricotta pie, which is perfection. They even still do the proper old-fashioned kind, with the wheat grains in it.

The best, best, BEST restaurant in Boston's North End is on Hanover Street, across from Caffe Vittoria, called The Daily Catch. They only serve seafood (nothing wrong with that!) and their specialty is calamari.........fried, stuffed, calamari meatballs (don't laugh, they're delicious), squid ink pasta, etc. The chef has been there for about 18 years and I absolutely love everything on the menu...the seafood fra diavolo is to DIE for, a whole lobster, clams, mussels, calamari, shrimp, scallops in a spicy lobster marinara over cooked-to-order linguine. Ask the chef, Mr. Lee (there are only about 10 tables and he cooks in the open so everyone can talk to him) if he has any fresh tuna and he'll make you tuna in sun-dried tomato/basil sauce.........oh my,oh my, it is soooooo good. I've been an exec. chef for over 20 years and am VERY picky about where I eat. The Daily Catch is my favorite restaurant in Boston......it's not chic like Radius or some of the others, but the food is fabulous. After dinner go across the street to Modern Pastry and have a cannoli or ricotta pie (agree with Lucky Bishop on this!)and an espresso, then to Caffe Vittoria for a grappa. You won't want to leave the North End!

The Daily Catch is very good, but for the most authentic meal Italian meal in Boston you have to go to Caffe Italia by the airport. Historically speaking, this area is the orginal 'North End.' My wife and I both lived in Italy and agreed this is the best Italian experience in town. Very fair prices, not very crowded (except Saturdays), you don't need to pay for parking (and you can actually find it within 100 feet of the restaurant!). Whatever you order, make sure it includes bruschetta with shrimp - you will lick the sauce until the plate is cleaned.

The European is no longer, alas. I never ate anything but pizza there.
It has the distinction of being the only pizza place in my experience with a maitre d.

He would only talk to the men in the group; it was as if the women weren't there, and he would lead you through a little dark red dining room with leather booths and faded murals on the walls to a giant cafeteria-like space with many happy families devouring pizza.

The pizza itself was perfection. Rectangular pies with little discs of pepperoni curled up black around the edges, each with a tiny pool of grease inside, and heavenly shredded salami scattered on the top to crisp up.

I went to the North End after too long away and it was gone.

Try the lobster tails at Mike's. And the old man making sausage across from the candy store, his sausage is unequalled. For pizza, go to Regina. Have fun and gain some weight for me.

Gee whiz the European's passing is truly something to lament; I remember having lozza pizza there when I was growing up, but Regina's mighty good too if it's kept up the quality since I left Boston ages ago. Caffe Vittoria is a GREAT place to go for afters.

Since this thread is a little old I was wondering if there are any updates on these recommendations. Also, is it worthwhile to go when there is a street festival? One coincides with our visit on 8-15.

North End street festivals are always fun -- definitely go!

There's nothing new of note in the North End, but this thread doesn't mention my favorite lunch spot in the neighborhood, Galleria Umberto. Get a couple of arancini: ground beef and peas bound in a ball of rice, rolled in cheese and breadcrumbs and deep-fried. Heaven.

Yes: Caffe Vittoria, Daily Catch, Modern Pastry, Caffe Pompeii

Not so much: Mike's Pastry (not a bad place, but over-praised -- Modern has them beat by a mile), Pizzeria Regina (legendary, but there's plenty of other pizzerias in town as good or better)

quote:

Originally posted by brantley75

Since this thread is a little old I was wondering if there are any updates on these recommendations. Also, is it worthwhile to go when there is a street festival? One coincides with our visit on 8-15.

There is a bakery a bit off the main drag...on Price St. I believe, called Bova's...real good bread. They would also have a booth where they sold calzones at a big festival in August. One of the sons of the baker was a dentist who had an office right across the street, and he would actually shut his office for a week to help with the selling of calzones!

I posted pictures this week of all these places in this forum:
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4193
DaveM

By the way, Bova's is on Salem st, but at the corner of Prince St.
These places got KILLED during the DNC with a LACK of business.
Bova's, especially tried hard, with outdoor tables in preparation for a business rush that did not come..the volume expected just was not there.
All of the North End businesses will gladly welcome you with open arms.
And, if you look around, the North End magazine on display at numerous locations, is giving people a preview of the plans submitted for the new land parcels created upon completion of the Big Dig. If approved, the new area will link the North End with Quincy Market with a piazza, 3 fountains and new outdoor seating.
DaveM

LA SUMMA Restaurant. I believe it's on Prince Street - check citysearch.com. One of the best authentic italian meals in the north end. Great family run restaurant - the homemade pastas (esp. gnocci! are wonderful). Fantastic and reasonably priced for the North End

If you want something more luxurious, my favorite nouveau italian restaurant is Sage. They only have 8 or 10 tables, so you need to make a reservation. It's expensive, but I found it to be well worth it.

I am en route moving from Boston to Austin, and i'm already missing the North End.

quote:

Originally posted by DaveM

By the way, Bova's is on Salem st, but at the corner of Prince St.
These places got KILLED during the DNC with a LACK of business.
Bova's, especially tried hard, with outdoor tables in preparation for a business rush that did not come..the volume expected just was not there.
All of the North End businesses will gladly welcome you with open arms.

This is true at any time of year, not just now. But the North End businesses did better than many in the rest of town during the DNC. Blame the local media, especially the increasingly sleazy Boston Herald: they spent so many months hyping what a disaster the convention was going to be, how unsafe the city would be and how gridlocked all the streets would be that the delegates stayed in the FleetCenter and their hotels and everybody else got out of town! (Us too -- we went to the central coast of Maine for a week.) The result: the streets were deserted, with traffic that was less than half of what it was on a normal weekday, and nobody was in the shops and restaurants. If the Herald (who, naturally, are now bashing the DNC and the mayor because no one came out to the restaurants and the stores) hadn't gotten all frenzied about predicting disaster and collapse, things would have been a lot more hopping!

The legendar Dick Dale told me all about the place Regina when he was on tour here in Norway. he never could remember the name so he made himself think of a similar word starting withthe letters Va-. hehe, the old pig

I like Polcari's and Donnatello's off US 1 in the Revere-Saugus area. I try to stop there when going from the airport to our office in NH.

I have not been back to Boston for many years but i do remember a place called Cantina Italiana on Hanover that i thought was pretty good...does anyone know if it's still there?...the last time i was there was in 1990 or so.


JD