Boston Can Be Scenic

Park Street Church in the moonlight

Pete, Marc and I had dinner last night with our friend, Paul, at Marliave in downtown Boston last night. Wouldn't it be cool if I had a photo of Paul so you could know who I was talking about? I didn't take a photo of him though. I'm sure I have one somewhere but I don't have time to look right now.

Marliave is on one of those old, beat to hell Boston streets in Beacon Hill, one of the older neighborhoods. The sidewalks are paved with seriously irregular brickwork (impossible to clear completely of ice in bad weather) and lined with dumpsters and gaslights (or else, gasesque-lights - I didn't look that closely, I just let it wash over me in a romanticized haze) There is some decorative ironwork outside the restaurant and a neato little convoluted stone stair that leads down to the next street over. I told Pete it was kind of like New Orleans only it smelled better and the food was not going to be anywhere as good. I LOVE New Orleans.

At Marliave they have a dollar oysters every night before 6 PM. We each got a dozen. New England oysters are very different than the oysters you get in the southern U.S.. They are far brinier and more delicately flavored. These were extremely briny. I'm a salt fan but I found these oysters a bit of a process to get through. They were delicious but they didn't go down quite as fast as the usual, say, Island Creek oyster. Even the familiar Wellfleets were saltier than usual. Not a complaint, just an observation. We also had sliders and garlic truffle fries. The food was fine but nowhere near as good as what you get in New Orleans. I love you Boston but you have to admit, the food in New Orleans is really hard to top.

As you can see, the moon was shining bright when we left the restaurant and headed for the Park Street T station. It looked so beautiful with the Park Street Church steeple I had to take a picture. Okay, the food here is pretty good if you know where to go and they have the moon and scenic church steeples in other places but I like living in New England. It's my speed.