Hideouts + Hangouts in Boston

During my four years in Boston, I experienced and enjoyed a variety of "versions" of the city, and that's what made living there so enjoyable. Boston can be appreciated in many different capacities: as a tourist to the historic sites and seeing Boston's seafaring heritage, as an academic type - attending some of the thousands of lectures open to the public by the exceptional universities and museums there or by taking a class, as a local - hanging out in a Cambridge bar and chatting it up with familiar people, as a food critic - sampling the work of amazing Boston chefs, as a nature enthusiast at the many nearby parks and trust properties like the Harbor Islands, etc etc. I found that the city could accommodate just about any fixation or mood…

Quick Tips:

Boston has incredible restaurants right under your nose. Check out some of the places in the South End and East Cambridge, avoid the overly-commercialized places on Boylston and Newberry Street, yuck. Also, even though the Duck Tours seem to epitomize annoying tourism, you'd actually get a nice overview of the history of the city, plus a cool view of Boston and Cambridge when you enter the Charles River in one of their amphibious vehicles. You might just have to put a bag over your head and duck down when the Guide suggests that the passengers quack! Ugh! For a nice introduction to the lay of the land, go to the top of the Prudential building.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking. Biking. Boston Harbor Water Taxi (for fun!) The T is slow but can connect you to Cambridge as well as to the Airport efficiently. With the infamous Big Dig, driving is a drag!

Opened in 1998, the Seaport Hotel caters to business travelers and weekenders, with modem hookups and plenty of office supplies in each nicely appointed room. Great views of Boston (subject to change, of course with all the Big Dig development activities). Simple but elegant decor that's an upgrade from ubiquitous generic hotel furnishings. Exceptional fitness center with nice lap pool with underwater music, an open juice bar and well-stocked locker rooms with robes, towels, and a sauna. The hotel staff is unusually courteous and do not accept gratuities -- one less thing to worry about.

The Hotel is located in a somewhat unusual but interesting area under development in downtown Boston, the Seaport District, which is flanked by Boston Harbor and Fort Point Channel -- an area with sadly diminishing old warehouses that are home to many artist's studios as well as Boston's Children's Museum, right next to the Tea Party Ship. Compelling is its very convenient location: The Hotel is right next to the World Trade Center, and the new harbor tunnel that goes directly to Logan Airport (a short but moderately expensive taxi ride, with the airport surcharge added). The Financial District and South Station, where you can get the Red Line T, Amtrak, and commuter trains, are about a 10-15 minute walk. The hotel also has a garage with validated parking. Though I haven't been, the restaurant has a top notch chef who is earning food critics' acclaim. Also, a small cafe is on the premises which offers cappucino, bagels, muffins, and light snacks.

http://www.bostonharbor.com/bb.html

For something a bit weird, out of the ordinary and entertaining in a funny way, you can stay on a boat docked in Constitution Marina -- in Boston Harbor between downtown (great view!) and Charlestown. My parents accidentally happened upon it as a last resort option when all hotels were booked in Boston the weekend they came up to visit me.

The Marina is a scenic five minute walk to the North End over one of the harbor bridges. The B&B rents several individually-owned vessels, and you can stay on a motor boat or a sailboat.

Our boat was a 1970s cabin cruiser, with two sleeping cabins (linens provided). The forward cabin was not intended for claustrophobes and had an unappealing mildewy aroma. The "master" cabin had a small double bed and the head with hot water shower. The boat was also equipped with a television and small galley with refrigerator (stocked with muffins and juice for breakfast)and toaster oven.

The marina offers easy access to harbor water taxis (with more frequency on weekdays). In the summer apparently, there is available access to a pool. With the price charged nightly for somewhat cramped quarters, you might be happier on land. However, the B&B offers you a strategic location to get in line early for a table at Olive's restaurant, across the street!!

The absolute best raw bar in town, with a rotating variety of high quality east coast oysters. Inventive preparation of fresh seafood - known for unique and spicy flavor combinations. Atmosphere is lively and unpretentiously hip, staff is gregarious and entertaining. Always a long line for a table, no reservations unless party is large. Equally as fun to hang out at the marble bar.

My sister has implored me to figure out a way to transport one of Anna's super burritos on a 7 hour journey to her in Pennsylvania. No luck so far. As far as I'm concerned Anna's super veggie burrito is one of the best combinations of ingredients and flavors I've had the pleasure of eating. The line is usually out the door.

B-side is heavy on a refined 'lounge' scene. The bar is packed on weekend evenings with a young sassy 'Cambridge' crowd. Great cocktail menu. The food has good intentions, but ends up being just okay -- the chefs attempt taking a gourmet twist on American standards: like grilled sirloin with mushroom baklava over mashed potatoes. Go with the seafood entrees which tend to be more innovative. The appetizers are usually tastier (but tiny!) and rotate with frequency. Try red beet salad with sugar peas, watercress over creme fraiche. Other worthy sides, if you are in the mood, are lobster mashed potatoes. Brunch is better than dinner, and sans the drinking crowd.

Boston's only "true" no-gimmicks waterside crab and fish shack. The Barking Crab is an oddity, situated right on Fort Point Channel with a huge canopied deck with uninterrupted view of the Financial District skyline with James Hook Lobster Company in the foreground.

On your first visit there, you'll really never believe that it could possibly exist -- where it is, for sure, but also the eclecticism of the atmosphere and clientele.

During the spring and summer you'll see a big after-work-in-the-Financial-District crowds, suits and like, later in the evening when the band strikes up on the deck they'll be 20-30-40-50 somethings at the bar mingling and families at the picnic tables devouring lobster and corn on the cob. On occasion some seafaring individuals will pull up to the dock landing and come in for a beer and chat about being out on the water with the bar staff. Despite the range of ages and characters no one seems to mind each other. The atmosphere is chaotic but enjoyable. Visual clutter, but interesting clutter is hanging from walls and the ceiling --crab traps festooned with lights, oars, water level markers in a haphazard way -- nothing formulaic-ly "sea themed" or overdone touristic -- like Legal Seafood tends to be.

The menu at the Barking Crab honors its name (sans bark) with a crab menu -"Lone Crab" selections include New Englandy Jonah crabs, which will arrive by their lonesome in a bucket, some dipping butter, and you'll use your teeth and/or the convenient rock placed on each table as your tool. Standard fish shack fare is also on the menu -- popular picks are steamed whole lobsters, peel & eat shrimp, grilled swordfish sandwiches, fried fish & clams, the ubiquitous basket of steamers, etc. Specials are more innovative takes on seafood, which might be something like Mahi Mahi with mango salsa. These are usually expensive -- tasty but not worth it in this kind of place. Better to spend your money on the real mccoy.

Winter at the Barking Crab transforms the place from extroversion to introversion -- inside there is a cozy wood stove to huddle around, a bar surrounding the lobster pools, and several dining tables and benches by large windows that still afford the view.

Maybe its just cause I used to live in the neighborhood, but the Barking Crab has a way of making one feel like a local. Go for first for this feeling, a beer and the atmosphere. In my opinion, the food becomes secondary (though nothing to sneeze at).

This is one of the best places to see current art-house and foreign films in Boston. The theatres are well-designed with nice architectural + interior design touches, and importantly, have good screens and sound. Gourmet snack bar provides espresso. Parking is discounted at the garage next to the theatre, for about $2.50 for four hours.

Across the street is an old warehouse cluster aka Kendall Square that has a fabulous restaurant, The Blue Room, as well as a few hangout places like Beantowne Coffeehouse and Flattop Johnny's pool hall for pre or post-movie hanging out/libation. I used to escape to this theatre on a regular basis after work to get lost in another dimension, sometimes enjoying a whole screen just to myself and a few others. Nightime and weekendshowings are usually crowded so get there on the early side.

Far from the stuffiness of the MFA, the Institute of Contemporary Arts has no permanent collection and showcases fresh international contemporary art -- usually work with a strong conceptual or contextual basis. The shows are often retrospectives of a single artist's work. Favorite past exhibit: Cildo Mireiles from Brazil. A renovated firehouse with three-floors of gallery space, the ICA is relatively small. Depending on the exhibit plan an hour or two. It holds just the right amount of work. Plans are in the making for a new building. Thursday evenings are free, and students always get a good discount on admission. A back-door theatre offers great foreign and art films on a weekly basis.