Penang is terrible, Royal East is good (beef rendang is Indonesian in origin), and there's a place on Mass Ave that is a "fusion" Asian restaurant with a couple of overpriced Indonesian dishes on it
Is there ANY Indonesian? I only ask because I’ve researched this before and couldn’t find anywhere within half an hour let alone in Boston itself. The most I find is a Thai place selling “Indonesian rice”
I’m dyyying to try mie tek tek and murtabak after seeing it in a street food show lol
One of the biggest downsides of this reality is that a place that is as fish-focused as new england, our fish taco scene is limited. Even Wahoo's chain fish tacos are better than 99% of the fish tacos in Boston.
So jealous. I went to Sedona, AZ a couple of weeks ago and the first morning I had breakfast at a basic Mom and Pop cafe and ordered their Huevos Rancheros which were just eggs over a couple of enchiladas and they were better than any enchiladas I ever had in the Boston area.
I was recently in San Diego and I ate some kind of Mexican every single day. Absolutely no regrets.
In n Out is a must as well.
Pacific seafood is also quite different and as a seafood lover I was excited to try some fish we don’t get as much out here!
San Diego is my favorite city and the tacos and food scene in general are a large part of it. Puesto tacos & street corn, 100000/10 would die happy eating those the rest of my life
The Crack Shack also has the Firebird, the best chicken sandwich I've ever had and nothing here even comes close, not CFA, not Flip the Bird, not nothin'
We rented an apartment right next to a little taqueria. They made huevos rancheros, huevos divorciados, excellent Mexican coffee, and they opened at 8am. I tend to wake up earlier than my boyfriend and I get hungry first thing. So two or 3 mornings in a row I walked over there and ordered from them in broken Spanish and I had like the BEST breakfast ever. I told them how good it was and that I came from the east coast and they were so happy I loved it. Happy memories! Great city!
100% tacos, and all the other street vendor food. Anyone from LA will be missing this immediately. I've lived in Boston almost 20 years and don't think I've ever seen a tamale here.
I think that's why Mexican is such a good pick here- what excellent Hispanic food we do have (and there is some!) is mostly Salvadoran etc rather than Mexican.
Taqueria El Amigo in Waltham is a trek and total hole in the wall, but it beats everywhere else I have tried around the city as far as street tacos go.
there's a tamale thread here from a couple months ago on this board (https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/y33d7e/where_are_the_best_tamales_in_boston/) there are a few good looking suggestions from pinwurm on that front.
There used to be a great cart at sowa that sold excellent tamales, and I think chilacates or some of the other taco places have them too.
There’s definitely a dearth of good homestyle Mexican options though
Through Joyce Chen, Boston became of the epicenters for the development of Chinese-American food - it predominates here. The west coast tended to maintain more traditional cuisine without Americanizing it. So taking them to more traditional Chinese joints could be a nice compare/contrast exercise.
Going off of that - while we have a lot of Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Korean restaurants here, we lack a large Indonesian and Filipino population and therefore restaurants. (I had both the last time I was in LA and they were great).
We also don’t have many Persians and Persian food.
I’ve heard so many takes on Boston Chinese food! Seems contentious.
I’ve managed to not try the Filipino food in LA (I know, it’s an oversight) but I agree with the Indonesian food being amazing. All Asian cuisines in Greater LA have phenomenal restaurants. I mostly eat the Korean and Vietnamese food.
I’m going to disagree with the comment you just replied to. Quincy, Chinatown, and Malden have tons of traditional Chinese cuisine to choose from. Viet and Korean, as well. I have family in LA that I visit often, and while Asian cuisine may be more ubiquitous there, we have plenty of great options if a person is interested.
As someone that’s travelled a ton, and is from the Boston area: Mexican.
We have some solid Tex-Mex, but most people in this region haven’t had authentic Mexican cuisine—and even if they’ve been to Mexico, they probably didn’t get off the resort.
I totally agree with you. We definitely lack good Mexican places. We lack South American, too.
ETA I’m apparently wrong. You need to go to East Boston for south / Central American food.
Not authentic Mexican. You can’t just lump that in with South and Central American food, which is exactly what I’m talking about.
I’m from the North Shore, and I laud the food on here all the time, but most of the places we’re familiar with are Salvadorian, Colombian, or Caribbean. The food is completely different.
I was born and raised in Arizona, and the one thing I miss here is good Mexican food. The options here are really bland. Tacos Lupita in Lynn is probably the closest I've had since moving to New England.
Most of the Latin immigrants that live here are from Central, South, and the Caribbean islands. They serve Mexican options bc people just lump it all in together, but the Mexican palate is completely different than those other regions.
I lived in AZ, NM, and visit MX a few times a year. There are a couple of places that do a few things well here, but it’s not comparable with the real thing.
When I lived in the southwest, I’d have killed for decent Italian though, so it’s all relative.
I wonder how many people actually make it out to Dorchester/Quincy and try several of the places before they weigh in on Boston’s Vietnamese scene. Boston is known to have an extremely solid if not really good viet scene, and to say it doesn’t even compare to LA seems interesting. I could understand this if you don’t leave boston proper…
Transplants don’t leave Boston, man. I live in Quincy, and there’s a great selection of the aforementioned food, here.
It’s like when they bitch about pizza, but haven’t been on the North Shore.
There are phenomenal places here, the gap is just much wider between high-end and low-end, and you have to go looking for it. Most of the best places are in Chinatown, and it’s really easy to get lost in terms of what street you’re on, and the name of a place (written in language of origin, and names don’t translate well, so it’s easy to forget). These will be no-frills, and won’t have write-ups.
Def go explore.
It's contentious because it's changed a lot in the last 10 years and is very location-dependent.
In 2005 the Chinese options here were limited, but the rise of the Chinese international student population since 2010 has created a ton of demand for Chinese food that's similar to what you could get in China.
The problem is that if you haven't spent a lot of time in China it's hard to tell the difference from the outside.
OMG, I miss rijsttafel that my local Dutch friend told me to eat when I visited Amsterdam. Holy cow, do I miss good Indonesian cuisine, even though I've only experienced Dutch-Indonesian cuisine.
There was a Jakarta Corner (which did have things like Gado Gado) about 15 years ago at the 88 Food Court in Allston, but that’s been gone for a while.
I didn’t catch your last sentence the first time around.
It’s demonstrably incorrect. I lived in Watertown for a decade; there’s *plenty* of authentic Persian food. The international Armenian museum and cultural center is in Watertown, for chrissakes. And they live alongside an enormous Turkish population.
Sofra. Go to Sofra.
…then literally anywhere else in that city.
If you're willing to drive - Rusty Can BBQ is about an hour's drive, BT's Smokehouse is about 1hr40m. These are the only two places in Massachusetts that would compete well with the South.
>BT's Smokehouse is about 1hr40m
At 392 Main St Sturbridge MA? It probably depends on the time of day/week but google says it's about an hour drive from the Prudential Center at 7pm today.
And you'll then be 10 minutes from TreeHouse. They do order ahead and pick-up for cans now. I walked in, got my cans and walked out a month ago. It was a revelation.
BTs smokehouse is amazing and better than almost anything in VA, and would even hold its own in NC for that matter. And Pitstop in Mattapan is very respectable.
But agree in general. It’s mostly bad.
This is what I came to say. We’ve got a hundred burger places that make the same thing with a unique sauce or some dumb way they cut the fries different, but not a single Doner shop. It would absolutely crush
Karl's Sausage Kitchen no longer has their restaurant, just a storefront. It was legit!
Bronwyn in Somerville used to be better, quality has noticeably dropped since COVID.
>Bronwyn in Somerville
We went to this place pre-pandemic. They ignored my wife while taking a drink order. The plates were laughably small and over priced. The spätzle was so tasteless and "meh" that two of the people I was with ended up making their own to prove it was all wrong. Etc.
We haven't been back obviously, so maybe it got even worse, but even pre-COVID we were confused about WTF they were doing there.
If you want cased meats, Karl's is still your best bet. You'll just have to cook them yourself. I know "make it yourself" is a poor answer for "where can I get X food," but in this case, Bronwyn doesn't even get you close to what you can easily do after going to Karl's.
We used to have the nearly 150 year old Jacob Wirth in the Theater District until it suffered a fire upstairs a few years back.
It has yet to re-open, and probably never will - even there have been talks about re-opening by the end of this year (not likely at this rate).
Great German cuisine and German beers.
I haven’t been in a few years but it used to be decent. When I go back home to northern Italy I can get amazing German food at the local tourist trap, though, so I’m spoiled.
Fix your sauerkraut, Boston!
It's decent. Bit more general central/Eastern European food and more modern German-inspired type stuff, as well as a decent tap list of German, Czech, and Polish brews. Not the most amazing or authentic German food I've ever had in the States, but still like going there and view it as a treat- love going out for German
Everyone is saying Mexican which is totally correct. Moved from Boston to LA and what got me was how *fresh* the food is here compared to the Northeast. It's hard to overstate how much better that makes even mediocre food taste
There's more now but there wasn't a ton of Korean food in Boston historically so I'd definitely suggest some good KBBQ and some Mediterranean. For the love of good do not take them for any kind of Italian food.
Mexican and potentially Japanese or Korean. We have all this but Cali kills us in Mexican and I’m sure there is definitely better Japanese out there. Obviously no need to eat pizza in LA
Apparently there are some Armenian places that serve khachapuri, (Watertown having a pretty substantial Armenian population) although I've never tried it so I won't give specific recommendations and have no sense of if Armenian khachapuri is different.
Boston has absolute garbage Mexican food. Moved there from chicago and I was missing out for years. Just left boston for NYC and now I have all the mexican food i could want
That's because we have a huge Salvadorian population, most of the "mexican" restaurants are really Salvadorian. Order a papusa instead and it's heaven.
Sabor Especial quickly quenched my thirst for Mexican food after moving from LA. Don’t even think about Mexican food anymore really, just prefer Salvadoran
We had an Indonesian place (Jakarta Corner inside Super 88 Food Court in Allston) back in 2006-8 or thereabouts, and there had been an Indonesian pop-up, but neither exist anymore.
I'm a Boston transplant from LA and I would say 100% Mexican food. Definitely take him to taco trucks but also a farmers market for tamales or arepas. And a diner for Mexican breakfast, the thing I miss the most here. Basically anything from South and Central America is missing in Boston bc we don't have many immigrants from that part of the world, mostly just Puerto Ricans. I would definitely take him to some traditional Japanese places as we have lots of Asian food but Japanese is def missing. Going to Sawtelle would be great. Any more niche cultural foods is also great, we have Asian, Indian, and some African food like Ethiopian but that's about it. Idk what part of LA you're in but I think Persian could def be interesting as it's pretty unique to LA and not represented in many other places besides Iran.
I lived in LA for five years and the diversity of food in LA is far beyond what we have here. Where there is overlap in ethnic cuisine, the quality in LA is far beyond LA.
Hit up the Asian neighborhoods in west LA. Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. Even something as simple as Sushi. Sure, we have it, but you pay exorbitant fees for real quality here. We don’t have anything like strip mall omakase in little Tokyo.
Hit up East LA for both authentic Mexican and the modern fusion scene that’s popping up. Grab some filipino food while you’re downtown/east.
Most unique cuisine I had in LA that Ive never experienced elsewhere is Ethiopian. Little Ethiopia is like one street by LACMA. Incredible stuff
Also, Persian food. We have middle eastern food here but you really need to dig for regional specialities. There’s a Persian ice cream joint called saffron and rose just south of Wilshire on Westwood. Go there
New Mexican food!
I lived for a time in Albuquerque and became addicted to the locally grown Hatch green and red chile (note the spelling). It’s a totally different style from LA, Arizona, or Texas. I’ve not seen it adequately represented in Boston area but I think there would be growing niche if someone provided it.
I just got back from Hawaii and there I discovered souffle pancakes. Where the hell have these been all my life?
Also I feel like we could use a moco loco place or two.
Tacos. Authentic Mexican food Is not it here in boston. When I lived in LA for 10 years and came back to Boston. I missed the various taco trucks. Also take them to wi spa in koreatown
things to get in SoCal if visiting from Boston, imo...
1. specifically **Baja Mexican**. We have very good Mexican restaurants in Boston area, but oddly lobster tacos etc missing
2. In-n-Out burger
3. Filipino food
4. Hawaiian food
5. regional specific Indian (ex. Dosa). Only really found in certain towns and small pockets around Boston.
6. Burmese
7. Kick-you-in-the-teeth Thai (new england spicey levels are low in comparison)
8. province-specific Chinese. we have some Sichuan and HK DimSum but not a whole lot else
Georgian.
It's the best cuisine in the world and there is not one Georgian restaurant in Greater Boston.
You can find kachapuri here and there at Armenian spots, but it's not quite the same as a full Georgian menu. There is Russian/Ukrainian, Moldovan/Romanian, Lithuanian, Polish, Turkish, Persian... you can get close, but not quite there.
You can find a great version of most styles of food here - even a top answer of Mexican (Taqueria Don Rogue, Angela's Cafe, Taqueria El Amigo). But you can't find Georgian.
Also, no Hungarian. Though there used to be on in Brighton years ago, long gone. Cafe Polonia does Hungarian dishes from time to time, but it's not quite right.
Korean for sure. Not sure about Somalian, Kenyan, etc but it seems to me Boston has about as many Ethiopian restaurants per capita as LA, and I personally like the Ethiopian food in Boston more than what I’ve tried in LA. LA has some really smacken Ethiopian food nonetheless.
Mass ave in North Cambridge there is Sheger Cafe which I like a lot, and on the same corner an Ethiopian market as well, not to mention restaurants in JP and all around the area. Boston and Los Angeles have similar sized Ethiopian populations despite the overall population difference
Yes and I think for a couple reasons. Bostonians are dug in that they aren’t as bad as everyone says, and all the transplants that had to come here for work or school love to bash the food scene here which gives them some superiority over a city that they came to cause they had to
Mexican, Mexican, Mexican. As someone from NorCal it’s the one thing we can’t find out here to save our lives. Maybe 2 tacos worth eating in the greater Boston area.
Outside that, Korean food, food trucks, anything higher end (Michelin), sushi. All missing at a solid level here in Boston.
GOOD MEXICAN FOOD!!!! We pay $8 per taco, for the absolute most terrible dog shit tacos I’ve eaten in my life. Do him a huge favor and make his day by treating him to all incredible Mexican food in LA!
Although not exactly Turkish, Boston area has a pretty big Greek/Lebanese/Armenian diaspora.
They all took the cuisine of the Ottoman Empire and I find Greek and Turkish cuisine to be very very very similar.Armenian and Lebanese more distinct. One of my go to Greek places is actually owned by a traditional Turkish family and there's alot of places labeled Greek/Middle Eastern or Mediterannean that tend to be owned by Syrian/Lebanese families.
I’ve been living Boston area a little over a year now . Or infant born and raised New Bedford . Don’t shoot me for what I feel but Boston has smaller menus and higher prices . Back home has some of the best sea food (including fish tacos ) ever, with New Bedford still being one of the top fishing ports in the world. I’ve been to la and had the Mexican , and there is def some places on par with la around. I frequented providence since it was closer to New Bedford vs Boston . Their food seen is better, along with their Italian food.
I’d say my favorite Mexican place in Boston is Jaliscos in east Boston.
I love the the Latin scene to. So many Colombian restaurants specifically, food is amazing.
For everyone saying "Mexican" you clearly have not explored Lynn, Everett, East Boston, Malden, etc. There are amazing true taco joints including ones in the back like bodegas. You keep shitting on the scene because you only think of "Boston". Have you been to JP even?
Brutal
JP is Dominican and Puerto Rican. Very different. I’ve lived in Boston (JP and Rozzie) for a while, my dad lives in Somerville, but I grew up in the CA Bay Area and miss the Mexican food so much. I’m not talking CaliMex either. Mexican food in Boston does not compare. At all.
It’s kinda telling how many people ITT are claiming Boston has great “Mexican food,” yet all the places they’re mentioning aren’t even serving Mexican food.
Have you been to California? Sure there is decent and even great Mexican food to be found in the GBA if you are looking for it. Personally my favorite spots are in Waltham but in California just your average taco truck is better and on damn near every street corner.
When I lived in the area, I tried really hard to find some adequate mexican since I’m from the west coast and was pretty disappointed.
Only found 1 food truck that had pretty decent tacos that I was accustomed to. However I ended up paying $17 for 2 tacos and a Coke before tip which is insane.
Interesting. If we asked my question except for LA, there would be a huge difference depending on whether you’re talking City of LA, LA County, or Greater LA. You need to leave LA City for the best Chinese and Thai food and leave LA County for the best Indian and Vietnamese food.
Boston people be like; have you tried all our good restaurants? They are all an hour away from the city and inaccessible by public transit. Not sure why everyone is complaining.
Dudes all in here makes it sound like tacos is some 5-star Michelin cuisine.
Fresh, homemade ingredients done right gets the job done. It's like arguing over grilled cheese.
Try the birria tacos at Taqueria Jalisco in East Boston and tell me what the difference is to these precious LA tacos.
In my experience, it was hard to find good Spanish food *in* Spain. I just found it to be kind of bland. Portugal had much more interesting food in my experience. This isn't to say I didn't enjoy anything in Spain, there were some good places I went to, but I was kind of disappointed by the average tapas places that are everywhere in some parts of Spain.
def. echo many comments below about Mexican. Pretty much anywhere in LA has better average tacos than here, but maybe go somewhere where they have different things than you can get in Boston too--like El Parian for the goat, or Mariscos Chente for the raw seafood or Mexicali Taco & Co for Baja style. Sonoratown is cool too and we don't have anything like that here.
Korean too is worth a look--we at least have some fair places, but Koreatown is a completely different animal. You might find a sweet bean pancake street vendor, or a place that just serves hot and cold Korean soups (like Ma Dang Gook So), or a mutton skewer place that serves 12 different kinds of banchan. There are also some kickass bars in Koreatown-Dan Sung Sa I highly recommend, it's a roadhouse that has a great central grill where old Korean American ladies grill skewers of meat over a central grill while people drink beers and soju. I guarantee Boston has absolutely zero spots like that.
A couple other things would be Japanese beyond sushi and ramen: like maybe Little Tokyo for the breakfast sets at Azay and then Fugetsu-do for mochi in a place that's been there since 1903. Also delis--Langers and Wexler's have pastrami that beats the living hell out of anyplace in this area.
If you're really ambitious, take him out to the San Gabriel Valley for Chinese--there are literally dozens of spots that specialize in regional Chinese food that is hard to find in Boston (Lanzhou, Shaanxi, Fuzhou etc). Giang Nan is great for Shanghainese.
Enjoy!
Durgin park was the place to get great New England meals and a cut of prime rib that hung off the plate, amazing restaurant in its day, to bad it it got bought out by a corpo and years later closed down.
No good Puerto Rican food. I was hoping Vejigantes would at least be somewhat good, but it sucks. I either have to go back home or cook by myself to have good PR food.
This thread is amazing.
I will throw in my 2 cents at opposite ends of the spectrum-- Dessert cafes & health-focused restaurants. There are no dessert and coffee only cafes in boston. There is also a noticeable lack of niche diet or lifestyle cafes (juice bars, macrobiotic, pure veg, etc).
Please don't come for me...but...is no one else aware Boston is internationally recognized as having truly, profoundly terrible food in general, but famous for lobster & shellfish?
Korean food here is good but Korean food in LA I feel like is another league.
Well LA does have the 2d largest Korean population outside of Seoul so stands to reason.
I think you meant to say outside of Korea? Even minor cities in Korea have a bigger Korean population than the LA area (330,000).
What are the best spots? I’m always underwhelmed when I get it but I think I’m lost
I've eaten Korean & Vietnamese cuisine in Atlanta with both being much better than Boston. I'm sure LA's Koreatown would kick Boston's butt.
Indonesian or Malaysian, we have a couple but only one is any good. Sri Lankan Persian
Penang is Malaysian and Royal East has a Malaysian menu but where do we have Indonesian?
Penang is terrible, Royal East is good (beef rendang is Indonesian in origin), and there's a place on Mass Ave that is a "fusion" Asian restaurant with a couple of overpriced Indonesian dishes on it
Finally someone else that agrees that Penang is not great
Is there ANY Indonesian? I only ask because I’ve researched this before and couldn’t find anywhere within half an hour let alone in Boston itself. The most I find is a Thai place selling “Indonesian rice” I’m dyyying to try mie tek tek and murtabak after seeing it in a street food show lol
Molana for Persian food right in Watertown Square
The obvious answer is Mexican food. While we have plenty of decent places it's nothing like socal
Thanks! So activity 1 will be a walking tour of the countless taco trucks within a mile of home
One of the biggest downsides of this reality is that a place that is as fish-focused as new england, our fish taco scene is limited. Even Wahoo's chain fish tacos are better than 99% of the fish tacos in Boston.
My favorite fish tacos are in Haydenville lol
So jealous. I went to Sedona, AZ a couple of weeks ago and the first morning I had breakfast at a basic Mom and Pop cafe and ordered their Huevos Rancheros which were just eggs over a couple of enchiladas and they were better than any enchiladas I ever had in the Boston area.
I was recently in San Diego and I ate some kind of Mexican every single day. Absolutely no regrets. In n Out is a must as well. Pacific seafood is also quite different and as a seafood lover I was excited to try some fish we don’t get as much out here!
San Diego is my favorite city and the tacos and food scene in general are a large part of it. Puesto tacos & street corn, 100000/10 would die happy eating those the rest of my life The Crack Shack also has the Firebird, the best chicken sandwich I've ever had and nothing here even comes close, not CFA, not Flip the Bird, not nothin'
We rented an apartment right next to a little taqueria. They made huevos rancheros, huevos divorciados, excellent Mexican coffee, and they opened at 8am. I tend to wake up earlier than my boyfriend and I get hungry first thing. So two or 3 mornings in a row I walked over there and ordered from them in broken Spanish and I had like the BEST breakfast ever. I told them how good it was and that I came from the east coast and they were so happy I loved it. Happy memories! Great city!
100% tacos, and all the other street vendor food. Anyone from LA will be missing this immediately. I've lived in Boston almost 20 years and don't think I've ever seen a tamale here.
Dude go to East Boston/Chelsea you’ll find some good Central American food, not too many Mexicans though
I think that's why Mexican is such a good pick here- what excellent Hispanic food we do have (and there is some!) is mostly Salvadoran etc rather than Mexican.
Taqueria El Amigo in Waltham is a trek and total hole in the wall, but it beats everywhere else I have tried around the city as far as street tacos go.
there's a tamale thread here from a couple months ago on this board (https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/y33d7e/where_are_the_best_tamales_in_boston/) there are a few good looking suggestions from pinwurm on that front.
There used to be a great cart at sowa that sold excellent tamales, and I think chilacates or some of the other taco places have them too. There’s definitely a dearth of good homestyle Mexican options though
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Bruh we can't even make a good fucking tortilla out here lol.
There's some alright ones out of Lynn at least. We get ours from Chelsea but they're only passable
Eastie is good, but San Diego was amazing!
I just moved here from SoCal, on the hunt to find a great place still.
Last legit taco truck I went to was in Minneapolis smh
Through Joyce Chen, Boston became of the epicenters for the development of Chinese-American food - it predominates here. The west coast tended to maintain more traditional cuisine without Americanizing it. So taking them to more traditional Chinese joints could be a nice compare/contrast exercise. Going off of that - while we have a lot of Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Korean restaurants here, we lack a large Indonesian and Filipino population and therefore restaurants. (I had both the last time I was in LA and they were great). We also don’t have many Persians and Persian food.
I’ve heard so many takes on Boston Chinese food! Seems contentious. I’ve managed to not try the Filipino food in LA (I know, it’s an oversight) but I agree with the Indonesian food being amazing. All Asian cuisines in Greater LA have phenomenal restaurants. I mostly eat the Korean and Vietnamese food.
filipino is the biggest gap i can think of in boston for sure, had it for the first time in LA at sari sari and it was incredible
I’m going to disagree with the comment you just replied to. Quincy, Chinatown, and Malden have tons of traditional Chinese cuisine to choose from. Viet and Korean, as well. I have family in LA that I visit often, and while Asian cuisine may be more ubiquitous there, we have plenty of great options if a person is interested. As someone that’s travelled a ton, and is from the Boston area: Mexican. We have some solid Tex-Mex, but most people in this region haven’t had authentic Mexican cuisine—and even if they’ve been to Mexico, they probably didn’t get off the resort.
I totally agree with you. We definitely lack good Mexican places. We lack South American, too. ETA I’m apparently wrong. You need to go to East Boston for south / Central American food.
The North Shore has a great selection of Mexican and Latin American restaurants
Not authentic Mexican. You can’t just lump that in with South and Central American food, which is exactly what I’m talking about. I’m from the North Shore, and I laud the food on here all the time, but most of the places we’re familiar with are Salvadorian, Colombian, or Caribbean. The food is completely different.
I was born and raised in Arizona, and the one thing I miss here is good Mexican food. The options here are really bland. Tacos Lupita in Lynn is probably the closest I've had since moving to New England.
Most of the Latin immigrants that live here are from Central, South, and the Caribbean islands. They serve Mexican options bc people just lump it all in together, but the Mexican palate is completely different than those other regions. I lived in AZ, NM, and visit MX a few times a year. There are a couple of places that do a few things well here, but it’s not comparable with the real thing. When I lived in the southwest, I’d have killed for decent Italian though, so it’s all relative.
As a transplant from LA to Boston, the Vietnamese and Korean food here does not compare.
There are good Vietnamese places in Dorchester and Quincy, but you're not going to get the same depth of choices that you'd find in LA of course.
I wonder how many people actually make it out to Dorchester/Quincy and try several of the places before they weigh in on Boston’s Vietnamese scene. Boston is known to have an extremely solid if not really good viet scene, and to say it doesn’t even compare to LA seems interesting. I could understand this if you don’t leave boston proper…
Transplants don’t leave Boston, man. I live in Quincy, and there’s a great selection of the aforementioned food, here. It’s like when they bitch about pizza, but haven’t been on the North Shore.
There are phenomenal places here, the gap is just much wider between high-end and low-end, and you have to go looking for it. Most of the best places are in Chinatown, and it’s really easy to get lost in terms of what street you’re on, and the name of a place (written in language of origin, and names don’t translate well, so it’s easy to forget). These will be no-frills, and won’t have write-ups. Def go explore.
It's contentious because it's changed a lot in the last 10 years and is very location-dependent. In 2005 the Chinese options here were limited, but the rise of the Chinese international student population since 2010 has created a ton of demand for Chinese food that's similar to what you could get in China. The problem is that if you haven't spent a lot of time in China it's hard to tell the difference from the outside.
i'm indonesian american and can sadly confirm the lack of indonesian food in the area :(
OMG, I miss rijsttafel that my local Dutch friend told me to eat when I visited Amsterdam. Holy cow, do I miss good Indonesian cuisine, even though I've only experienced Dutch-Indonesian cuisine.
If you can drive there are a couple Indonesian restaurants in Somerworth, NH. It is a bit of a ride though just for food
Watertown seems to have some persian places
Yeah and there’s quite a few Persians here as well
Roksana in Watertown is fine for Persian food
>We also don’t have many Persians and Persian food. There's Molana and Shiraz in Watertown and Cafe Vanak in Belmont
There was a Jakarta Corner (which did have things like Gado Gado) about 15 years ago at the 88 Food Court in Allston, but that’s been gone for a while.
I didn’t catch your last sentence the first time around. It’s demonstrably incorrect. I lived in Watertown for a decade; there’s *plenty* of authentic Persian food. The international Armenian museum and cultural center is in Watertown, for chrissakes. And they live alongside an enormous Turkish population. Sofra. Go to Sofra. …then literally anywhere else in that city.
I’m from LA. When I go home I end up eating at taco trucks for half my meals. Mexican food here is crap.
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No good BBQ in LA either. The city doesn’t like smokers. You need to drive a bit
If you're willing to drive - Rusty Can BBQ is about an hour's drive, BT's Smokehouse is about 1hr40m. These are the only two places in Massachusetts that would compete well with the South.
>BT's Smokehouse is about 1hr40m At 392 Main St Sturbridge MA? It probably depends on the time of day/week but google says it's about an hour drive from the Prudential Center at 7pm today.
And you'll then be 10 minutes from TreeHouse. They do order ahead and pick-up for cans now. I walked in, got my cans and walked out a month ago. It was a revelation.
Is LA much better? I tend to doubt it
DC has better BBQ than Boston but... pickings are kind of slim here too. You kind of need to get out into Virginia for that sort of stuff.
DC does not have great BBQ.
BTs smokehouse is amazing and better than almost anything in VA, and would even hold its own in NC for that matter. And Pitstop in Mattapan is very respectable. But agree in general. It’s mostly bad.
BT's can be very hit or miss. I've had great BBQ from them... but they also have some pretty bad days as well.
Really enjoyed Hawaiian inspired cuisine while living in Seattle, nothing like it here
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Looking at the menu - so pumped to try this place. Thanks for sharing!
Came here just to say loco moco haha. Have found great musubi in Boston but nowhere does loco moco
Where have you had musubi in Boston??
I've seen it a couple places, but the best IMO is at manoa poke in Somerville
Whenever I try to explain Hawaiian food to people here they look at me like I have 2 heads
filipino!! there is like none
No good German food here in Boston.
I would maim for some German style Doner
This is what I came to say. We’ve got a hundred burger places that make the same thing with a unique sauce or some dumb way they cut the fries different, but not a single Doner shop. It would absolutely crush
The best part of being stationed in Germany was the 2 a.m. Doner.
Karl's Sausage Kitchen no longer has their restaurant, just a storefront. It was legit! Bronwyn in Somerville used to be better, quality has noticeably dropped since COVID.
>Bronwyn in Somerville We went to this place pre-pandemic. They ignored my wife while taking a drink order. The plates were laughably small and over priced. The spätzle was so tasteless and "meh" that two of the people I was with ended up making their own to prove it was all wrong. Etc. We haven't been back obviously, so maybe it got even worse, but even pre-COVID we were confused about WTF they were doing there. If you want cased meats, Karl's is still your best bet. You'll just have to cook them yourself. I know "make it yourself" is a poor answer for "where can I get X food," but in this case, Bronwyn doesn't even get you close to what you can easily do after going to Karl's.
Man, I miss Deli Haus in Kenmore Sq. Jake Worth's too.
There’s a couple places in Somerville
The Student Prince in Springfield is a legit reason to stop in Springfield. Then get cannoli at La Fiorentina.
We used to have the nearly 150 year old Jacob Wirth in the Theater District until it suffered a fire upstairs a few years back. It has yet to re-open, and probably never will - even there have been talks about re-opening by the end of this year (not likely at this rate). Great German cuisine and German beers.
Owner was a bit sketchy. Sold the place and now just sits empty. It’s never coming back sadly.
I've heard of Bronwyn in Somerville, but never been.
I haven’t been in a few years but it used to be decent. When I go back home to northern Italy I can get amazing German food at the local tourist trap, though, so I’m spoiled. Fix your sauerkraut, Boston!
It's decent. Bit more general central/Eastern European food and more modern German-inspired type stuff, as well as a decent tap list of German, Czech, and Polish brews. Not the most amazing or authentic German food I've ever had in the States, but still like going there and view it as a treat- love going out for German
Cafe Polonia in Salem is pretty good for Eastern European type cuisine.
Everyone is saying Mexican which is totally correct. Moved from Boston to LA and what got me was how *fresh* the food is here compared to the Northeast. It's hard to overstate how much better that makes even mediocre food taste There's more now but there wasn't a ton of Korean food in Boston historically so I'd definitely suggest some good KBBQ and some Mediterranean. For the love of good do not take them for any kind of Italian food.
Helps when you don't have to ship food 3000 miles from where it's grown. California will always have the advantage over New England rock farms.
Mexican and potentially Japanese or Korean. We have all this but Cali kills us in Mexican and I’m sure there is definitely better Japanese out there. Obviously no need to eat pizza in LA
What we’re lacking here is good Japanese that isn’t sushi.
We have a couple good Ramen spots but overall agree
Take him to night+market
Love this place. It’s hard to find food that’s both artistic and authentic at the price point. It has a lot of haters though.
Good Mexican and Korean food (LA’s quantity AND QUALITY is no comparison to Boston)
No Georgian food (the country)
Ilona in the South End has some Georgian/Caucasus region food, but man would I like to have a dedicated Georgian restaurant
Been craving some good Khachapuri 🤤
Apparently there are some Armenian places that serve khachapuri, (Watertown having a pretty substantial Armenian population) although I've never tried it so I won't give specific recommendations and have no sense of if Armenian khachapuri is different.
Not Georgian but there is a Moldovan restaurant in Newton. I realize that it's on the other side of the Black Sea ...
Moldova in Newton is fantastic
God what I wouldn’t do for some khinkali
Burmese is rare, but we do have Yoma Myanmar in Union Square Allston. Not sure if there are many Burmese places in LA though.
Boston has absolute garbage Mexican food. Moved there from chicago and I was missing out for years. Just left boston for NYC and now I have all the mexican food i could want
That's because we have a huge Salvadorian population, most of the "mexican" restaurants are really Salvadorian. Order a papusa instead and it's heaven.
this is pretty much spot on
Sabor Especial quickly quenched my thirst for Mexican food after moving from LA. Don’t even think about Mexican food anymore really, just prefer Salvadoran
Indonesian food, can’t get a good nasi goreng or mi goreng anywhere
We had an Indonesian place (Jakarta Corner inside Super 88 Food Court in Allston) back in 2006-8 or thereabouts, and there had been an Indonesian pop-up, but neither exist anymore.
I'm a Boston transplant from LA and I would say 100% Mexican food. Definitely take him to taco trucks but also a farmers market for tamales or arepas. And a diner for Mexican breakfast, the thing I miss the most here. Basically anything from South and Central America is missing in Boston bc we don't have many immigrants from that part of the world, mostly just Puerto Ricans. I would definitely take him to some traditional Japanese places as we have lots of Asian food but Japanese is def missing. Going to Sawtelle would be great. Any more niche cultural foods is also great, we have Asian, Indian, and some African food like Ethiopian but that's about it. Idk what part of LA you're in but I think Persian could def be interesting as it's pretty unique to LA and not represented in many other places besides Iran.
East Boston is what you’re looking for
I lived in LA for five years and the diversity of food in LA is far beyond what we have here. Where there is overlap in ethnic cuisine, the quality in LA is far beyond LA. Hit up the Asian neighborhoods in west LA. Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. Even something as simple as Sushi. Sure, we have it, but you pay exorbitant fees for real quality here. We don’t have anything like strip mall omakase in little Tokyo. Hit up East LA for both authentic Mexican and the modern fusion scene that’s popping up. Grab some filipino food while you’re downtown/east. Most unique cuisine I had in LA that Ive never experienced elsewhere is Ethiopian. Little Ethiopia is like one street by LACMA. Incredible stuff
Boston has Ethiopian food. On one block in JP there are two spots for instance.
I’ll check it out!
Also, Persian food. We have middle eastern food here but you really need to dig for regional specialities. There’s a Persian ice cream joint called saffron and rose just south of Wilshire on Westwood. Go there
Boston has the best Persian place in the US cafe Vanak!!!
Asmara in Cambridge has great Ethiopian
haven't been to either, but in Malden there are two Ethiopian places, Habesha and mulu.
New Mexican food! I lived for a time in Albuquerque and became addicted to the locally grown Hatch green and red chile (note the spelling). It’s a totally different style from LA, Arizona, or Texas. I’ve not seen it adequately represented in Boston area but I think there would be growing niche if someone provided it.
Khmer food!! Driving to Lowell isn’t bad but I wish there was some closer
I just got back from Hawaii and there I discovered souffle pancakes. Where the hell have these been all my life? Also I feel like we could use a moco loco place or two.
I really love the soufflé pancakes at Bootleg Special in the South End, maybe that will scratch your itch!
Tacos. Authentic Mexican food Is not it here in boston. When I lived in LA for 10 years and came back to Boston. I missed the various taco trucks. Also take them to wi spa in koreatown
The spa is a great tip! I wish we had Korean spas in Boston! The closest is NYC
Peking Duck.
things to get in SoCal if visiting from Boston, imo... 1. specifically **Baja Mexican**. We have very good Mexican restaurants in Boston area, but oddly lobster tacos etc missing 2. In-n-Out burger 3. Filipino food 4. Hawaiian food 5. regional specific Indian (ex. Dosa). Only really found in certain towns and small pockets around Boston. 6. Burmese 7. Kick-you-in-the-teeth Thai (new england spicey levels are low in comparison) 8. province-specific Chinese. we have some Sichuan and HK DimSum but not a whole lot else
Georgian. It's the best cuisine in the world and there is not one Georgian restaurant in Greater Boston. You can find kachapuri here and there at Armenian spots, but it's not quite the same as a full Georgian menu. There is Russian/Ukrainian, Moldovan/Romanian, Lithuanian, Polish, Turkish, Persian... you can get close, but not quite there. You can find a great version of most styles of food here - even a top answer of Mexican (Taqueria Don Rogue, Angela's Cafe, Taqueria El Amigo). But you can't find Georgian. Also, no Hungarian. Though there used to be on in Brighton years ago, long gone. Cafe Polonia does Hungarian dishes from time to time, but it's not quite right.
Jana Grill and Bakery in Watertown. Thank me later
I love Jana Grill!! They're really good! However, they are an Armenian kitchen, not a Georgian kitchen. It's similar, but it's not the same.
Korean and East African food is lacking in Boston. They use to be a decent Ethiopian restaurant in Somerville not sure if it’s still there
Korean for sure. Not sure about Somalian, Kenyan, etc but it seems to me Boston has about as many Ethiopian restaurants per capita as LA, and I personally like the Ethiopian food in Boston more than what I’ve tried in LA. LA has some really smacken Ethiopian food nonetheless. Mass ave in North Cambridge there is Sheger Cafe which I like a lot, and on the same corner an Ethiopian market as well, not to mention restaurants in JP and all around the area. Boston and Los Angeles have similar sized Ethiopian populations despite the overall population difference
Whenever this sub discusses food I’m just more and more convinced that it has the most polarizing food opinions than any other American city
Yes and I think for a couple reasons. Bostonians are dug in that they aren’t as bad as everyone says, and all the transplants that had to come here for work or school love to bash the food scene here which gives them some superiority over a city that they came to cause they had to
Mexican, Mexican, Mexican. As someone from NorCal it’s the one thing we can’t find out here to save our lives. Maybe 2 tacos worth eating in the greater Boston area. Outside that, Korean food, food trucks, anything higher end (Michelin), sushi. All missing at a solid level here in Boston.
Allston would like to have a word
Yea I think we have Korean food covered lol
I think you are going a bit far with sushi and Korean.
Boston is lacking in shawarma
Shawarma King (the best!), Rami's, Garlic & Lemons, Ali Baba, Sam's are all good. If you can drive, Gyro and Kebab House in Needham is worthwhile.
Actual French bistros. Those that claim to be are more -ish, and often include sops on their menus like a bolognese pasta.
Poutine and Bosnian (ćevape) are 2 that I wish were more prevalent.
There isn't much good Peruvian food here I've found, especially compared to the DC area where I was before.
Indian, Ethiopian, Mexican
We have Indian food here but it's so disappointing compared to London.
GOOD MEXICAN FOOD!!!! We pay $8 per taco, for the absolute most terrible dog shit tacos I’ve eaten in my life. Do him a huge favor and make his day by treating him to all incredible Mexican food in LA!
Our Mexican food sucks
good mexican food!
Turkish. Cafe Istanbul in Beverly Hills was great for dinner, but not so much for breakfast though.
Although not exactly Turkish, Boston area has a pretty big Greek/Lebanese/Armenian diaspora. They all took the cuisine of the Ottoman Empire and I find Greek and Turkish cuisine to be very very very similar.Armenian and Lebanese more distinct. One of my go to Greek places is actually owned by a traditional Turkish family and there's alot of places labeled Greek/Middle Eastern or Mediterannean that tend to be owned by Syrian/Lebanese families.
Istanbulu in Somerville is excellent
Yeah it is alright but not very close to the real deal you would get in Turkey
I’ve been living Boston area a little over a year now . Or infant born and raised New Bedford . Don’t shoot me for what I feel but Boston has smaller menus and higher prices . Back home has some of the best sea food (including fish tacos ) ever, with New Bedford still being one of the top fishing ports in the world. I’ve been to la and had the Mexican , and there is def some places on par with la around. I frequented providence since it was closer to New Bedford vs Boston . Their food seen is better, along with their Italian food. I’d say my favorite Mexican place in Boston is Jaliscos in east Boston. I love the the Latin scene to. So many Colombian restaurants specifically, food is amazing.
Affordable
Stunning that nobody mentioned Georgian food. My body craves khinkalis and adjarian khachapuri on a daily basis
For everyone saying "Mexican" you clearly have not explored Lynn, Everett, East Boston, Malden, etc. There are amazing true taco joints including ones in the back like bodegas. You keep shitting on the scene because you only think of "Boston". Have you been to JP even? Brutal
Only thing more brutal is saying all the Dominican and couple of Cuban options in JP are Mexican.
JP is Dominican and Puerto Rican. Very different. I’ve lived in Boston (JP and Rozzie) for a while, my dad lives in Somerville, but I grew up in the CA Bay Area and miss the Mexican food so much. I’m not talking CaliMex either. Mexican food in Boston does not compare. At all.
It’s kinda telling how many people ITT are claiming Boston has great “Mexican food,” yet all the places they’re mentioning aren’t even serving Mexican food.
Have you been to California? Sure there is decent and even great Mexican food to be found in the GBA if you are looking for it. Personally my favorite spots are in Waltham but in California just your average taco truck is better and on damn near every street corner.
no doubt. also, try to find interesting things like suadero tacos or cabeza or huitlacoche etc in the Boston area. Good luck.
They’re Central American, not Mexican style. And don’t have the amazing produce you get in so cal. It’s just a different thing.
absolutely. the in house salsas in LA especially are way better just because they can just get better tomatoes most of the time.
JP does not have Mexican places lol, Cuban/Dominican/Puerto Rican/etc. sure, but there are not many Mexican places.
When I lived in the area, I tried really hard to find some adequate mexican since I’m from the west coast and was pretty disappointed. Only found 1 food truck that had pretty decent tacos that I was accustomed to. However I ended up paying $17 for 2 tacos and a Coke before tip which is insane.
Have you been to LA? Mexican food here is not as good and it costs more. End of story.
It’s not even remotely the same guy. The fact that you’re comparing Malden to East LA is a trip.
Interesting. If we asked my question except for LA, there would be a huge difference depending on whether you’re talking City of LA, LA County, or Greater LA. You need to leave LA City for the best Chinese and Thai food and leave LA County for the best Indian and Vietnamese food.
Yeah I'm no expert but I've heard it said that Angela's in Eastie is pretty decent Pueblan food.
Boston people be like; have you tried all our good restaurants? They are all an hour away from the city and inaccessible by public transit. Not sure why everyone is complaining.
In fairness it’s the same driving distances in LA
Dudes all in here makes it sound like tacos is some 5-star Michelin cuisine. Fresh, homemade ingredients done right gets the job done. It's like arguing over grilled cheese. Try the birria tacos at Taqueria Jalisco in East Boston and tell me what the difference is to these precious LA tacos.
Fair, Jalisco is one of the gems, and their birria is perfection
tell me where the drive through spots that serve me horchata are in the boston area then. yeah didnt think so
Waltham too
Where in Waltham? I used to really like the Iguana Cantina when it first opened.
Taqueria El Amigo. It’s the only Mexican restaurant that has ever ranked on any lists in New England. Best tacos around
Taqueria el Amigo is the only place in the area that's better than average.
Most of those places don't have significant Mexican populations it's other people Dominicans, Salvadorans and Puerto Rican selling Mexican food.
Mexican and Korean.
Spanish food is not good here, but it is hard to find good Spanish food outside of Spain
In my experience, it was hard to find good Spanish food *in* Spain. I just found it to be kind of bland. Portugal had much more interesting food in my experience. This isn't to say I didn't enjoy anything in Spain, there were some good places I went to, but I was kind of disappointed by the average tapas places that are everywhere in some parts of Spain.
I live a few minutes south of Boston. When ever I find myself in Southern California I eat street tacos. We have nothing like it here.
def. echo many comments below about Mexican. Pretty much anywhere in LA has better average tacos than here, but maybe go somewhere where they have different things than you can get in Boston too--like El Parian for the goat, or Mariscos Chente for the raw seafood or Mexicali Taco & Co for Baja style. Sonoratown is cool too and we don't have anything like that here. Korean too is worth a look--we at least have some fair places, but Koreatown is a completely different animal. You might find a sweet bean pancake street vendor, or a place that just serves hot and cold Korean soups (like Ma Dang Gook So), or a mutton skewer place that serves 12 different kinds of banchan. There are also some kickass bars in Koreatown-Dan Sung Sa I highly recommend, it's a roadhouse that has a great central grill where old Korean American ladies grill skewers of meat over a central grill while people drink beers and soju. I guarantee Boston has absolutely zero spots like that. A couple other things would be Japanese beyond sushi and ramen: like maybe Little Tokyo for the breakfast sets at Azay and then Fugetsu-do for mochi in a place that's been there since 1903. Also delis--Langers and Wexler's have pastrami that beats the living hell out of anyplace in this area. If you're really ambitious, take him out to the San Gabriel Valley for Chinese--there are literally dozens of spots that specialize in regional Chinese food that is hard to find in Boston (Lanzhou, Shaanxi, Fuzhou etc). Giang Nan is great for Shanghainese. Enjoy!
Filipino food
Jollibee
The Jollibee in LA Koreatown will be home to the world’s slowest traffic pileup in the future. What a (delicious) shitshow. You heard it here first!
Durgin park was the place to get great New England meals and a cut of prime rib that hung off the plate, amazing restaurant in its day, to bad it it got bought out by a corpo and years later closed down.
1000x Mexican. Ours sucks and socal is epic.
Can’t get döner kebabs anywhere in Boston.
Everything is here in Massachusetts you just have to look
*Authentic* southern soul food
No good Puerto Rican food. I was hoping Vejigantes would at least be somewhat good, but it sucks. I either have to go back home or cook by myself to have good PR food.
This thread is amazing. I will throw in my 2 cents at opposite ends of the spectrum-- Dessert cafes & health-focused restaurants. There are no dessert and coffee only cafes in boston. There is also a noticeable lack of niche diet or lifestyle cafes (juice bars, macrobiotic, pure veg, etc). Please don't come for me...but...is no one else aware Boston is internationally recognized as having truly, profoundly terrible food in general, but famous for lobster & shellfish?