Whirlwind Boston Weekend!

Redbones in Somerville, MA. Known for their excellent BBQ & generous southern-style cuisine. These are the signs above the kitchen area.

We spent about 24 hours in Boston this weekend, and when I say "Boston" I mean Boston proper, plus Chelsea, Somerville and a little bit of Arlington (hello, Trader Joe's). We just walked in the (home) door about an hour ago but I wanted to get these pics up while they're fresh! Here are some food-related highlights:

We pulled into town around lunchtime on Saturday and hit Redbones near our old Davis Square neighborhood. I'd forgotten How Much Food they give you at Redbones. I got the sausage of the day as a "solo" sandwich (meaning without extra sides). It had a great snap to it and a wonderful smoky flavor. Not smoked like bacon, but smoky like it had just come off a grill (which it had). My companion had a pulled pork sandwich that looked pretty good. I ordered hushpuppies that came with a vinegary dipping sauce, then remembered that you get huge chunks of cornbread with every meal as well. We were SO FULL and satisfied.

My sausage sandwich--came with a bunch of tasty dijon. I just ate the sausage and gave the bun to my dining companion so he could make TWO pulled pork sandwiches.

Hush puppies with vinegar sauce.

It all comes with cornbread!

Mason jar of lemonade. I think their margaritas are this big, too.

Saturday evening we ate at the Salty Dog, which is your basic seafood restaurant. It's fairly unremarkable except for the fact that it sits smack in the middle of the Faneuil Hall area. So with the outdoor seating, you're in a fun busy atmosphere with lots of tourists and families and couples enjoying their seafood just a stone's throw from the wharves. I had a creole shrimp-scallop thing over rice. One companion had a fried combo (shrimp & scallops plus baked potato) and the other picked a mouthwatering scallop carbonara (heavy on the bacon, I like that they weren't afraid to bacon-ify those precious scallops). Our smallest member dined on ice cubes, two peel & eat shrimp, and lemon wedges dipped in milk. We decided to say nothing.

The next day came the moment I've been waiting for ever since I moved away from the Boston area--dim sum on Sunday. YAY! We went to my favorite dim sum place in Boston, Chau Chow City (83 Essex Street).

Chau Chow City, approaching from the west.

The 3rd floor of Chau Chow City is like a dim sum facility--one huge room where the carts circulate all day (starting at 8:30am!) and you can stuff yourself and 3 friends for under $40. Today we had shrimp har gow (my favorite), siu mai, a shrimp & scallop dumpling, beef rice roll, some kind of rice pancakes with scallion and tiny shrimps, a sticky rice bowl, bean curd roll with meat (my second favorite), some nice scallion dumplings and an excellent piquant-crunchy-sweet-spicy seaweed salad. I didn't see any bao (char siu bao would be my 3rd favorite)--or any chicken feet (which I am game to try after they were recommended by Wandering Chopsticks).

Average view of our table, covered with steamers and tea.

The bean curd meat roll (probably not the right name--do you know what these are really called?) I so love these things. Very savory, soft and firm at the same time, melt in your mouth and give way until you meet the tender meat filling.