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Pandemic Pursuits – Dining

February 20, 2020 – The calm before the storm. Things were normal as we visited Mom & Dad in Watertown, Connecticut and enjoyed this delicious cavatelli with broccoli rabe.
February 21, 2020 – NYC was business as usual.
February 21, 2020 – Classic NYC lunch of a delicious slice washed down with banana daquiri from Papaya Dog next door.
February 29, 2020 – Celebrating one of the last normal birthdays before the world turned upside down. Dinner with my gal pal at Union Restaurant in Pasadena, California, a favorite dining spot. That night we had no idea it would be the last time in a long, long time either of us would eat a safe, unmasked dinner with a friend in a restaurant.
March 1, 2020 – The family at my aunt’s 90th birthday party in Huntington Beach, California. Delicious food, and no one had any idea this would be the last party or family gathering we’d attend for more than a year.
March 13, 2020 – It was announced that starting Monday we’d start a lot of restrictions. Students were heading home, and I pulled right into a parking space in front of Santouka in Harvard Square. Normally a parking spot in notoriously hard to come by and a table on a Friday night would be a good 45 minutes wait, yet the restaurant was empty except for a few students stopping in and talking about their flights back home.
May 13, 2020 – The last meal. Delicious shiyo ramen at Santouka. Annabella dined alone and brought takeout home to Vito. By Monday restaurant doors were closed.
March 20, 2020 – While thousands of businesses floundered and failed, some saw banner sales. Tiny Koko Bakery, a delicious Japanese shop walking distance from our home in Newton thrived with its delicious sweet treats, like its amazing blueberry cheese danish, melon pain with crunch top and soft bottom, and chocolate croissant chock full of choc.
March 26, 2020 – Like many others, pandemic dining for us involved trying new recipes at home. We didn’t blend Kermit, but we did make asparagus soup.
April 19, 2020 – Seasonal Shake Shack Sakura Shake as enjoyed from the parking area of the former Bloomingdale’s at the Chestnut Hill Mall overlooking the reservoir.
May 1, 2020 – As we transitioned to ordering most food for delivery through Amazon Fresh, sometimes there were mishaps, like the time we thought we were ordering 4 bananas but instead we ended up with 4 bunches.
May 3, 2020 – Takeout lobster roll from The Barking Crab in Boston’s Seaport District. As this neighborhood transitioned from a dump into a destination, the city placed tables near the waterfront for outdoor dining. This was the first day we felt normal, at least for a little while, in about 6 week.
May 22, 2020 – Back to the Seaport for a stroll and some Kung Fu Ginger Milk Bubble Tea (from Kung Fu in Allston)
May 23, 2020 – Day trip to the North Shore. Despite being nearly deserted, Manchester-by-the-Sea doesn’t allow anyone who isn’t a town resident to park near the water, so as outsiders we’re forced to “enjoy” the view from a parking lot.
May 23, 2020 – From our parking space in the lot across from the little harbor we attempt to enjoy a tiny, overpriced, and not very good ice cream from Captain Dusty’s. If you’ve ever seen the eponymous Casey Affleck film it will come as no surprise to you why living in a place like this might feel oppressive.
May 23, 2020 – Dashboard Dining Dinner. Fried clams from the Ipswich Clam Box and a parking space overlooking the salt marsh. This was the day we realized we needed plastic trays in order to each comfortably in the car.
May 30, 2020 – Ice cream is one of the easiest foods to dashboard dine. Gelato from Dulce de Leche, and Argentine focused gelateria in Framingham, MA.
June 6, 2020 – The minute Rhode Island let Massachusetts residents back into the state, we were across the border the next Saturday. Del’s lemonade from a truck and Iggy’s delicious lobster roll on the boardwalk in Warwick’s Orchard Beach. We would come to eat many, many more lobster rolls in the months to come.
June 6, 2020 – Iggy’s also has some decadent ice cream concoctions and picnic tables overlooking the water.
June 9, 2020 – Takeout sandwich and lunch on the green in Newton Centre. The city put picnic tables around parks and green spaces to encourage people to support restaurants, and since I had to make an appointment to go into the bank (the building in the background) I took advantage of a nice day and the picnic table.
June 19, 2020 – Monahan’s in Narragansett, Rhode Island. So much deliciousness.
June 19, 2020 – Took our Monahan’s takeout, dangled our legs over the Narragansett pier, and enjoyed our meal at sunset.
June 20, 2020 – For many people the quintessential Rhode Island food is a stuffed quahog. This one is from Matunuck Oyster Bar enjoyed at a local beach.
June 20, 2020 – A tip for dining at the beach: if you see these guys hopping around, don’t take off for a walk and leave your oyster and clam shells behind because the seagulls will attack your picnic and go to town on them.
June 21, 2020 – Evelyn’s in Tiverton, RI has a great hot buttered lobster roll. We were able to bring our own blanket and chair and sit in a covered area off to the side of the clam shack.
July 3, 2020 – Taking this show on the road and dashboard dining our bagel breakfast from the Einstein’s near our hotel in Denver, Colorado (our only airplane in 2020 taken after the lockdowns).
July 3, 2020 – Our first indoor dining since March, as we had a private meal at the new restaurant of our former Boston area chef friend, Terence Rogers. We were spoiled with a pre- grand opening lunch at Sullivan Scrap Kitchen in a fun Denver neighborhood.
July 4, 2020 – A fresh, juicy peach from the Boulder Farmers Market washed off in the cool waters just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park.
July 4, 2020 – Craft beers (and hand sanitizer) at Twisted Pine Brewery in Boulder. Other than our private dining session the day before, our first sit down restaurant experience since March.
July 5, 2020 – Rocky Mountain high on bagels and lox at a picnic table inside the park.
July 5, 2020 – Another meal, another picnic, another picnic table in the Rocky Mountains.
July 5, 2020 – A few years ago in Little Rock, Arkansas we enjoyed the customizable ice cream treats at LePops. We we thrilled when we discovered the owners had relocated to downtown Boulder and we were able to enjoy them once again (remember, ice cream is a friendly dashboard dining item).
July 5, 2020 – Pot pie from the Colorado Cherry Company, on our way back to our hotel. We booked a suite at a new Element Hotel outside of Boulder so that we could have a full kitchen to make our own breakfasts, prepare picnic lunches, and enjoy takeout meals in comfort.
July 6, 2020 – Momentary masks off for a photo opp with an old friend in downtown Boulder. Almost every restaurant has outdoor dining under umbrellas.
July 18, 2020 – Sometimes Mother Nature provides a perfect resting spot for your beverage alongside a Rhode Island beach.
July 19, 2020 – Impossible to eat just one ice cream sandwich from Tricycle in Providence, RI, but the Fruity Pebbles was my favorite. They have a small adjacent patio with benches for outdoor seating.
August 2, 2020 – A rare opportunity to socialize with others as we enjoy the water views from the terrace of our friends’ home in Nahant, MA and their homemade zucchini flower fritters and an Aperol spritz.
August 7, 2020 – contactless roadside farm stand outside of Albany New York.
August 8, 2020 – Lakeside deck at our airbnb rental house in Averill Park, NY and our takeout fish and chips from Mess Hall.
August 9, 2020 – Okay, we’re not actually going to eat the gummy bear.
August 9, 2020 – Happy World of Haribo!
August 16, 2020 – Gore Place Museum in Watertown/Waltham, MA continued its live music and corn roasts on Sundays in August, but people sat far apart on little blanket pods around the grounds. We walked from home with our folding chairs.
August 22, 2020 – Luckily our anniversary always falls during Restaurant Week Boston. Fried lobster appetizer at Smith & Wollensky.
August 22, 2020 – Seaport stroll and do note the lobster mask.
August 25, 2020 – Happy Anniversary scorpion bowl! Summer Shack in Cambridge at one time was a Polynesian restaurant and so in homage continues to serve this.
August 25, 2020 – Cool and sweet on a hot summer night.
August 25, 2020 – Anniversary tradition.
September 4, 2020 – So simple, so good. I don’t know what my FIL puts in this soup but I know when you put fresh peaches in his homemade wine it’s all goodness.
September 13, 2020 – Stumbled upon this pondside picnic table (Columbia County Conservancy area) to enjoy our tacos from Magdalena’s in Kinderhook, NY. Tacos are not the most friend dashboard dining food, so we were glad to find this picturesque picnic spot.
September 18, 2020 – City of Waltham did a good thing in pedestrianizing restaurant row on Moody Street so that outdoor seating could thrive. It would be nice to see this effort continue post-pandemic during the summer months.
October 18, 2020 – The day Maine opened its borders back up to residents of Massachusetts we made reservations for a lobster weekend. We dined twice at Jackie’s Two for twin lobster dinners, and the weather cooperated (and infections were taking a slight break). The restaurant had solid contact tracing in place, capturing everyone’s information.
November 3, 2020 (Election Day) – Early morning walk to our polling place and neighborhood Dunkin’.
November 7, 2020 – Picked up breakfast from Vinnie’s Beachside Cafe in Salisbury, MA and headed over to Salisbury Beach to enjoy our food and a walk. In the off season there’s no charge for parking and there were just a few people on walking around. Our breakfasts were really good and the wacky waitress really friendly.
November 7, 2020 – Walking off the calories and enjoying people horseback riding.
November 7, 2020 – An unusually warm November day is the perfect excuse to head up to Maine for lobster again.
November 7, 2020 – Delicious ice cream at Rococo, available in a few cities along the Maine seacoast.
November 8, 2020 – Abraham’s in Newburyport, MA makes a heck of a bagel and its own cream cheese. They are a well-oiled machine for getting orders out in a Covid-safe environment. Cashman Park overlooking the Merrimac River has some benches to enjoy dining with a view.
November 8, 2020 – The egg sandwich with ghost pepper cream cheese is a tad spicy.
November 8, 2020 – One guess what we had for lunch. Bob Lobster in Newbury.
November 20, 2020 – For many years we spent the 4th of July or New Year’s Eve at Kripalu in Lenox, MA and used to stop at Chocolate Springs Cafe on the way there because they ban sugar and chocolate. Now we stopped there to have a snack in our hotel room.
November 22, 2020 – For months we’d been wondering when it would get too cold to dine outside. It was about 28 degrees while we sat on a bench overlooking Lake George, New York and it soon started to lightly snow. It was too cold.
November 23, 2020 – For the past 4 years we’d been in Italy, Spain, or the south of France in late November, enjoying the delicious and too short season for persimmons. Just a sliver of our sadness over not going to Europe this year was mitigated by these ripe persimmons, purchased at Guido’s Fresh Marketplace in the Berkshires and enjoyed in the kitchenette of our little hotel in Lake Placid, New York.
November 23, 2020 – Town House Lodge is the perfect pandemic hotel. Separate entrances with keypad entry, and affordable suites with a kitchenette and dining area.
November 24, 2020 – Even before Covid these decommissioned ski gondolas provided safe and private dining at The Cottage, part of the Mirror Lake Inn at Lake Place.
November 26, 2020 – Not our proudest morning, but turns out not a lot is open on Thanksgiving Day upstate, so it’s dashboard dining a Filet-o-Fish near Fort Ticonderoga.
November 26, 2020 – Past Thanksgiving dinners have included turkey in Turkey; roasted pheasant in Cavan, Ireland; raclette at a German Christmas market in Cologne, grilled calamari in Spain, and gelato in Provence. Is there nothing more 2020 than takeout dinner from one of the last Howard Johnsons on earth? Picked up at Lake George and enjoyed at our Residence Inn in Clifton Park.
December 7, 2020 – Creative pandemic pursuits spurred a number of different drive thru light shows. For Vito’s birthday we made ourselves some hot cocoa and drove just a few miles to this fundraising show in Waltham, MA. Tunnel of fun.
December 13, 2020 – There have been a few positives about the pandemic, and one is that we’ve found street parking in Chinatown a few times for the Beach Street bakeries.
December 22, 2020 – Grading final exams for a bunch of students I’d never actually seen in the flesh made me peckish for little hot dogs wrapped in croissants, like the ones the house mother at my sorority would organize for us as late night snacks during finals.
December 23, 2020 – Being home almost.every.day.all.day means that after just one day people create this much dirty flatware.
December 31, 2020 – A family emergency trip to Connecticut and abiding by the interstate travel restrictions require a dinner stop at Sonic in Manchester. Sonic was made for times like these. Corn dog and shake on New Year’s Eve.
January 16, 2021 – A 40something degree January day means it’s time to head down to the Seaport for lobster rolls!
January 16, 2021 – One of life’s simple culinary pleasures is a Rice Krispie treat, and Flour in the Seaport District makes an excellent one.
January 18, 2021 – The first time we got ramen as takeout it didn’t go that well, but Santouka in Harvard Square perfected its formula and created this multi-layered takeout container so that the solids don’t get immersed in the liquid until you’re ready to eat, yet this system also keeps those items warm.
January 22, 2021 – The first MLK weekend in who knows how long that we don’t fly someplace (and marked a year since we’ve been in Europe), but we’re enjoying takeout from a Mexican restaurant in Lawrence, MA at our hotel in Amesbury.
January 23, 2021 – First time dining indoors since March 2020 at Steampunk Station in Haverhill, MA. We take advantage of an otherwise empty restaurant to enjoy guava bubble tea and bagel egg sandwiches in this converted rail station.
January 23, 2021 – Solving the dilemma of how to dashboard dine lobster is the lazy man’s lobster! Already shelled for you, and delicious.
January 24, 2020 – Inviting as these sunny picnic tables in Newburyport were, the gale winds and 12 degree temps meant we had to dashboard dine our bagels.
January 24, 2021 – The Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA rents individual fire pits by the hour, and we enjoyed hot cocoa and biscuits in front of one.
February 5, 2021 – To avoid having to reheat our Eataly pizza we relished our parking spot right adjacent to Copley Square and dined al fresco (couldn’t be more fresco).
February 7, 2021 – Super Bowl Sunday. Our friends normally throw a World Nutella Day Party on the afternoon before the game, but this year the party is transformed into a nutella swap, so we made this pizza with dough from Eataly with an artisanal chocolate-hazelnut spread and bananas.
February 7, 2021 – Snowy swap of our pizza for these chocolate hazelnut cookies made by our friends in Cambridge, MA. They smell too good to wait so dashboard snack!
February 13, 2021 – Portuguese pastries from Holiday Bakery in New Bedford are easy to eat inside the car.
February 13, 2021 – Less dashboard friendly is the shrimp mozambique from old timey Antonio’s Restaurant in New Bedford.
February 13, 2021 – This Portuguese sweet bread is the bomb.
February 15, 2021 – Starting to feel like there’s a light at the end of this dark tunnel, takeout from Gyro City and Kung Fu bubble tea in the Fenway after taking elderly parents for their first dose of Covid vaccines.
February 21, 2020 – This photo is intended to make our friends in Italy insane because we put parmiggiano reggiano on our shrimp scampi. This pre-birthday takeout from the Fiorella’s restaurant BOGO birthday club.
February 22, 2021 – American Legion Post 440 is a block away from McDonald’s and its little Veterans Memorial Garden is a nice spot for a wintery lunch picnic.
February 25, 2021 – Hotel room in Andover, MA. One of the great things about takeout is being able to mix & match, and one of the great things about a community with lots of new immigrants like Lawrence, MA is all the food options. Here are nachos from a Mexican restaurant, washed down with a red bean smoothie from a Vietnamese place, and topped off with dessert from a Dominican bakery.
March 9, 2021 – If you can’t go to Europe, it helps to have a good friend bring Europe to you. Thanks to my awesome gift giver college pal I’m enjoying jamon iberico with manchego washed down with a little homemade wine.
March 11, 2021 – A 60 degree day in March is cause for celebration and a trip into Boston’s South End, where Nada Empanadas are doing a pop up at Yum Mee Garden Chinese restaurant on Tremont Street. The South End is blessed with pocket parks and public gardens scattered throughout the neighborhood, so it was easy to find a bench to sit and enjoy one of the world’s most convenient finger foods (in many flavors, including a traditional beef one simply and appropriately name “Argentina”).