My New Neighborhood: The North End

As I wrote about a few weeks ago, I bid adieu to Davis Square and finally moved to Boston proper-- the North End.

As a foodie, I love that when I walk to the T stop in the morning I can smell the bread baking and see all the restaurants opening up. Actually, now that I think about it, you can pretty much smell food cooking at all times of the day. However, I'm already getting a little frustrated with take out options...

One of my first nights I ordered from Dino's, a North End institution that won Best of Boston for "Best Neighborhood Take-out" for the North End. Sounds promising, right? But for a gal who is trying to be healthy, a place that serves subs and pastas in ginormous sizes just doesn't fit into my lifestyle right now. Well it does, but it shouldn't ;)

Case in point: here is a photo of me holding my Dino's sub up to my leg:

HOLY SMOKES! It is bigger than my calf. No one needs that much eggplant parmesan sub. Well at least I don't. P.S. Do you like our new fun rug though!? =)

Another night, Maeve (who shockingly is making her Dish This official debut, though she is one of my best friends... I'm guessing it might have something to do with her 100 hour work weeks as a paralegal!?), Michelle, and I ordered pizza from Ernesto's. First of all, we called at 8:55 and were told to "hurry up!" since they close in 5 minutes. Isn't 9 kind of early for a pizza place!? In any case, we ordered a large with ricotta and artichokes. It was outstanding, everything I had heard about it and more. My mouth is salivating just thinking back to it.

However, again, I am not a frat boy- I cannot live on pizza and subs. I would gain about 40 pounds in a week, and would not be able to climb my four flights of stairs to my apartment anymore.

Another night, Sebastian and I were craving some Thai food. We knew that clearly we would not find that in our 'hood, but we figured Charlestown, our neighboring town over the bridge, would be just as quick. So we ordered from Chow Thai Cafe. At first they were hesitant about delivering to the North End, but then assured us it'd be about 45 minutes to an hour. After an hour and a half had passed, and multiple phone calls were placed, the driver finally arrived. I can't even comment on the quality of the food, because I was so ravenous I think I ate my drunken noodles in one bite.

Given all of these experiences, I purchased a new cook book on Saturday and will be cooking my own food more now! I'm actually quite excited about that, so I'll report back on any hits and misses...