Union Oyster House, 41 Union Street, (617) 227-2750, www.unionoysterhouse.com, is around the corner from Faneuil Hall. Yes, it’s old (open 1826, it bills itself as the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the nation), and very touristy. But kids can visit the Freedom Trail room to spot the carvings and displays of the main stops on the trail and chow down on a fish filet sandwich ($7.95) or hot dog ($4.95), while adults enjoy a bowl of creamy clam chowder ($5.50).
Boston City Limit
Best of Boston
Archive for November, 2009
Boston Public Garden’s Swan Boats
The famous Swan Boats in the Public Garden, www.swanboats.com ($2.50; age 2 to 15, $1), offer another peaceful interlude. While parents sit back for the 15-minute figure-eight cruise around the lagoon (including an island where the ducks lived in the book “Make Way for Ducklings”), children will be quietly intrigued by the driver pedaling away, bicyclelike, behind the swan in the back of the boat.
M.I.T. Museum Main Gallery
M.I.T. Museum Main Gallery
265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, (617) 253-4444
web.mit.edu/museum
($5; age 5 to 18, $2; closed Monday), you’ll find robots, 3-D holograms, including one of the remains of a 2,000-year-old man discovered in a bog in England, and an exhibition of photographs that capture instants in time like when a bullet explodes through an apple.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Museum of Fine Arts is Boston’s grand museum, but the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum around the corner, at 280 The Fenway, www.gardnermuseum.org, (617) 278-5156, is Boston’s jewel.
In the late 19th century Mrs. Gardner and her husband traveled the world collecting art. Their home, built in the style of a 15th-century Venetian palace, houses great works from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East along with Mrs. Gardiner’s eccentric personal touches like a moonstone covering a lock of Robert Browning’s hair.
The eccentric Venetian-style palazzo built about a century ago that is crammed with 2,500 of Mrs. Gardner’s acquisitions. Her will warns that if the permanent collection is disturbed, it will be given to Harvard; that partly explains the empty frames of two Rembrandts and a Vermeer taken along with other pieces in a 1990 robbery that is unsolved. Consider buying the $4 audio guide or $16 paperback guide because much of the collection is unlabeled.
Visitors with the name Isabella are admitted free; everyone else pays $10.
Locke-Ober Café
Locke-Ober Café
3 Winter Place, (617) 542-1340
Locke-Ober Café is just off Boston Common is classic Boston with a twist. The largely male clientele includes many politicos from Beacon Hill, who meet here to cajole and twist arms over lunch – keep an eye out for the likes of John Kerry and Mitt Romney.
Jackets are recommended. Think dark wood, gold chandeliers, worn mosaic tile floor, stained glass and the famous nude painting of “Yvonne,” much of it dating back to 1875 when the cafe was founded.
The menu, which changes weekly, includes a collection of old and new – grilled bluefish and salmon luncheon entrees swim between traditional poached eggs with roast beef hash and the calf’s liver with bacon and onions. Lunch appetizers are $13 and entrees range from $15 to $25. Dinner entrees start at $25.
Sage Restaurant (North End)
Sage
North End, 69 Prince Street, (617) 248-8814
If you love authentic and hearty Italiam, Sage is hard to beat. The menu, which changes often, can include intimate savory dishes like rabbit, veal and lobster. Sage is tiny (28 seats maximum) and easy to miss from the street, while inside, it’s simply adorned, but comfortable. Reservations are recommended. Open for dinner only. Appetizers are $10, entrees $18 to $30.
Save room for torrone nougat ($4.75) at the Modern Pastry Shop around the corner at 257 Hanover Street.
The Clarendon Square Inn
The Clarendon Square Inn
198 West Brookline Street; 617-536-2229; www.clarendonsquare.com is a beautiful surprise. The rooms in this brownstone have been elegantly renovated with antique tubs, fine linens and serene furnishings. Every detail is lovely.
Rooms are $150 to $385, May through August.
Four Seasons Boston Hotel
Four Seasons
200 Boylston Street; 617-338-4400; www.fourseasons.com/boston. Perhaps the grandest of Boston’s hotels is the Four Seasons. You can’t beat it for service and it’s just a few streets from the South End. Weekend rates start at $325 a night.
Cambridge House Bed & Breakfast Inn
Cambridge House Bed & Breakfast Inn
(2218 Massachusetts Avenue; 617-491-6300; www.acambridgehouse.com) is my top pick. It is conveniently located in north Cambridge, close to Harvard Square, Lesley University, Porter Square or Davis Square subway to M.I.T., or downtown Boston to the theater district and the Freedom Trail. Rooms are tastefully decorated with a Victorian style, spacious lounge is ideal for relaxing or meeting friends. Parking, breakfast and Internet access are all included in the rate. An urban gem.
Hotel Marlowe
Hotel Marlowe
(25 Edwin H. Land Boulevard; 617-868-8000; www.hotelmarloweboston.com) just over the Charles River in Cambridge. Across the street from the wonderful science museum and duck tours, it is conveniently attached to a terrific mall. But in the hotel, you can feel a world away with a comfy communal living room where coffee and tea are served in the morning and wine is shared before dinner. The staff remembers your preferences and requests and seems perpetually cheerful.
