Boston Favorites

For my Spring Break this year, I took a questionable flight to Boston at the beginning of this coronavirus extravaganza to visit some of my good friends! Although I don’t recommend traveling anymore with everything going on, I have a ton of restaurant recommendations for future travels to this amazing, historic city. I was super nervous about going with everything going on, but I am ultimately very happy with my choice to go on my trip and I loved getting to explore & eat my way through Boston!

This wasn’t my first time in Boston, but I was able to see a side of the city that I didn’t really get to see with my family when I was there 7 years ago. I haven’t gone on too many trips solo, actually this was technically my first time flying somewhere to visit friends by myself, so this was a very fun experience for me. I only had 4 days there, but I certainly made the most of my time!

Night 1

I flew into Boston at 5pm on a Thursday. I sprinted out of the airport because I didn’t want to spend anymore time than I absolutely had to with the coronavirus and everything. I made it to my friend’s apartment, met her other friend from home who would be spending the night with us also, and we got ready for dinner!

We went to a restaurant called Trattoria Il Panino for dinner. Being gluten and dairy free (by choice) makes it tough to pick a meal at an Italian restaurant, especially one that is known for it’s pasta, but I ended up picking the “Catch of the Day”, which was Sea bass and it came with veggies and potatoes. Although I try to stay gluten free for the most part, I definitely had a piece of fresh bread as my appetizer and I also had a glass of wine. The meal was SO good and I was very happy with my choice, my friends were also! One of them ordered a pasta with vodka sauce, and the others split a seafood pasta dish & caesar salad. If I had to rate this place, I would give it a 6.5/10!

If you thought that I was done with Night 1 after that meal, think again! My friends were beyond excited to take me to this shop called Mike’s Pastry. I didn’t know this was a thing, but they make Gluten Free Black & White cookies… so naturally I had to get one. I honestly hadn’t had a Black & White cookie in years, but this was by far the best one I have ever tasted. I kept saying that there was NO WAY that it was Gluten Free… just no way. Highly recommend checking this place out if you’re ever in Boston! Apparently it’s famous, I just had no idea because it was walking distance from my friend’s apartment!

Day 2

Night 1 in Boston food-wise was a huge success. Naturally I woke up ready to tackle Day 2. My friend’s were working from home from 9-6, and I had plans to meet some friends later in the day, which meant that I had a few hours to explore Boston on my own! My first stop had to be Pressed Juicery. I know it’s not a legit breakfast place, but at 10am there I was waiting for my Freeze. We don’t have Pressed in the South, and after seeing all of my Northern blogger friends posting about it everyday, I NEEDED to try it for my own sanity. Let’s just say, it lived up to my expectations 100%. I’d probably come back to Boston just for this.

This was my first Freeze during the trip (not my last), and I befriended the guy working so he said he would make my Freeze extra aesthetic “for the gram”. I literally talked to this guy for 45 minutes and he told me his entire life story, love when that happens. Anyway, for my first Pressed Juicery experience I got a vanilla base, topped with granola, strawberries, and almond butter drizzle. If you’re ever debating drizzle here, GET THE DRIZZLE. Although you could definitely consider a Pressed Freeze “dessert”, I went for more of a “breakfast” vibe with this one. After finishing this and saying goodbye to my new friend, I walked around Boston for a few hours by myself. I went to the Boston Public Library, The Boston Marathon Running Store, and Commonwealth Ave. After walking for close to 2 hours, which was basically me avoiding all other people and trying not to touch anything, it was time to meet my friend Marianna (@mariannas_pantry) for lunch!

First of all, Marianna was one of the first people that I have met from Instagram in real life. She was SO sweet and kind. We truly had ourselves a day and it felt like we had known each other forever. At one point my other friend came and met us, and she couldn’t believe that we hadn’t met each other before that day. I always talk about the “community” on Instagram, but meeting people and just instantly clicking because of how much you have in common is SO cool. Just had to shout her out really quick, check out her account and her blog because she is an AMAZING human being and so down to earth.

Marianna and I were both on the same page about coronavirus at this point in time: low key anxious, wondering what the real threat was, but still determined to have ourselves a solid day in Boston.

When we were planning our day, I had asked to go somewhere else for lunch, but Marianna INSISTED on going to Life Alive Organic Cafe and she was 10000000% right. This place also exceeded my expectations and I seriously could not decide what I wanted because the menu pretty much had everything that I love in life on it. I ordered the Falafel Power salad… best falafel I have ever had and that’s coming from someone who has been to Israel and has tasted her share of falafel before. The hummus was also probably in the top 10 of the best hummuses I have ever tried. 10/10 recommend.

In case you thought that at this point we were done eating for a second, you thought wrong again. After finishing our lunch and taking a wellness shot to boost our immune systems (so gross, don’t do it) my friend Marissa finally met up with us and said she was hungry after her 2 hour drive. So NATURALLY we HAD to go back to Pressed Juice…. twice in one day I might be obsessed.

I loved my first Freeze so much I got a second one, except instead of drizzle I got coconut flakes and I have regretted it ever since. Like I said earlier, GET THE DRIZZLE. Always get the drizzle.

Marianna and I are health food bloggers so naturally we are basically crying about how good Pressed Juicery is and my friend Marissa said it was “eh”. I figured I would put her opinion in this blog post, and everyone is entitled to their opinions, but in this case her opinion is wrong because Pressed is so freaking good (if you’re reading this Marissa, I still love you tho). I think the issue was that she was expecting it to taste like soft serve ice cream, and was disappointed when it didn’t. It doesn’t taste like a decadent dessert, but it tastes like a refreshing sweet treat, so definitely keep that in mind if you’re used to eating richer desserts!

I also forgot to mention that we stopped into Tatte Bakery for a second so they could get coffee, but I didn’t get anything! I have heard amazing things about Tatte though, and it was very aesthetic in there. They also had a solid selection of pastries and other baked goods!

My Boston blogger friends talk about Tatte and post about it all the time, so the next time I go back to Boston I would definitely want to go back and experience it for myself.

After walking around Boston and going into some stores, 5pm hit and it was time for drinks. Marianna knows all of the cute spots in Boston I swear, and she ended up taking us to Jaho Coffee which was a super cute spot! I took her suggestion and ordered an Aperol Spritz, which was very aesthetically pleasing and also much needed after the day we were having and all the walking that we were doing.

Guys when I tell you this was the longest day of my life… we STILL weren’t done. I also definitely spent more on food this trip than I usually do on groceries for two weeks… which is why I always say that eating healthy and cooking at home for yourself is more budget-friendly than eating out (lol). However, when I am on a trip like this I do want to experience everything that I can, so splurging every once in a while is fine. My friend Allison came and met us at Jaho for a drink and then we went back to her apartment and got ready for dinner at Legal Sea Food (Long Wharf).

We started off with an appetizer of the “Hot Lump Crab Dip”… which is not something I would usually eat, but guys… it was so good. I think it was crab and melted cheese or something like that & it came with these seafood chips… oh my god. For my actual meal I kept it simple and got a grilled salmon Mediterranean Salad, which was also very good.

Day 3

If you thought Day 2 was a lot… wait until you see what we did on Day 3! We started the day off at this really cute brunch place that was also a book store called Trident Booksellers and Cafe. My friend said that it apparently burned down last year, but they just rebuilt it!

After our huge day full of eating, we were all looking to try something a little on the lighter side. I got the yogurt bowl and both of my friends got avocado toast! Marissa also couldn’t stop talking about these “Mega Tots”, which turned out to be giant tater tots stuffed with cheese, so we got those as well.

A closer shot of the avocado toast, which was prettier than my meal was.

Also, had to include a cute shot of my pretty friends! Thanks for letting me come up North and visit you guys 🙂

After brunch, Allison and I said goodbye to Marissa and we walked around Newbury Street. I LOVE the Newbury area, I think it’s super cute. It was really sad to see it so empty because of COVID-19, but we still went into stores and used LOTS of hand sanitizer.

Okay don’t judge me… but for lunch Allison and I went to Pressed Juicery so that she could experience a Freeze (lol). I also wanted to go back because I didn’t know when the next time I would be back in Boston/New York/LA would be. Luckily for me, my worker friend was back! Yay! He said he wanted to “do better” and make me another Freeze for my Instagram.

How do you guys think that he did!? This time I went for more of a “dessert” Freeze and I got vanilla base (I don’t like chocolate), almond butter drizzle, gluten free cookies, and vegan marshmallows. If you live near a Pressed Juice and you don’t go everyday… what are you doing with your life? Maybe it’s a good thing I don’t live near one… I would spend all of my money on Freezes! After Pressed, we went back to the apartment and got ready for a night out! We were obviously being safe with everything, but we still wanted to have a good last night in Boston.

Last night in Boston obviously meant we had to go as hard as possible… and we definitely did. We went to Capo, which is another Italian restaurant. This time, I decided that I was not gluten or dairy free, so I was really living my best life. We started out with bread that the waitress brought to our table, then we ordered an appetizer of bread and Italian Queso (cheese dip).

For our actual meal we ordered pizza, Brussel sprouts with parmesan, and then some kind of Lobster and cheese thing. We also had some drinks! Shoutout to my body for taking this meal like a champ, I am definitely not used to dairy and gluten like this. It was worth every bite though! Everything on the menu looked so good, that’s why we picked a few things to split so we could try everything. After dinner we went downstairs to this bar/club part of the restaurant, which was really fun! Hand sanitizer WAS used… A LOT.

Day 4

After our Capo meal the night before, it’s safe to say we were not hungry when we woke up. In fact, we didn’t feel great at all. Around 11am we walked to her Equinox gym (which I am jealous of because it looks so nice) to grab smoothies from Juice Press and explored the Seaport area of Boston.

The Seaport area of Boston is so beautiful! It has changed so much since I was there the last time, but it’s super modern and boujee now.

Last but not least, it wouldn’t be a trip to Boston if I didn’t have Sweet Green. Everyone was making fun of me for wanting to have Sweet Green so badly while I was there, but I basically waited 7 years to have this salad again and I have no shame in that haha. We don’t have anything like Sweet Green in ATL!

I actually ordered this salad on Uber Eats because we were both getting ready to leave for the airport… I was THAT determined to have it before going home to Atlanta, haha. The salad was just as good as I remembered, and definitely worth the delivery fee. It was also the perfect way to wrap up a long weekend full of eating in Boston!

If you’ve made it this far, THANK YOU for reading! I definitely love writing posts on places that I have traveled to for you guys to read and to also give you suggestions on places for when you visit them as well. Despite the whole COVID-19 thing, I wouldn’t say that my Boston trip was hindered in any way, and I loved my time there! I will be back sooner than later for sure 🙂