April 12th 2014: The Beaches of Quincy

This Saturday morning, I decided to start it by heading to the town of Natick to do some hiking at the Hunnewell Town Forest, passing by Jennings Pond at Oak Street near Jennings Pond Road along the way.

On the other side of the pond is the forest itself, and the path I took here is shown below in pink.

The views of the water and wetlands here were okay.

In order to get to the water tower, I decided to head in from the Bacon Street entrance instead, located at the junction with Marion Street. Nothing much to see here either.

From here,  it was time to grab some breakfast at Quincy Cafe, a small town modern looking place in Quincy that was totally empty when I visited it, and stayed so throughout my meal.

Like my huge meal yesterday, I was forced to have another one here as well.

Besides my cup of Hot Chocolate,

I got a side of Corned Beef,

the Home Made Pulled Pork and Swiss Cheese Omelette

and the Texas Style French Toast with Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly.

The corned beef was pretty good, as was the omelette and french toast. I could only eat so much though, and most of the egg and bread had to be taken home in a doggy bag. Overall though, not a place I would come back to, mainly because there wasn't anything special about the food.

After breakfast, it was time to start sightseeing in town. Besides a few monuments in town,

Fake Lighthouse,

724 Southern Artery

Large Anchor,

711 Washington Street

It was the many beaches that occupied my day before lunch at B and G Oysters in Boston.

Mound Street Beach at the end of Mound Street was pretty peaceful, although there are industrial plants nearby.

Avalon Beach is nearby at Baker Avenue and Avalon Avenue, narrow, and closer to the plant.

Heron Beach at the end of Heron Road is more of a small private beach, but with beautiful views of Boston.

Back Beach at the end of Delano Avenue is a really small neighborhood beach, where little kids were skipping stones when I visited.

Baker Beach at the junction of Palmer Street and Broady Avenue is a bit larger with a playground on site.

Sailors Snug Harbor at Palmer Street and Figurehead Lane looked more like a construction site than a beach.

Firestation Beach at the end of Doane Street was my last beach for the day, and possibly the best beach I saw today as well.

Finally, it was time for my meetup lunch at B and G Oysters, located in the south End area of Boston.

In order to enter this place you actually can't go in the front door, having to go in at the back, where I had a concern that I was entering by the cargo bay area as a guy just happened to be pushing a cart into the place as I approached. The inside of the place itself is pretty small as well, though pretty well decorated, much like the restaurants in the North End.

After everyone arrived, it was time to order. I could not leave this place without trying the oysters, so I got a half dozen of them (Katama Bay, Naked Cowboy and Penn Cove). Excellent, simply excellent.

While everyone else got the Maine Lobster Roll (french fries, bread and butter pickles)

or the  Beer Batter Fish and Chips (french fries, malt vinegar aïoli),

 
I got the Ricotta Gnocchi Soup (parmesan brodo, broccolini, crispy prosciutto)

 and the Jonah Crab Fra Diavolo (house-made cavatelli, calabrian chili, dried tomato).

The soup was not bad, but not that amazing, while the sour tomato based sauce for the pasta was not necessarily to my liking either, although the crab meat was really fresh. I wish I had gotten the Lobster Roll instead. Perhaps next time I come back.

From here, I headed to get some food truck stuff done. After the tasks of the day, my friend and I decided to grab some Thai food, checking out Khao Sarn Cuisine in Brookline. This place looks really fancy for a Thai restaurant for sure.

For drinks, I decided to get the Thai Iced Tea, which was a little sweet for me, but still very good.

For appetizers, my friend got the Tom Yum Goong (spicy with shrimp, mushrooms, lemongrass, chili paste and fresh lime juice), which was so-so,

while the Som Tum (Shredded green papaya, carrots, shrimp, roasted peanuts, garlic and chili mixed together in a spicy, sweet and tangy dressing) was pretty good.

For our main dishes, I decided to go with the Moo Pa Lo (A country style, flavorful braised pork stew with hard boiled eggs, fried tofu and chunks of tender pork simmered for hours until tender in a delicious brown sauce),

while my friend got the Pad Kee Mao (Pan-fried wide rice noodles with ground beef, onions, Thai eggplants, hot peppers and basil leaves).

The pork stew reminded me of the braised pork my mom makes back home, while the the noodles were rich and tasty. An excellent meal to say the least, definitely one of the better Thai meals I have had in the US.

With that, my day of visiting beaches and eating good food came to an end.