1940s Archive

Spécialités de la Maison: Locke-Ober

Originally Published December 1943
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A short while ago I visited in Boston, and found that food is uncommonly good in some restaurants of that New England town, so beautiful in most parts and so ugly in others. That is to say, food is good there in some places—if you know where to go for it. I was well-armed with information even before I stepped out of New York, for I wouldn’t be foolish enough to go to an unexplored town without having some good addresses (restaurants among them!).

The best restaurant in Boston to my mind and palate is Locke‑Ober (3 and 4 Winter Place). This is a very old place, perhaps a hundred years old, situated in a narrow thoroughfare. Since I went with ladies both times I was there, I couldn’t enter the downstairs main dining room, which is reserved for men only. But the upstairs rooms are even better, and have just as much atmosphere. I tasted a lobster bisque at Locke-Ober, absolutely out of this world! And the broiled lobster is alone worth hopping on a train and traveling up to Boston for. I also tried duck a l’orange, comparable to the Foyot version, a fond memory for anyone who used to eat at that superb Parisian place. Desserts—there are only a few—are unbelievably good. Try the frozen pudding, and where do they get that wonderful Port Salut cheese! Good wines. This is not a cheap place (you may dine modestly for three or four dollars), but every morsel is worth its weight in gold.

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