how far away is the harpor brewery from the convention center cab wise
I made the walk from the convention center to Harpoon a few times during PAX East 2013, and I would say, at a leisurely pace, it would take somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. Or you could take a cab, and get there in 5 minutes, but also most likely pay the not too much over the minimum cab fare.
The walk is nice because you walk past the Seaport Hotel, the Legal Test Kitchen, and Legal Harborside, and the entire journey over nice wide pedestrian paths.
This is one reason I'm staying at the Seaport, good proximity to a lot of good seafood, the expo, and the Harpoon brewery ^_~
PAX Prime 2014: Pass [x] Hotel [x] Flights [x] Vacation Days [x]
so is it pretty much a stright shot or is there a lot of turns you have to take
When you walk out the front doors of the convention center, there is pretty clearly a bridge/road that runs east straight out from the front doors. What you can do is walk straight on this road till you can't go any further without entering the pier. Then take a right, and walk straight till you get to Harpoon brewery. You will pass Legal Harborside, and if you aren't sure how far you need to walk, the waitresses there are very nice and will help you. Really, it is no real distance at all, and you can cut though the hotels and office buildings to get there a bit quicker. I've been all over the world and I don't think there are many places safer than the Seaport district of Boston, MA.
Maybe we can get a forum meet up together at Harpoon and take one of those big tables they have. It's a pretty chill place to hang out during the day.
sacratoy on
PAX Prime 2014: Pass [x] Hotel [x] Flights [x] Vacation Days [x]
im sorry i am really bad at directions and north south east west stuff so let me see if i got this right. If I am heading out of the front doors east would be on my left correct. Are you able to see this bridge/road that you talk about from the front door
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whypick1PAX [E] Info Booth Manager~2' from an LCDRegistered Userregular
East is to the right, and yes, you'll see the bridge from the front doors.
Q Restaurant, 660 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111 http://thequsa.com/
In Chinatown, 1.1 miles from the BCEC
No reservations accepted, but they do have call-ahead seating
Best damn hot pot in the city, amazing drinks, great atmosphere, friendly staff. You can thank me later.
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Jake CappsPatrick Space Force Base, FloridaRegistered Userregular
At East this year, we decided to venture out and try the food trolly and went to a little place called the Playwright...seriously the moast amazing food I've ever had. I wasn't expecting anything great, maybe like an Applebees, nope. SOO GOODDD!! My friend ordered a burger and they cooked the bacon INTO the burger. I had the most amazing steak tips and sweet potato fries
SQUID PAX EAST 2011 * 2012 * 2013 *2014 *2015 *2016 | PAX PRIME 2013| PAX UNPLUGGED 2017
I wasn't expecting anything great, maybe like an Applebees
Applebees is not food.
+10
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OnmitsuI'm just a birdieCa-caw, ca-caw!Registered Userregular
So, I thought I would pour my local knowledge of Boston food into this thread. I'll try to keep it to places particularly relevant to the con.
The BCEC area is a desert as far as affordable eats goes (especially for lunch options). The convention food is convenient but neither particularly well priced or tasty for what you get. There are several nice restaurants in the area, but none of them fall into the realm of cheap eats. Legal Test Kitchen is great though (my personal favorite in the area), and makes a wonderful dinner if you're willing to spend a little. Nice drink menu too.
If you're willing to take a short cab right or hop the T, there is always Faneuil Hall. It's basically a very glorified food court, but there are some great and affordable options (Boston Chowda Co. is quite good) with a wide selection of choices, and it's a iconic area, great for if you're from out of town and want to see some sights.
If you walk for about 10 minutes towards South Station, you'll end up in Chinatown. Lots of excellent options there, and I'll make some personal recommendations. For noodles, (particuarly Pho) Xinh Xinh and Pho Hoa are both pretty good, very affordable, and which is better is the subject of intense argument. Pho Hoa has some great specials, and Xinh Xinh's five spice duck noodle soup is excellent for a cold day. Right around the corner is the Taiwan Cafe, which is also excellent. In fact, you owe it to yourself to experience their Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), which are fantastic. The rest of the menu is also affordable, authentic and quality. Jumbo Seafood is another great restaurant. In fact, I haven't been there and ordered a bad thing on the menu yet. Everything is consistently very good. There are also a couple of good and inexpensive bbq places in the area which you can grab quick food at. If you're looking for easily portable snacks/lunches, there's also a decent selection of Chinese bakeries selling different savory/sweet breads which make for good lunches if you stock up on them. Bonus for them almost all being dirt cheap.
Similarly, if you're willing to hop on the T or take a cab, you have the entirety of North End at your disposal. Lots of good Italian food for varying prices, you can't really go wrong. If you do, however, want a recommendation, I vouch very heavily for The Daily Catch, which is a small Sicilian seafood restaurant which specializes in squid dishes and has incredible squid-ink pasta. The prices there are also pretty reasonable.
Aaand my personal out of the way recommendation:
IF you're willing to a bit of a trip to Porter Square (which is in Cambridge, so maybe do it the evening before the con) you can go to Yume Wo Katare, which is the best noodle restaurant in the entire greater Boston area. I am not exaggerating this claim. It is a cash-only buisness which only serves two items on the menu: ramen with pork or ramen with more pork. The servings are heaping, the pork melts in your mouth, the broth is fantastic, and the noodles are wonderful and hand-made. It also has a really fun atmosphere. I've taken lots of people to this place and I've yet to have a single person not fall in love with it. Bonus: They cheer for you if you finish your noodles and broth!
opens 6 days a week (CLOSED SUNDAY) right at 11am and stays open until it sells out of food which is usually around 2-2:30
they are CASH ONLY so be prepared
there WILL be a line so be prepared for that...
now a lot of people don't care too much for Sicilian or Bakery style pizza, but personally i love it.. and this is the best place in the city for that.. they also have a couple other delicious offerings such as Arancini (a deep fried rice ball with meat sauce and cheese in the middle) , Panzerotti (deep fried potato croquette), as well as Calzones with various different items added...
it's basically walking into what a pizza shop in the North End in 1959 would be like.. prices included.. i think a slice is somewhere in the area of a buck fifty... i highly recommend a stop here have a couple slices an aracini and a coke.. then sit for a bit and walk over to mike's or modern down the street and get a cannoli or two..
And this is why I hate Boston. Love PAX, but hate Boston. There's a certain (large) segment of us that just want plain boring food from a plain boring no surprises restaurant that is identical to the same one they go to each and every week. I file it in with also disliking the lack of any WalMart in Boston. I just like to lead a boring life. Fortunately, I only visit the place for PAX and as such I really only need to care for a few hours a year. I'm sure the locals are happier that way, too.
I'm not from Boston, I just dislike Applebees. I'd go to an Olive Garden before Applebees. I get why people like chains, and that's totes cool, but I don't have to like it, or pretend that it's much in the way of food. I think in most big cities you're not going to find a huge abundance of crappy restaurants in the city center. You can probably drive outside of the city and find an Applebees or an Eatnpark or something.
Shit, the only big national chain I know of close to PAX Prime in Seattle is Cheesecake Factory, and PAX Prime is far more in the middle of Seattle than East is in the middle of Boston.
Yes I will be making additions like that in the near future. Just wanted to get a list started so that I didn't have a huge backlog as this thread grows. Thanks for the suggestions.
Yes I will be making additions like that information the near future. Just wanted to get a list started so that I didn't have a huge backlog as this thread grows. Thanks for the suggestions.
Thank you for making the list. East 2013 was my first ever PAX and taking advantage of Boston's dining options was a refinement I missed in the "I'm at PAX!" frenzy that overtook my brain. Hopefully I can plan a bit more intelligently next year, though I can already tell I'll have to work on it. The thought of leaving the BCEC premises during PAX still seems somewhat blasphemous, but my newly-acquired experience suggests a bit of downtime and a good meal would repay the time investment by enabling me to be better able to enjoy things.
Delaney on
"I will participate in the game. It's a wonderful, wonderful opera, except that it hurts." - Joseph Campbell
Crapplebees is awful, and Boston has a metric shit-ton of pub style food places that aren't snobby but are tasty. Lucky's, as previously mentioned, has a great selection of "boring" fare in addition to more adventurous options (it's by far my favorite spot to eat a very-hungover lunch). If you want chicken fingers or a burger, there's about 2000 options in the Boston metro, since people love pub food in Boston.
Prepare to wait because the line starts about 30 min before they open. And if you plan to go after 7pm, don't bother because the wait will be around 3 hours. But during the day, the usual wait is around 1 hour. No reservations, but you can come in and leave your phone number.
Oh man, I totally agree. I asked @arsonisfun last year where to get the best lobster roll, he told me neptune. It's expensive, but it is the very best I have ever eaten. I managed to roll in there with 4 people and we got seated immediately. It was like providence. The line was 2 hours long after us. Neptune Oyster is THE LIGHT and all should bask in its glory.
It's nice that they will text you and give you around 10m to get there though for your spot in line.
Neptune is definitely one of the highlights of visiting Boston. If you can get in.
I very much so appreciate the effort put into the list, so thank you for that!
Is it possible to it to be further updated? Like, for instance, what kind of food it serves? I'm a vegetarian, and finding restaurants is kinda difficult. My wife and I even had a big blowout a couple years ago about me being unable to find a place for us to eat while she was rather hungry.
not an Irish bar.. but here's a close spot that has historical significance and is great for dinner and a few brews in a large group all the way down to solo... it's reminiscent of an old German beer hall... in Chinatown... not far from the convention center at all..
Jacob Wirth Restaurant
31-37 Stuart St
Boston, MA 02116
it does get busy on the weekends... great traditional german offerings as well as old school american offerings.. if you love German beer like I do, come here.
rewar on
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jaxjaggywiresSneaking up behind youRegistered Userregular
I hit up Parker's Restaurant at the Omni Parker House last time around...great chowder and delmonico steak.
Pax East 2013 tried a few places (coming from UK here)
Pretty much next to Boston Common is Stoddard's Food & Ale (48 Temple Place) has nice food and a great selection of beers.
Further out, but by and far the best beer selection (and alright food too) is Sunset Grill & Tap in Allston. Excellent place if you love great beers - although this is usually on the Magical Mystery Tour, as is Harpoon Brewery/Sam Adams Brewery.
Durgin Park - totally over-rated. I mean seriously, for what you pay it ain't great in my book. Not saying it is bad per se, but there has to be better places.
Chinatown I went to Gourmet Dumpling House, Beach St - really really good, although the staff there are pretty dismissive. Excellent value also.
Finally, for Pho type foods Pho Pasteur was a recommendation given to me last year and it was very nice.
Unfortunately will not be attending East this year.... hitting up the Copenhagan Beer Festival instead and having a week in Denmark
For anyone staying near the Omni Parker, "B.good" is a terrific fast food style place if you're need to get a sandwhich/milkshake/fries on the way to the con.
And they have a cool "use local crops/meat" policy, if you're into the hippy thing.
http://goo.gl/maps/P2fZe (20 minute walk from the convention center, so not particularly worth it if you've got a room at the seaport or something.)
I wonder, is the fact that the dining options in the immediate area surrounding the BCEC, done purposely to force people to eat at the convention center? I mean, I'm sure these restaurants you guys are listing are all great, but let's be real, most people at PAX who are caught up in the excitement aren't interested in taking a 20 minute walk, in weather that is likely to still be quite cold, to have a meal.
I wonder, is the fact that the dining options in the immediate area surrounding the BCEC, done purposely to force people to eat at the convention center? I mean, I'm sure these restaurants you guys are listing are all great, but let's be real, most people at PAX who are caught up in the excitement aren't interested in taking a 20 minute walk, in weather that is likely to still be quite cold, to have a meal.
No, there just wasn't anything on that side of town before. The entire area was barren and is being built up over time. Hence the lack of hotels also. Nice conspiracy theory though.
Posts
I made the walk from the convention center to Harpoon a few times during PAX East 2013, and I would say, at a leisurely pace, it would take somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. Or you could take a cab, and get there in 5 minutes, but also most likely pay the not too much over the minimum cab fare.
The walk is nice because you walk past the Seaport Hotel, the Legal Test Kitchen, and Legal Harborside, and the entire journey over nice wide pedestrian paths.
This is one reason I'm staying at the Seaport, good proximity to a lot of good seafood, the expo, and the Harpoon brewery ^_~
PAX Prime 2014 Preparations Complete
When you walk out the front doors of the convention center, there is pretty clearly a bridge/road that runs east straight out from the front doors. What you can do is walk straight on this road till you can't go any further without entering the pier. Then take a right, and walk straight till you get to Harpoon brewery. You will pass Legal Harborside, and if you aren't sure how far you need to walk, the waitresses there are very nice and will help you. Really, it is no real distance at all, and you can cut though the hotels and office buildings to get there a bit quicker. I've been all over the world and I don't think there are many places safer than the Seaport district of Boston, MA.
Maybe we can get a forum meet up together at Harpoon and take one of those big tables they have. It's a pretty chill place to hang out during the day.
PAX Prime 2014 Preparations Complete
http://thequsa.com/
In Chinatown, 1.1 miles from the BCEC
No reservations accepted, but they do have call-ahead seating
Best damn hot pot in the city, amazing drinks, great atmosphere, friendly staff. You can thank me later.
My Pinny Pal's Lanyard
"Players are artists who create their own reality within the game." - Shigeru Miyamoto
PAX EAST 2011 * 2012 * 2013 *2014 *2015 *2016 | PAX PRIME 2013| PAX UNPLUGGED 2017
The BCEC area is a desert as far as affordable eats goes (especially for lunch options). The convention food is convenient but neither particularly well priced or tasty for what you get. There are several nice restaurants in the area, but none of them fall into the realm of cheap eats. Legal Test Kitchen is great though (my personal favorite in the area), and makes a wonderful dinner if you're willing to spend a little. Nice drink menu too.
If you're willing to take a short cab right or hop the T, there is always Faneuil Hall. It's basically a very glorified food court, but there are some great and affordable options (Boston Chowda Co. is quite good) with a wide selection of choices, and it's a iconic area, great for if you're from out of town and want to see some sights.
If you walk for about 10 minutes towards South Station, you'll end up in Chinatown. Lots of excellent options there, and I'll make some personal recommendations. For noodles, (particuarly Pho) Xinh Xinh and Pho Hoa are both pretty good, very affordable, and which is better is the subject of intense argument. Pho Hoa has some great specials, and Xinh Xinh's five spice duck noodle soup is excellent for a cold day. Right around the corner is the Taiwan Cafe, which is also excellent. In fact, you owe it to yourself to experience their Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), which are fantastic. The rest of the menu is also affordable, authentic and quality. Jumbo Seafood is another great restaurant. In fact, I haven't been there and ordered a bad thing on the menu yet. Everything is consistently very good. There are also a couple of good and inexpensive bbq places in the area which you can grab quick food at. If you're looking for easily portable snacks/lunches, there's also a decent selection of Chinese bakeries selling different savory/sweet breads which make for good lunches if you stock up on them. Bonus for them almost all being dirt cheap.
Similarly, if you're willing to hop on the T or take a cab, you have the entirety of North End at your disposal. Lots of good Italian food for varying prices, you can't really go wrong. If you do, however, want a recommendation, I vouch very heavily for The Daily Catch, which is a small Sicilian seafood restaurant which specializes in squid dishes and has incredible squid-ink pasta. The prices there are also pretty reasonable.
Aaand my personal out of the way recommendation:
IF you're willing to a bit of a trip to Porter Square (which is in Cambridge, so maybe do it the evening before the con) you can go to Yume Wo Katare, which is the best noodle restaurant in the entire greater Boston area. I am not exaggerating this claim. It is a cash-only buisness which only serves two items on the menu: ramen with pork or ramen with more pork. The servings are heaping, the pork melts in your mouth, the broth is fantastic, and the noodles are wonderful and hand-made. It also has a really fun atmosphere. I've taken lots of people to this place and I've yet to have a single person not fall in love with it. Bonus: They cheer for you if you finish your noodles and broth!
Zerzhul you're my hero!!
Galleria Umberto
289 Hanover St
(between Parmenter St & Wesley Pl)
Boston, MA 02113
Neighborhood: North End
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=289+Hanover+Street,+Boston,+MA&hl=en&sll=42.346952,-71.037716&sspn=0.005606,0.011362&oq=289+hanover&hnear=289+Hanover+St,+Boston,+Massachusetts+02113&t=m&z=16&iwloc=A
opens 6 days a week (CLOSED SUNDAY) right at 11am and stays open until it sells out of food which is usually around 2-2:30
they are CASH ONLY so be prepared
there WILL be a line so be prepared for that...
now a lot of people don't care too much for Sicilian or Bakery style pizza, but personally i love it.. and this is the best place in the city for that.. they also have a couple other delicious offerings such as Arancini (a deep fried rice ball with meat sauce and cheese in the middle) , Panzerotti (deep fried potato croquette), as well as Calzones with various different items added...
it's basically walking into what a pizza shop in the North End in 1959 would be like.. prices included.. i think a slice is somewhere in the area of a buck fifty... i highly recommend a stop here have a couple slices an aracini and a coke.. then sit for a bit and walk over to mike's or modern down the street and get a cannoli or two..
And this is why I hate Boston. Love PAX, but hate Boston. There's a certain (large) segment of us that just want plain boring food from a plain boring no surprises restaurant that is identical to the same one they go to each and every week.
Shit, the only big national chain I know of close to PAX Prime in Seattle is Cheesecake Factory, and PAX Prime is far more in the middle of Seattle than East is in the middle of Boston.
Thank you for making the list. East 2013 was my first ever PAX and taking advantage of Boston's dining options was a refinement I missed in the "I'm at PAX!" frenzy that overtook my brain. Hopefully I can plan a bit more intelligently next year, though I can already tell I'll have to work on it. The thought of leaving the BCEC premises during PAX still seems somewhat blasphemous, but my newly-acquired experience suggests a bit of downtime and a good meal would repay the time investment by enabling me to be better able to enjoy things.
Neptune Oyster
63 Salem St
(between Hull St & Stillman St)
Boston, MA
http://www.yelp.com/biz/neptune-oyster-boston
Prepare to wait because the line starts about 30 min before they open. And if you plan to go after 7pm, don't bother because the wait will be around 3 hours. But during the day, the usual wait is around 1 hour. No reservations, but you can come in and leave your phone number.
It's nice that they will text you and give you around 10m to get there though for your spot in line.
Neptune is definitely one of the highlights of visiting Boston. If you can get in.
M.J. O'Connor's is in the Westin Hotel, which is connected to the BCEC. Very busy during PAX East, but an excellent place for good food and drink.
Whiskey Priest is about a 5-10 minute walk from the BCEC. Not bad in terms of prices, and generally OK service.
If you walk a little farther into South Boston, you have great neighborhood pubs, like Murphy's Law, Shenannigan's, and Amrheins.
Is it possible to it to be further updated? Like, for instance, what kind of food it serves? I'm a vegetarian, and finding restaurants is kinda difficult. My wife and I even had a big blowout a couple years ago about me being unable to find a place for us to eat while she was rather hungry.
Different Murphy's Law....The one on bar rescue was in Maryland, and it is closed now....
Much thanks, the M.J. O'Connors seems like a good fit for me and my friends.
Jacob Wirth Restaurant
31-37 Stuart St
Boston, MA 02116
google map link:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=31+Stuart+Street,+Boston,+MA&hl=en&ll=42.351028,-71.064109&spn=0.00666,0.013078&sll=42.31435,-70.970284&sspn=0.426508,0.837021&oq=31+Stuar&t=h&hnear=31+Stuart+St,+Boston,+Massachusetts+02116&z=17
my yelp review link:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/jacob-wirth-restaurant-boston#hrid:B-AxBZ3R_NNiH2-aAWXxVQ
jacobwirth.com
it does get busy on the weekends... great traditional german offerings as well as old school american offerings.. if you love German beer like I do, come here.
Southy
American Provisions - more a local food store, they also have fantastic sandwiches
Tasty burger - similar to a 5 guys, they have great bad burgers and a daily strange one
Muls - good breakfast
Convention area direct
Whiskey Priest - great food, good alcohol
Mortons - pricey but fantastic steaks
Pretty much next to Boston Common is Stoddard's Food & Ale (48 Temple Place) has nice food and a great selection of beers.
Further out, but by and far the best beer selection (and alright food too) is Sunset Grill & Tap in Allston. Excellent place if you love great beers - although this is usually on the Magical Mystery Tour, as is Harpoon Brewery/Sam Adams Brewery.
Durgin Park - totally over-rated. I mean seriously, for what you pay it ain't great in my book. Not saying it is bad per se, but there has to be better places.
Chinatown I went to Gourmet Dumpling House, Beach St - really really good, although the staff there are pretty dismissive. Excellent value also.
Finally, for Pho type foods Pho Pasteur was a recommendation given to me last year and it was very nice.
Unfortunately will not be attending East this year.... hitting up the Copenhagan Beer Festival instead and having a week in Denmark
And they have a cool "use local crops/meat" policy, if you're into the hippy thing.
http://goo.gl/maps/P2fZe (20 minute walk from the convention center, so not particularly worth it if you've got a room at the seaport or something.)