Mini East Boston crawl

Inspired by recent posts about East Boston, and remembering the fun we'd had a few years ago kicking around Maverick and Day squares, a few of us got together on Saturday to revisit some faves and try some new spots.

Started at Tapatio where we got a large bowl of steaming seafood soup -- lobsters, crab, prawns, muscles, squid and chunks of white fish were mounded high in a tomatoey-buttery broth. Absolutely delicious. The pupusas are great -- freshly made and definitely better than my former fave at Tacos Lupita, especially when topped with the tangy slaw and thin red salsa. We ordered them revuelto, a winning combination of pork and cheese -- and everyone was having pupusas there. Three liver tacos left me cold, but others seemed to like them. Our server was nice but we definitely suffered from the language barrier -- a combination of pointing and gesturing and very basic spanish got us plates and bowls and cutlery eventually. $7 a head with a hefty tip to make up for the huge table of dirty plates we left. Amazing.

Next stop -- El Penol -- for Columbian food. A rocky start of yucky drinks (corn/hominy and milk, aguapanela and hot chocolate straight from the swiss miss packet) but when we got our Picada for 2 to share between the 6 of us we were PSYCHED. This was a mountain of grilled pork, beef, chicken, sausage, bacon lardons (chicherones?) fried plaintains, soft baby potatoes, yucca tater tots and wedges of lime to squeeze over. Seriously this was a giant plate of food and we couldn't finish it all. It was mostly meat, not a lot of filler, and absolutely delicious. Would have been more delicious if we had thought to order hot sauce to perk things up. Our waitress was sweet and the place was warm and cozy and packed. Again, $6 a head.

We needed to take a little breather so we headed to a bar (naturally) that was formerly the Pony Lounge but is now a Columbian bar/dance club next to Rincon Limeno -- brand spanking newly painted and with only a few patrons inside. It was a cold day so a few of us had scotch, a few had coronas, and one of us sampled every columbian liquor in the place. ;-)

We briefly considered heading in for some ceviche next door but cooler heads prevailed and we decided to sally forth to Santarpios. After waiting for about 15 minutes outside, we finally got in and had an okay pie (wasn't cooked long enough despite being ordered well done) and great lamb and sausage skewers. The sausage is really spicy/peppery and that lamb just rocks, especially with the pepper juice. Finally, it really was time to cry uncle and roll back to the T.

A great 5 hour vacation (we all felt we had been dropped in the middle of a completely different city) and some of the best chow I've had for a long time. And to think we've barely scratched the surface ... I'm excited to go back soon.

The post was nice to read. However, there are no restaurants by the names you stated in East Boston except for Santarpio's. Or, maybe they just don't have phones.

[bearzie]

I was trying to find the address for Tapatio but can't find it. I saw some mention that Tapatio had a fire but it seemed like the location was in Somerville. Would love to try the seafood soup. Any help to locate this place? Thanks.

[9lives]

As Michael B points out up thread, the place in East Boston is named Topacio..not Tapatio.

Topacio is at 120 Meridan St....567 9523

I forgot -- we walked by a new brazilian churrasco on Chelsea Street -- anyone bene there yet?

Not too much to add the the detailed post here, but just want to reiterate the point that East Boston is loaded with low, unpicked fruit.

But I do think the guava pasta worked with the corn/hominy and milk, and had no complaints about the sugary aguapanela, although hypothermia seems too be a great flavour enhancer for warm things. Besides, it had hints of sugar cane.

Loved the pupusa at Topacio too, I think that was my favourite new chow that afternoon.

Thanks for a great review, yum yum! It was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed myself; maybe wee too much ;). We should definately do this again.

I just can't get over the fact that what we choose to eat was so fabulous, considering all the choices on each menu and just making our selections rather blindly. I would have to have the fish soup at Topaico again and that meat platter at El Pelon, but there was so much else on the menu and on other tables that looked so delicious....such a problem. and never mind the fact that there were like 20 other places that we passed by that also were very inviting. What a wonderful place to chow an afternoon away. I can't get this area out of my
mind and can't wait to go back for more. Like YumYum said a 5 hour exotic culinary vacation, only no jet lag and not mucho dineros.

Great review, yumyum. I would just add that the secret ingredient in the picada at El Penol is nuggets of fried cheese. Salty, browned, sort of chewy. Awesome. I definitely want to explore this place further. Or maybe just have more fried cheese.

Oh, minor correction -- the Columbian place we started at is Topacio (on Meridian st.) ; I think Tapatio is the taqueria in Somerville (?) Anway, I totally agree about their pupusas -- even better than the little storefront place in Maverick Sq. (Rosticceria Cancun)which had been my previous favorite.

I was waiting for the review - sounds like you had a great time and hit some good spots. I'm glad to know that the Sopa de Mariscos at Tapatio is still delicious. Thanks YY for the write-up. (hmmm..and sampling every Columbian liquor sounds right up my alley too!).

Nice post, thanks. Did you catch the name of the Colombian bar/club?

I think it was named Club Medalla. It is one door to the left of Rincon Limeno