Boston - family, food and fond memories!

This weekend I was in Boston visiting my Great Aunt Peggy.  She is my mother’s Aunt and one of the great female role models I had growing up.  Throughout my visit we went to many local businesses - most of them to eat but all of them fantastic... She lives near Quincy, and there is a stretch of road in Quincy that has a few really great fish shacks. Only they now all have dining rooms but they’re the kind of joint that you place your order and wait for your number to be called, totally self-serve.  Friday night we went to The Clam Box.  It was so good. We chose the healthier option of broiling over deep frying.  I got shrimp and she got scallops.  For $16 each we got a huge plate of food that included cole slaw (of course) and rice (for her), salad (for me) or french fries.  The shrimp was good, they were nice medium size shrimp and there were probably 8 of them.  But the reason I would go back is the scallops.  They were amazing, huge and there were probably 10-12 big, sweet, juicy scallops in the serving.  So good!  We took our dinner’s to-go and sat in the car across the street and I got a tour of the Boston skyline and Squantum while enjoying this delicious meal.  The next day Peggy and I ran some errands with my Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary which will be relevant in a minute.  Our next meal was at a similar place to The Clam Box, its Sullivan's - or Sully's to the locals. It is located in South Boston or Southie.  They are at the far south end in front of the fort at Castle Island.  It’s a place where people come to walk and watch planes.  It is in the flight stream for incoming planes to Boston's Logan International Airport and the planes get so low you can feel the vibration and you wonder for a moment if they might be too low.  Sully’s makes a solid cheese burger but the two reasons I would go back are their fresh fried whole belly clams and their onion rings.  This is not the place for the health conscious eater but it is for those who love the freshest seafood money can buy.  My big regret here is I didnt see the lobster roll special before I ordered because I am sure it was “wicked good” and I am a connoisseur of lobster rolls and the bar is very high.  After lunch we were done running errands and my uncle asked if we wanted to go to Watertown.  He had heard there was an Armenian Festival and he was going to pick up dinner for his girlfriend.  It was food related and even though we had just finished a big lunch we were all in. So off we went to Watertown but not the direct route.  We went the scenic route and Peggy gave us the historical tour of her favorite haunts and best places to park - some of which were there and some were not. This has been her home for 80 years and a lot has changed.  One of the highlights for me was driving by Our Lady of Good Voyage.  I remember as a kid my Grandfather would drive 40 minutes into Boston from Rockland (where he lived) to take us to this church because it had a 30 minute mass.  I always loved that.  Inevitably he would take us to No Names for dinner or an Italian festival in the north end.  I though it was long gone with the development of the convention center and the many new corporate office buildings.  I am grateful it survived.   Good memories! We then went by Charleston, Cambridge and ultimately into Watertown.  If it sounds familiar, this was the town just over a month ago, where they held the manhunt for the second Boston Marathon bomber.  We got there only to find out the festival is next weekend.   So instead we went to a couple of Armenian Bakeries and my Uncle stocked up on all his favorite treats which he ultimately gave the majority to me.  The second place we visited was Sevan Bakery and I got a bag of huge pita breads (this is my aunt's favorite) what I love is they are thin.  Not the traditional thick and bulky pita.  The first bakery was the one I actually went in to.  My Great Aunt is not as mobile as she once was and is recovering from some surgery so still requires a walker so I stayed back at Sevan to keep her company in the car.  The first bakery was Eastern Lamejun Bakery.  It was more than just a bakery it was a specialty store.  Here we got imported pistachios, garlic meat lamejun, pakliva, and this dessert that was a cross between a custard and a cake with shredded crispy filo dough.  I finished half the bag of pistachios on the 2 hour ride home.  They were smaller than what we typically see and a little crispier. The pakliva is basically bakliva - and have yet to meet one I haven't thoroughly enjoyed.  This one had chopped pistachios on top.  The garlic meat lamejun is like a really thin pizza with no cheese.  it had ground lamb with spices and tomato sauce.  It was so good I could have eaten 2, which is good because I have 11 more to go.  I put the remaining in the freezer and I can just pull them out as needed and they will bake up really nicely.  As for the last nameless dessert – OMG – UGH! SOOOOO delicious.  I will definitely go there again to get more but also because there were a few things that I will want to try in the future not the least of which is their imported feta cheese.  Two more great finds.  So if you are in Boston or get there check them out.  I have included the links to all their websites and addresses below.  I have not experienced this kind of  cultural diversity in Hartford like Boston seems to have but I am going to see if there are any festivals and check them out.  I may even start with some of the Italian deli's and bakery's and go from there.  These are the business that become the heartbeat of the community and ensure the customs of our heritages continue.  I for one want to take more time to celebrate them.  If you have a favorite ethnic restaurant, bakery or festival let me know – post a comment.. Share the wealth!

The Clam Box
789 Quincy Shore Drive  

Quincy, MA 02170
(617) 773-6677

Sullivans

Castle Island,

South Boston, Mass

617-268-5685

Our Lady of Good Voyage

56 Northern Avenue

Boston, MA 2210

617-268-8100

Eastern Lamejun Bakery

45 Belmont St,

Belmont, MA, 02478
Tel.: (617) 484-5239, Fax: (617) 484-3643

Sevan Bakery

599 Mount Auburn St  

Watertown, MA 02472
(617) 924-9843