Excerpt From : The Phantom Gourmet Guide to Boston
Phantom's All-Time Favorites
Great Ate
The Greatest: Wood-Fired Cooking
Fore Street $$$
288 Fore St., Portland, ME, (207) 775-2717
www.forestreet.biz
Fore Street is one of the most rustic and romantic eateries in New England. Wood-fired cooking is their specialty, and it's all done in open view of the customer, sprawled across a soaring dining room of brick and dark wood. Pizzas come out of the brick oven topped with gourmet ingredients like roasted peppers, onions, and spinach. The roasted mussels bathe in so much almond garlic butter, you'll want an entire loaf of bread to sop up every drop. Tender dry-rubbed pork loins do laps on the turnspit, and the grill sizzles full of steaks, chops, and fish. For dessert, don't miss the warm apple tarte tatin with smoked bacon ice cream!
The Greatest: Beach Eats
Back Eddy $$$
1 Bridge Road, Westport, MA, (508) 636-6500
www.thebackeddy.com
Whether you arrive by boat or by car, the Back Eddy is the ideal summer restaurant. It's a classy clam shack that takes full advantage of local farms and fishermen in modern dishes like sausage stuffed clams with Tabasco aioli. Giant seared scallops are wrapped in applewood-smoked bacon, and the yellowfin tuna steak takes on an Asian theme with wasabi, soy sauce, and kimchi. The light, airy atmosphere includes a patio bar, so you can sip a gin and tonic just feet from the water.
The Greatest: Be Seen Brunch
Sonsie $$$
327 Newbury St., Boston, MA, (617) 351-2500
www.sonsieboston.com
Sonsie seems to have a dress code, and it's designer threads. The beautiful clientele pack the marble café tables, which offer a full view of Newbury Street through the French doors. Phantom goes for the eclectic brunch cuisine like thick French toast with rum bananas and caramel. The huevos rancheros are invigorating served with grilled chorizo sausage. And the brick-oven pizzas will warm you up for a dessert finale of individual chocolate s'mores. Sonsie offers one of Boston's liveliest social scenes, whether at the massive mahogany bar, in the European lounge with deep leather chairs, or around the big tables in the back.
The Greatest: Splurge
Sorellina $$$
1 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA, (617) 412-4600
www.sorellinaboston.com
Sorellina is hardly affordable, but this is the reservation to get when you're going all out . . . or someone else is picking up the bill. Extravagant Italian fare includes arancini rice balls filled with Jonah crabmeat. Homemade pasta is paired with Kobe beef meatballs, and sides like Parmesan truffle fries are so lip-smackingly delicious, you won't dare share. For dessert, the molten chocolate cake is served in an individual cast-iron pot with cinnamon ice cream. The striking modern décor includes backlit floor-to-ceiling murals and an all-white bar.
The Greatest: Maple Syrup
Parker's Maple Barn $
1316 Brookline Rd., Mason, NH, (800) 832-2308
www.parkersmaplebarn.com
At Parker's Maple Barn, tucked back in the woods, you can actually observe the maple syrup being made before sampling it yourself in the nineteenth-century barn and silo, which now serves as a charming restaurant. The country-style menu includes seven kinds of pancakes, including maple walnut, blueberry, and pumpkin. Their sweet signature is maple-glazed baby back ribs and fried eggs. Savored with some maple-roasted coffee and cinnamon rolls smothered in icing, it's worth the morning drive. Customers can buy tins of their maple syrup from the gift shop next door.
The Greatest: Fine! Fine! Dining
Arrows $$$
Berwick Rd., Ogunquit, ME, (207) 361-1100
www.arrowsrestaurant.com
When there's a $50-per-person cancellation fee, either you're being taken for a ride or you're in for something special. Arrows is the current record holder for Phantom's all-time highest restaurant rating, making it well worth the trip to Maine. Set amidst woods and gorgeous gardens, the eighteenth-century farmhouse is highly romantic. Dressed-up diners duck into the wood-and-glass encased porch, where a sprawling birch tree and square lanterns illuminate the scene. The playful menu changes daily; 90 percent of the restaurant's produce is grown on the grounds and they cure their own ham and fish. Each entrée is actually four mini creations. Seasonal inspirations might include red wine and honey poached beef or cedar-plank salmon with rosemary rhubarb candy.
The Greatest: Italian Subs
Bob's $
324 Main St., Medford, MA, (781) 395-0400
www.bobsfood.com
Bob's is where you go when you're not on a diet. The Italian eats at this sandwich shop and specialty store are served big, fast, and cheap. They even sell a six-foot sandwich packing eight pounds of meat and cheese on a homemade loaf of braided bread. As for single-serving subs, they offer steak and cheese, tomato basil with mozzarella and prosciutto, and one of the best chicken Parms Phantom has ever tasted. Takeout platters include stuffed shells and meatballs, sausage cacciatore, and chicken piccata. The shelves are stocked with imported Italian goods, and Bob's makes fresh pasta with a $12,000 machine imported from Italy.
The Greatest: Dinner, Hayride, and Music
Golden Lamb Buttery $$$
499 Wolf Den Rd., Hillandale Farm, Brooklyn, CT, (860) 774-4423
Golden Lamb Buttery is an extraordinary country escape that features great home cooking. The husband-and-wife team are the best hosts that Phantom has ever found. They put guests in high spirits throughout cocktail hour in a charming barn filled with knick-knacks. Then, owner Bob Booth fires up his tractor as everyone piles in the back for a sing-a-long hayride. The live music continues in the dining room with an intimate dinner prepared by his rosy wife, Jimmie. The prix fixe menu is money well spent for an entire evening of farm entertainment and a three-course meal. Reservations required, cash only, jacket and tie for gentlemen.
Copyright © 2007 by Phantom Gourmet, Inc. All rights reserved.
