Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
The incomparable James C. from New England has done it again. Here is a shot he sent from the Yankees-Red Sox game last night. On the menu:
Sam Adams Octoberfest
Fenway Frank
clam chowder
James, you ought to get the Boston-area readers of this blog together and take them on a food tour. I’m actually not kidding. You go to the best places, and take the most wonderful photographs.
Yanks won. Sorry, James. But at least you ate and drank well.
Chris S says: That might be the most expensive meal you’ve ever posted a picture of on here.
MH - Secular Misanthropist says: I’ve never been to Fenway park or seen a Red Sox game. My excuse is that I’m a science geek and we don’t do sports.
Chris Jones says: Are the concession prices at Fenway really that much higher than those at other major league parks? I remember the prices being outrageous at the Oakland Coliseum back in the day (the glory days of the A’s when Tony LaRussa was the skipper). I remember the prices being completely out of reach when I used to go to Candlestick Park as a kid.
I haven’t been to a game anywhere but Fenway Park for a lot of years, but I figure that seven bucks for an Italian sausage is just the price of being at the ball park. How much is a hot dog at Camden Yards?
Chris Jones says: MH –
I’ve never been to Fenway park or seen a Red Sox game
I pity you your sad, lame, and pointless existence.
Of course, the way the Sox are playing this year, it’s quite possible that you are better off.
Roland de Chanson says: The communion of a “meal” from a “table” at the Temple of Fenway Park is an act of sublime faith to the likes of which the holy saints and martyrs would fall in proskynetic awe.
By what miracle of transubstantiation might those inesculent species be called a “frankfurter” or “clam chowder”? This is profoundest theology indeed.
As to the libation, I quote the sainted patroness of the cult of hops and female orgasms, Hildegard von Bingen, Cerevisiae ne fisi sitis. Or in the novus ordo seclorum vernacular, for the benediction of the congregation in the bleachers, “Don’t trust the beer.”
MH - Secular Misanthropist says: I pity you your sad, lame, and pointless existence.
You know those corporate box seats where salesmen take corporate customers to try and woo them?
At a previous job my boss got an invitation from a vendor salesman to attend a Red Sox game in one. Well he was a science nerd too and had no interest. So he sends the salesmen my way who offers to take me. I said thanks, but no thanks.
Sales guys at technology companies usually aren’t science nerds. So he couldn’t get the concept that two people could turn an offer like that down.
James, I’m on my way to Boston this weekend and next. Any tips? How about the best lobster roll?
James C. says: Oh, it’s cheap at Fenway compared to Yankee Stadium. When I was last there, a Heineken was $11!
From what I can remember, the Sam Adams Octoberfest (my favorite Sam seasonal variety) was $8.50, with the chowder costing $8 and the hot dog about $5.
Could have been worse.
Bill Cosby threw out the first pitch last night. Not too bad; he’s got quite a few years on the president, and I’d say quite a bit more life in his arm too. 
MH, I took a friend of mine, she’s an Italian doing her postdoc here, and she loved it despite knowing next to nothing about baseball. Even if you aren’t really into baseball, there’s something about being in an old ballpark during a game—especially at venerable Fenway, which is 100 this year. It’s one of the great American communal experiences.
James C. says: A New England gastronomical adventure sounds like great fun, Rod. And don’t forget that you are most welcome if you ever make your way up here.
Stonechurch says: Ugh! Always sad to see a great beer served like that. I could taste the plastic just looking at the photo…
Joshua says: These “Views From Your Table” have now entered my dream-scape. Last night I dreamed that I was in St. Francisville, La. for the express purpose of showing off a particular kind of potato I’d grown.
Roland de Chanson says: Speaking of a gastronomic peregrination about the precincts of the Hub, is Durgin Park still a mecca for oyster lovers? (Rod’s mouth begins to water.) Let me rephrase that lest the Saracens sack the site: is it still the venereal venue for Venus on the Halfshell?
How else to describe the erotic enticements of raw oysters? The succulent savour of the goddess! That paragon of prurient refection! That unique comestible of cunning cuisiniers! That quintessence of aphrodisiacs! And the gullet caressed by the warming nectar of a chilled Pinot Chardonnay.
The nec plus ultra of palatal passion. Mangia Venere e poi muori!
Chris Jones says: M. de Chanson,
inesculent … “clam chowder”
I’ve never actually had a Fenway Frank, but the clam chowder on offer at Fenway Park is from Legal Seafood, and is among the best in New England. (I won’t say it is the best, for fear of setting off an intramural New England food fight; but it’s up there.)
James C. says: Roland,
Durgin Park is still around, though I probably haven’t been there since a St. Patrick’s Day 3 or 4 years ago.
As is the Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in the United States having opened in 1826. Perhaps I should do a “view from my table” at the place where such figures as Daniel Webster and John F. Kennedy slurped oysters.
Rod, how’s this for a French oyster connection? Exiled future King Louis Philippe lived in the second floor of the building in 1796.
The place, being on the Freedom Trail, is a tourist magnet, but it’s still interesting. My sister used to bartend there, and she’d get me free oyster shots—an acquired taste, for sure!
Oysters are good there, but the real oyster mecca in Boston is Neptune Oyster nearby in the North End. Their clam chowder and lobster rolls are also among the best in the city.
For oysters I also like to go to one of the pubs in Cambridge or Somerville (the Foundry or Saloon in Davis Square or Russell House Tavern in Harvard Square, for example) that have weeknight local oyster specials—different varieties for a buck a piece. Dollar-oyster happy hour specials can be found all over Boston too.
Emily, for lobster rolls in Boston, I think James Hook Lobster Co. is a good choice for quality, value and convenient location. Neptune Oyster might have the best overall, though opinions vary—B&G Oyster also has a great one. Further afield, I think Belle Isle Seafood is a good local hole-in-the-wall for a lobster roll, if you don’t mind going all the way out to the East Boston/Winthrop border. Good, inexpensive place, though.
Speaking of lobster and East Boston, go to Rino’s in East Boston for their lobster ravioli, I guarantee you it will be the best you’ve ever had. Everything else on their menu is orgasmic, I think it’s the best Italian restaurant in the city.
Joshua says: In a related note, one of my friends will have his microbrew poured at New England Patriots’ games this season. There was a contest to earn this right, and needless to say, he won. If you’re there for a game, check it out!
David J. White says: is Durgin Park still a mecca for oyster lovers?
A friend of mine whose father was born in Springfield, MA keeps an old Durgin Park menu on his shelf. I love the motto: “Established Before You Were Born”.
James C. says: Ha, yes, Durgin Park has been able to use that slogan for more than a century! It’s one of the relatively few non-diner places where you can get old-style Yankee things like pot roast, crocks of baked beans, Indian pudding, Boston cream pie, etc.
Like the Union Oyster House, it’s a massive tourist draw and priced accordingly, but it’s fun to eat in a place that’s been open since the 1830s.
Roland de Chanson says: Thanks, James C. and others for the info on Durgin Park. Also for the recommendations for Cambridge and Somerville. This thread is now bookmarked.
Roland de Chanson says: Chris Jones,
But I have had a Fenway frank, and lived to tell of it!
It looks like the clam chowder makes up for the bad taste the Valentine boys leave in your mouth!
Yes, and at Fenway you can get a meal like that and still get change back from your $100.