Text Messages

Everyone who knows me, knows that I love to eat.  A lot.  And while all of my New York City friends will fight me on the fact that they *think* NYC cuisine trumps Boston, I beg to differ.  As a Long Island, New York, transplant, I am quite familiar with NYC food.  And while it is delicious, and there are significantly more restaurants per square foot in NYC, Boston can absolutely hold its own.

Now that my NYC mini-rant is over, I’d like to actually dig into the purpose of my post today: burgers.  It’s a movement we’ve probably all noticed in the past few years – more and more restaurants are presenting us with delicious gourmet burger options, and plenty of them are in the general Text 100 Boston office area (score!) 

My adventure into fancyburgerland started with Radius, a high-end restaurant close to the Text office, located at 8 High Street.  It changed my life and opened my eyes to the world of truly amazing burgers (and was totally worth the 20something dollars it cost).  Plus, the ambiance is cool and they have pretty sweet cocktails, including an amazing drink called the Ginger Face (props on the name alone).

My next downtown venture was at a prohibition-era-style restaurant and bar called Stoddard’s, over at 48 Temple Place.  I hesitate even writing about this place because the dining service is so horrendous (I am still seething from a horrible experience I had months ago), but they do serve up a very tasty burger, as well as delicious fondue (mmmm melty cheese), and superb cocktails.  For that reason, I recommend sitting at the bar – the bartenders are great, make an amazing drink, and have tremendous knowledge about the many delicious beers they have there. 

Last, but most certainly not least, my newest obsession: jm Curley, also on Temple Place (21 Temple Place, to be precise).  I’m sure every one of my coworkers reading this post just rolled their eyes and thought to themselves “of course this is in Ilena’s blog post, since this is the only place she has been talking about for the past month and a half.”  This may be true, but, this place is phenomenal.  jm Curley offers daily specials, including various types of gourmet popcorn, dinner platters, appetizers, homemade cookies, gourmet burgers and more, as well as regular menu items (which includes my current favorite burger in Boston).  Also, the bartenders are some of the coolest people ever, service is incredible, and the selection of beer is amazing.  Cocktails are solid, too.

So, yes, my burger obsession will continue, and my coworkers and friends will have to hear me discuss it on a near-daily basis.  I am thrilled to work in the perfect neighborhood to, quite literally, feed the addiction.

The jm Curley burger, as seen on bostonburgerblog.com

-Ilena