Parish

Parish Cafe and Bar - 361 Boylston Street, Back Bay (Arlington)

My roommate, Sanjay, and I went here on a Tuesday night to meet up with my friend, Laura (it's one of her favorite Back Bay spots) and it was packed. They have a large outdoor patio on Boylston and people were out enjoying the weather. Inside was equally full but we were able to find seats at the bar. I hoped this would be an indication of good things to come and I was not disappointed.

Compared to a lot of the Back Bay, Parish is a good, affordable option. They serve a refreshing variety of entree size salads and sandwiches for around $12 per plate (the $32 double lobster roll is an outlier). I went there with all intentions of eating healthy but when I saw 'The Coppa', I knew I was done for. The menu describes it as

"A slow roasted pork belly sandwich on a sesame seeded bun topped with American cheese, Hellman's mayonaisse, carmelized onions-red jalapeno peppers. Sided with your choice of homemade potato salad or cole slaw."

They had me at pork belly. If there's one thing I have come to realize, it is that I am becoming a big fan of the fatty, flavorful, less conventional parts of the animal. Perhaps this is the best thing that Anthony Bourdain has taught me. It started with bone marrow. Now it's pork belly. I first had pork belly at People, a tapas restaurant in Chicago about a month ago. It was shredded inside a small slider, but the flavor was phenomenal! This time they did not disguise the texture of the cut. My sandwich was literally packed with gooey pieces of essentially pig fat packing an overwhelming flavor of pork goodness. By the end of meal was hands were so greasy I felt like I had washed them in olive oil. If this disturbs you, I apologize. If it does not, you need to try it! Parish has definitely gotten my attention and I'm sure I'll be going back. I might not order the 'The Coppa' every time, but it definitely made me appreciate what they have to offer.

Tale of Two Bike Days

This past weekend I left the car in Acton and enjoyed a weekend of biking and train riding. Normally this would be all good news, but this weekend it was more of a mixed bag. More on that in a bit.

Day one of bike riding was awesome! I took the train up to Newburyport with my roommate and friend from work. [Aside: Newburyport has become my favorite North Shore train destination. See Best Commuter Rail Destinations for more details.] It is great being able to take the trains on the commuter rail for free. There, we met another work friend and were off to Plum Island. I have been there before, but this was the first time biking. It's only a few miles but I was in the lead and it was a little tiring getting over there. However, arriving at the entrance to the wildlife refuge, it was nice to just cruise by the line of cars parked on the side of the road waiting to be let in. $2 later and we were riding down a flat paved road with no cars and views of the Parker River tidal marshes off to our right. We biked a few miles down to the end of the pavement and then back up to the main parking lot, which leads out to a beautiful sandy beach. The water was cold but it was the perfect temperature to just relax and enjoy the sun and cool ocean breeze. Definitely a nice way to relax after putting in about 15 miles of work! We then rode into Newburyport itself and grabbed some amazing $10 lobster rolls before heading back to the train and making it home to Somerville in plenty of time for a shower, some relaxing, and dinner.

Day two was not so great. I woke up on Sunday to a light but steady rain. I was heading up to Wilmington on the Lowell line, so with the lack of good transit options, that means a 2.5 mile ride to West Medford station. This was my first experience biking in the rain and it was not too pleasant. Even with a rain jacket, I still got soaked. After a while that no longer bothered me but the worst thing was all of the road grime that gets kicked up by your tires while you're riding along. I dusted myself and bag off and was able to dry out on the train and thankfully it was not raining when I rode home that evening. It was still nice to be able to get around the Boston area without a car though.

OK, I know this post is dragging on, but I have three more quick annoyances I want to share.

1. Fare collection on the way home from Newburyport - I realize Newburyport is Zone 8 and I only have a Zone 6 pass. However, I do pay the MBTA $223 per month to have that pass and you think they would give me a break and let me ride for free when the difference is that small. Most conductors do this. At the very least, make me pay the difference between a Zone 6 and 8 one way pass, which is $1. However, this conductor decided to charge me the full $2.50 interzone fare to get me to Zone 6. Thanks.

2. Drivers in the city - I will be the first to admit that bikers in Boston do not exactly bike safely or always follow the rules. However, if you are driving in the city these days you need to keep your eyes out for them. On the way home we were going up Cambridge Street through Inman Sq and I was cruising along at a pretty good clip. All of a sudden this jerk in a white pickup pulls out all the way through the bike lane without even looking. I had to brake so hard that my back tire almost spun out. While I was riding past and yelling at him he made a gesture like "Quit your bitching." "F you and learn how to drive, dick!"

3. Waiting to go home from Wilmington, we see the train show up on time. However, it stops a good 300 yards from the station and turns off the lights. I see a figure in blue (conductor or engineer) run from the train and into the bushes behind a strip mall. 5 minutes later he returns and gets back in. The train immediately starts up again and we're off, 5 minutes late. It would be nice to have taken care of whatever personal business this was during the turnaround.

I'm back!

Wow. I didn't realize it had been so long since I've posted. I'll be coming back with some (hopefully) substantial posts over the next couple of days. I certainly have a few things to talk about.