If you've just flown in to Logan International Airport,
freshened up at your hotel, or if you live in or around Boston, and your kids
are absolutely starving even though they've just finished a huge breakfast and mid-morning snack, a jaunt through the North End, Boston's
"Little Italy," is a great way to start getting a taste of Boston.
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| Galleria Umberto, 289 Hanover Street, Boston, MA,
(617) 227-5709
© 2014 Own photo
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Galleria Umberto
One of the not-so-secret best places to eat lunch in the
North End - or anywhere in Boston - is Galleria Umberto at 289 Hanover Street.
I have been eating Umberto's pizza since I came to the U.S. when I was two
years old. My family would make the trek in from East Boston (and, later, from
the North Shore), in all kinds of weather, to shop for fresh vegetables and
fruit at the outdoor Haymarket, meat at Al Capone's, the Italo-Argentine
butcher (until the fire in the late '70s/early '80s) and then into the North
End for everything from bread (at Umberto's, back when they were mainly a
bakery selling pizza slices on the side) to shoes. The lines at Umberto's have
always been long, with people waiting patiently for up to an hour for a slice
of heavenly pizza from this family-owned and operated eatery.
Since the mid-'70s, when they moved from Parmenter Street to
Hanover Street (the North End's main street), Umberto's has been serving slices
of Sicilian style pizza by the panful to faithful regular customers and
tourists alike. They also serve the best arancini (fried Sicilian rice
balls filled with a meat sauce, peas and cheese) I have ever eaten (and I keep
trying to find similar or better, but with limited success), spinach and
ricotta-stuffed calzones, panzarotti (these are the Italian equivalent
of a knish, mashed potatoes stuffed with ham and flavored with Italian
parsley, shaped like a log and fried). $30 buys 10 slices of pizza (half a
pan), 2 arancini, a Minute Maid Lemonade, a Coke and a bottle of
imported Italian (Peroni) beer. But beware - you may need to go ahead and order
a full pan of pizza: the meal I described was just barely enough to feed two
middle schoolers and a Mom (boy, did I need that beer!).
Galleria Umberto is usually open 11-2, Monday through
Saturday, but you should definitely plan to get there early: when they run out,
they close. If you would rather take your meal to eat al fresco (at the Rose
Kennedy Greenway across from Hanover Street, for example), you can also call
ahead (617-227-5709) and pick up your order. Note: if you're in Boston in
July, though, you are out of luck: the family closes down for the month and
takes its annual (well-earned) vacation.
Caffè Pompei
If you're in Boston in July, or you'd like your first meal
to be more of a restaurant experience, but not upscale, you should eat at the
Pompei. This is an actual restaurant (compared to Umberto's pared-down, cafeteria
style), with solicitous waitstaff, that is family-oriented and still won't
break your budget. About $40 will buy you an appetizer of fried calamari
(squid) served with lemon wedges and a marinara (meatless tomato) sauce,
a wood-oven baked pizza alla margherita (8 large slices of chopped fresh
tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil), one beer, an iced cappuccino, an
iced caffè latte, and a San Pellegrino limonata (an Italian
lemonade soda, but less fizzy than American sodas).
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© 2014 Own photo
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La Dolce Vita, 221 Hanover Street, Boston, MA, (617) 720-0422
You may want a more elegant, upscale experience for dinner.
If that is the case, La Dolce Vita is a good choice for authentic
Italian cuisine; the taste of pretty much everything on the menu (yes, even
their arancini) will transport you straight to the Italian peninsula.
Unlike many "Italian" restaurants in the U.S. (sadly, some of these
can even be found in Boston's North End), the entrees at La Dolce Vita
are light but satisfying. I recently had their pasta primavera all'aglio ed
olio, homemade fettucine chock full of mushrooms, green beans, carrots,
broccoli, spinach, sauteed in garlic perfumed olive oil. The baked potato gnocchi,
topped with marinara sauce and fresh mozzarella, served straight from the oven
in a ceramic crock, are a much heartier - but just as tasty - option. Many entree options here are expensive, but if you don't order wine or dessert, you should be able to eat well for about $20 per person in your party.
The only
downside of our experience at La Dolce Vita was the service. Three of us
(myself and two children) arrived ahead of the rest of our 7-person party. We
were greeted, seated right smack in the middle of the restaurant (the only area
set up for larger parties), incidentally, right near the waiters' prep area and
in full view of the bar...and totally ignored for ten full minutes. No one
offered us water or bread. No one spoke to us at all, not even Franco, the
owner, who is always hovering around, until the rest of our party arrived. Oh,
and ignore the art on the walls. They show scenes from the movie with Marcello
Mastroianni, but the palette may just throw you off your feed. At any rate,
although the food is good, I will not be dining at this restaurant again. But,
if you decide to go, I hope your entire experience is good and not just the
food.
This is the first article, but the second installment of the Free...in Boston, MA series, which includes the following:
After all that fried food, I decided to have a light lunch and ordered a plain Caesar salad with no meat. I chose it because it was the only salad that featured a real lettuce (in my not so humble opinion) rather than iceberg (which has lots of fiber and crunch but less nutritional value than romaine). Considering that it was packed with romaine lettuce and shredded Parmesan cheese, it was also the best value for the money (the cheapest salad on the menu) at only $5.95. I felt like I'd won the trifecta: no waiting, excellent service, and a great price!
all their burgers are made from 100% angus beef (except their veggie burger, of course!)
and are chock full of mouth-watering - and surprising - ingredients: a fried egg in their Kitchen Sink burger, mac and cheese in the Mac Attack and even peanut butter and fried bananas in their King (think Elvis) burger!
