Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Pinocchio's in Harvard Square. One plain slice and one sicilian was the power move. Or Tommy's (RIP, sadly) if you didn't want to wait in line and didn't mind the dropoff in quality.

one of the reasons i miss boston. i went to one hell night where some guy actually passed out near the bathrooms at east coast grill, no joke.

@ Andrew Coe

Little Pepper has been closed for quite a while, unless you're talking about the location way in College Point...

Is there a way to provide the recipe in standard measurements? Many of us aren't professional pastry chefs and don't have kitchen scales.

Having been to all of these places (and since they're all destination-worthy in their own right), I think this analysis should take into account the total experience. For example, the longer waits at Pepe's and Sally's can definitely mar an otherwise delicious pizza experience, while the pizzas aren't really "better" or "worse" than Modern or Zuppardi's. If you only had to pick one to try, all of them would be worthy choices and standard-bearers of the New Haven style.

In particular (though I've luckily never experienced it) I've heard that the current waits at Sally's are nearly intolerable and can downright ruin the entire experience: hour-plus waits for pies once seated, and a secret "reservation list" for friends and family who routinely cut the multi-hour line that stretches outside.

I've found the issue at CB to be that basically, they par-cook their burgers. The only way to get around this is to order a burger rare, which produces a burger that is juicy, tasty and (most of the time), with a nice salty crust. But they (not joking) charge an extra 75c for this pleasure. Either that or I just got ripped off last time I was there...

Based on this article though, maybe it's a deeper problem.

As somebody who grew up in East Williston, I have to disagree with Hildebrandt's. The place is unquestionably a landmark, but I've never had a burger there that wasn't par-cooked and painfully dry.

I live in the neighborhood, and I'll second that the service at M. Wells is subpar. It's excusable that it's a small space with (probably) a high staff-to-rent ratio. It's not excusable that they continued to overbook dinners after a year of being in business and that it's standard to wait an hour past your reservation time. A generally unapologetic staff attitude doesn't help, either.

I think the $200/per farewell dinners are pretty indicative of the restaurant the owners want to build - a hype machine. Given the neighborhood and the rents, that kind of price tag isn't meant to attract locals or regulars, and only really serves to perpetuate the cause of the bad service in the first place: a torrent of food tourists with too much money to spend that have overwhelmed a small, local space.

As a parting anecdote, I went this past Sunday to get a last meal there before they close. About 25 patrons stood outside in pouring rain for 30 minutes (or more) while the staff inside hung around the empty restaurant (the tables were fully set). Why? The restaurant didn't "offcially" open until 10am. It's a one time occurrence, but think it's a telling story on the staff attitude - there was no reason they couldn't let people inside, even if they weren't ready to serve anybody. They just didn't.

Just an fyi, I tried this recipe and it worked quite well, but a few clarifying points:

-it took about 2 hours to cook the beef down to a tender-enough consistency and reduce everything to a semi-dry state (i.e. not a goopy curry). this required a lof of stirring during the last 30 minutes of cooking to avoid sticking/burning. so, 45 minutes isn't a great time guideline.
- many of the ingredients are difficult (if not impossible) to find in the US - I couldn't find asam keping, tumeric leaf, or kaffir limes in 5 groceries in Flushing and Elmhurst. whole/fresh versions of tumeric or galangal were also nonexistent, though dried galangal (once semi-rehydrated in hot water) and powdered tumeric seemed to work just fine.
- i added 4 fresh bird chiles to the recipe and it nearly blew my head off with spiciness. they're probably not needed unless you're really into spicy food.

Just an fyi, both Joe & Pat's and Rubiroba do vodka pies that look like a bigger version of that Pier 76 pie.

This place looks great!

Though I have to say, baffled that Mary Chung hasn't been mentioned on here yet, given your knowledge of Boston Chinese cuisine.

have to be honest, these rolls look WAY better than the ones you made last week...