Where I ate in December
Tears, chicken parm, mayo in a little glass jar
December sucks when you’re grieving. Until this year, Christmas meant two weeks at home with family, in Vermont or more recently on the Cape. Without my mom, it feels awfully empty. We miss her laugh, her love, her cookie platters.
A silver lining this year is that we leave for the Bahamas on Christmas Eve and don’t return until the New Year. Conch fritters, rum punch, and the Friday Night Fish Fry will soon drive Boston from my mind. I’m ready.
See below for where I ate in December, and what I thought.
The Street Bar
I was pleasantly surprised. Some of this may have been the sheer relief of having just escaped my work holiday party and listening to my husband’s half-drunken hot takes on my co-workers. But most of my enjoyment came from a really excellent martini and burger. Having grown up in Vermont - the home state of pampered cows - I like to think I can identify a good burger. This was one. Nothing weird in terms of toppings, which I like, especially when it’s December and it’s raining sideways and I kind of want to cry.
Uncomplicated - a brioche bun, caramelized onion, cheddar, red onion, dijonnaise, pickles. Sign me up.
If I could change one thing… don’t serve condiments in little glass jars. It’s wasteful and makes it difficult for me to eat an excessive amount of mayo with my french fries. I much prefer a large squirt bottle. Functional and nostalgic.
Dovetail
A neighborhood favorite, a 10 minute walk through the Navy Yard, a very nice bartender, and an even nicer menu. Dovetail is the most “foodie” restaurant in Charlestown (not much competition, to be fair), from a team who appreciates quality ingredients and great wine. It is also far ahead of the culinary game in the rapidly-gentrifying Navy Yard (see some high profile NIMBYism).
We like to sit at the bar and share three dishes. The Super Frenchy salad is one of the better restaurant salads I’ve had, and the portions are generous, even when split. The sherry-tarragon dressing tastes like something my French aunt would make - simple, zingy, results in us investigating the ingredients trying to figure out how to replicate at home.
This visit, we skipped over the pasta (I’m as shocked as you are) and went for the steamed Maine mussels, which were delicious. Plump, well-seasoned, plenty of broth to sop up with Iggy’s bread. A real treat.
The pork milanese was the one let down. It was dry. I think the thought was that the burrata and the balsamic would sufficiently wet the dish. They failed to do so, and as a result the majority of the bites were dry pork cutlet and chicory. Ultimately, it’s breaded pork, so obviously it’s not bad, but not restaurant quality.
I should note that I had a great carbonara at Dovetail in August. Not on the current menu. Restaurants love to mess up carbonara, to the point at which sometimes I think they’re all in on it, so it was reason to celebrate.
Prima (x 3)
Not once, not twice, but three times. A little embarrassing given its virality, but it’s around the corner from our place, the holiday decorations are divine, and we only just discovered that it’s easy to get a seat at the bar on weeknights when the Garden isn’t hosting a game. We are also both burnt out and haven’t been cooking.
Some things I like: the menu is comforting, the portions are big, the lighting is good, the interior is beautiful. Is the food revolutionary? No, but it’s yummy, and if you split a starter and a main, you leave full without breaking the bank.
If you are in Charlestown and/or need a nice place to eat before a game, get to Prima early for a bar seat. The bar in the Rose Room, down the hallway in the back of the restaurant, is perfect for a date, and was empty the other night when we arrived at 5 PM for a pre-Nutcracker meal. Another plus: I’ve never seen a kid in Prima. I don’t dislike kids, but I don’t want them near me while I’m eating.
Skip the rigatoni alla vodka. If you want good pasta alla vodka, come to my house. It is allegedly one of the more popular dishes at Prima, but it’s poorly seasoned and had too much rosemary, not parsley (as advertised), on top when I ordered it two weeks ago. Instead, order the snap pea salad and the bucatini amatriciana or the chicken parm. The red sauce on both dishes is robust and punchy. A far cry from the watery marinara sauce just over the bridge in the North End.
I really need to stop complaining about the North End. I like it over there. In fact, skip dessert at Prima and walk to Mike’s for a cannoli or Modern for pistachio cookies.
La Saison
Byeeee Tatte! Not so sorry to see you go (I say this as a frequent customer). It hurts to even compare the two, given La Saison’s culinary dominance, but for a coffee, pastry, or quick sandwich, they are the only two viable options in this area of Charlestown. The pivotal difference is that La Saison bakes real bread, and as a member of a toast-for-meals household, a great bakery down the street is a very exciting development.
La Saison opened this past weekend (it’s second location after Cambridge) and the whole neighborhood was there. Far too many kids, which is typical of Charlestown but a particular nightmare on Saturday mornings, when Canada Goose-wearing parents with $2K strollers and golden retrievers named Cooper are out in force. It was difficult navigating through strollers to get to the counter, and the tables were littered with food bits, smeared by toddlers, left for someone else (me) to clean.
Mobile daycare aside, both the almond croissant and the feta-zatar scone were excellent. The cappuccinos were good. Most critically, the loaf of sourdough we took home was exceptional, the kind you tear chunks off and slather with butter before putting away your groceries.
Three spots on my list for January
Happy Holidays <333