the best things i ate in boston (and connecticut) in september 2023
sandwiched in-between the worst month in an already not great year, and a month where all i did was eat sleep breath work, i got to spend two nice days in boston.
this was a quick trip to pick up the car a family friend was selling to me, after the tragic death of my old car 9 months earlier. but if there’s one thing i’m gonna do, it’s turn a brief business-like trip (even a day trip) into an opportunity to eat at as many restaurants as possible.
having been to boston a handful of times over the last few years, and because my brother lives there, there’s a whole List. impressive for a place that’s not even remotely known as being a food city.
but anywhere can be a food city if you try hard enough.
and so, in my short stay there i managed to knock two restaurants off the list. and add at least one of them back on because it was so good. and go back to a restaurant that had already been crossed off the list a few years ago and immediately added back on. here are the best things i ate in boston in september 2023.
trufas porrera - house-made dark chocolate truffles, evoo, cocoa, sea salt, bread from taberna de haro
ok so knowing i was going to eat this was what kept me going throughout most of september. that’s a lot of pressure for a few pieces of chocolate and some bread. but it lived up to the expectations. my brother and his fiance mentioned this dish in passing during a visit a few months earlier and i couldn’t stop thinking about it. and again, i can’t stop thinking about it. the combination of chocolate, bread, olive oil, and salt is everything a girl who’s maybe a 2 on the dessert-enjoyers kinsey scale could want.
pinchos morunos - moorish-spiced pork skewers from taberna de haro
yes, the entire list could have been comprised of dishes from this restaurant. i narrowed it down to 3. anyway, a few years ago i had a dream that i went to spain. all i remember is getting off the plane and being immediately hit with the smell of roast pork wafting in the air throughout the entirety of spain. is this based in reality? probably. these pork skewers satisfied the craving i’ve had ever since waking up from that dream.
gin tonic especial - spanish g & t of the week. this week it involved ginger and thyme. from taberna de haro
i’m a g&t girlie and this was a really really good one. containing some things i don’t remember and garnished with slices of fresh ginger and sprigs of thyme, it was perfect for drowning out memories of the horrors of 2023.
spicy cold niku udon from yume ga arukara
ok. yeah. this was my second time here and second time ordering this dish. the first time was in 2019, not long after it made bon appetit’s top 10 best new restaurants of 2018 list. after waiting in line for a full hour, i sat down to slurp my bowl of noodles. it was so worth it i would have waited two hours. there’s something about the texture of the slippery and chewy cold noodles, the flavor of the smoky savory broth, and that sweet and salty sliced beef that comes together to create something that will haunt you til your dying day. happily, the wait upon my return in 2023 was only about 40 minutes. the noodles? just as i remembered. mentally i’m already standing in line for my third visit.
crispy thai shrimp from tenderoni’s
tenderoni’s is Lowkey Celebrity Chef Tiffani Faison’s pizza restaurant that took the place of her now closed but always open in my heart restaurant tiger mama. it’s fortunate for the sake of this list that tiger mama is no longer with us, because this is already exceeding the ideal word count for a list with 6 dishes on it. but it’s a sad thing to see a list of the best things i ate in boston without tiger mama coconut shrimp on it. tiger mama coconut shrimp save me. save me tiger mama coconut shrimp. anyway. let me start this over.
tenderoni’s is lowkey celebrity chef tiffani faison’s pizza restaurant. the pizza is really enjoyable. detroit-style, cheese-crusted, and coming in flavors such as “buffalo brussels” and “mushroom marsala”. in addition to a couple pizzas and a pasta dish, we had no choice but to order the thai shrimp. for comparison’s sake. and, all comparisons aside, it was really good! crispy and sweet and spicy and peanuty. it was a solid plate of shrimp. you know. comparisons aside.
bonus dish from connecticut mainly to make the list longer and also because it was good:
reuben omelette from rein’s deli
because of the length and general unpleasantness of the drive from boston to virginia and not wanting to get home at 1 am (again), we planned to leave for our drive home as early as possible. but the opening hours of rein’s deli in vernon connecticut HAD to be taken into consideration. we set out a little after 6 in the morning, managed to prolong the drive slightly with a stop at a gas station for energy drinks, and arrived at rein’s at 8 am on the dot. we walked inside and got a table while i worried over what i was going to order at 8:00 in the morning when my usual and beloved reuben sandwich wasn’t available. as soon as the server came over and presented us with menus and i locked eyes with the words “reuben omelette”, all worries besides my worries about how long it was going to take to get home (12 hours) and what was going to be waiting for us when we got there (aftermath of a plumbing disaster), melted away. thank you reuben omelette. you are beautiful and almost equally as good as your sandwich counterpart. you are like if a reuben was an omelette. you’re like if an omelette was an ideal version of itself. i may just have to plan my next drive to or from boston around arriving at rein’s in time for breakfast and all for the sake of reuben omelette.
