Celebrity Pizza/Dairy Bar (Watertown)

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Having decided it was too hot to cook dinner, Allstonian and I decided on a whim to go to Celebrity, the pizza place/dairy bar that we pass all the time on our way into Watertown but have never actually eaten at. We'd heard good things about the soft serve and the clams, but I was specifically hungry for a hamburger, and I had heard that some folks rated theirs.

I had a good feeling about the place as soon as we walked it. It just had that classic dairy bar feel, which normally you have to go out of the city to get. We ordered two super cheeseburgers (with everything except ketchup) and a large order of fries, which was indeed shockingly enormous. The fries are just okay -- typical Sysco, just a touch too greasy for my tastes -- but after I took the first bite of my hamburger, Allstonian looked at me with mild alarm, until I said "I think I'm about to start crying."

See, my ongoing frustration with living in Boston for the last six years has been that I have not had a truly fantastic burger since I moved here. Although it had gotten better with the advent of Flat Patties and the late lamented Grille Zone, the standard burger of my Texas homeland is in a style that you just don't normally see here, and I had given up hope that I would find an entirely adequate substitute.

Until now. The super burger at Celebrity is the finest hamburger I have had since early 2002. I have in other threads detailed my platonic ideal of burgerdom, and while the Celebrity superburger is not quite it -- the bun should be toasted, for one thing -- it's nearer than I had led myself to think I could find. The burger itself is juicy and properly cooked, with just enough char on the outside. There's a free hand with the mustard, proper dill pickle chips, chopped onions, lettuce and tomato. In the future, I'm going to forswear the cheese, which added nothing, and the mayo, which if I'd known it was standard I would have declined. But this is in all other ways an outstanding burger, and I'm both thrilled to have finally found it and chagrined that it took so long when I've known this place was there for years.

We had soft-serve to finish. Charity tried the infamous javaberry (coffee and raspberry sherbet swirled) with jimmies, and I went for a baseline reading with the straight vanilla cone with a butterscotch dip. The dip added little (I'm now basically convinced that only DQ has ever done really good dip cones), but man, the vanilla soft serve is quite simply the best I've ever had. It had none of that icy consistency, where you feel a thin layer crack under your tongue as you lick it. This was pure creaminess, with a strong but not overpowering vanilla flavor. Next time I'm going for my standard summertime treat, a twist cone.

[rlh]

I happened to be sitting in traffic and going by Celebrity last night after reading this, so I stopped in for a vanilla soft serve - I agree it was smooth vs. icy (a fatal flaw of so many) and the cone was terrifically fresh and crispy, but mine was barely vanilla-flavored at all and it was smooth but not creamy (I think it had some, but not enough, fat content for me).

I actually prefer Dairy Queen or Carvel (if there are any actually left...) for the straight-up soft serve, but the tip-top soft serve EVER is the vanilla custard at Chilly Cow in Arlington Center (no other flavor - only the vanilla is amazing).

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

I agree that back in the day, no one could touch DQ for vanilla soft-serve, but we always finish our meals at the Clam Box with dessert at that little old-fashioned walk-up Dairy Queen about a half-mile down Route 1A, and I'm always struck by how inferior the present-day product is compared to what it used to be. Surely it's not just nostalgia on my part. I think they're reduced the fat content.

[Prav]

Do you happen to remember what other ice cream flavours they had? The menu doesn't list them.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

They have something like 24 soft-serve flavors -- none of which I was interested in because I only like vanilla and twist cones when it comes to soft serve -- and maybe 8 or 9 hard ice cream flavors, all of which were pretty standard-issue.

[Allstonian]

The main soft-serve flavors are vanilla & chocolate, coffee & raspberry (sherbet), combined for the popular javaberry, and orange sherbet plus a second dispenser of vanilla so that they can do creamsicle twist cones. The other soft-serve flavors are, I believe, done with mix-ins.

[Luther]

Yeah, the "real" flavors (vanilla, chocolate, coffee, raspberry, orange) are good. The other flavors, made by blending in some foul liquid to a vanilla base, all kind of taste the same and are not good.

[Wursthof]

I went to Celebrity today to try their supercheeseburger. The second disappointing burger of the week. This disappointment was a bit easier to handle because it only cost $4.36. They use a preformed burger like the ones they sell at Costco or BJ's. It is shaped like one of those ridged cookie cutters. I would guess that it was previously frozen. It was cooked through and not any juice at all. Ordered it with everything which included cheese, ketchup, mustard, chopped onions, pickles, lettuce, tomato and mayo. The condiments were fine and so was the bun. The meat(?) was pretty substandard and really finely ground in the industrial packaging sort of way. I would rather have been served a Bubbaburger than what I got. Another lesson learned.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Well, to be fair, it's a flat-patty burger, and that's a style that's impossible not to be "cooked through." I had assumed that was obvious from my description, and I can see how someone expecting otherwise would be disappointed.

[afty698]

I used to live down the street from Celebrity, and I went there all the time in the summer. But I never tried the burger. Now I will have to. Thanks for the recommendation!

[macadamianut]

I too have driven past that location a million times but never stopped. I will go there today for a burger. You made it sound so delicious. I am glad that you told me about the mayo part because I do not like it on a burger either. Do they have onion rings and how did the pizza look?

[Taralli]

http://celebritypizzainc.com/index.html

[Ralphie_in_Boston]

"I too have driven past that location a million times but never stopped"

me too! Before now, I'd only spoken with one person who'd ever been there, and they weren't crazy about it. So I've never tried it. I saw the menu and the prices for clams dont' seem bad. I'd love to hear comments about the clams.

[Science Chick]

Yes, a full report on their seafood would be great......how is the 'slaw??

[gourmaniac]

Not a full report but i've tried their fried clams and onion rings. The are good and moderately priced but won't make you forget the better places cited so often on this site. They do use Ispswich clams (i asked). I recall the clam roll was about $10 last year.

[Luther]

The slaw is pretty unremarkable and comes in a little cup.

[Johnresa]

Their coleslaw is so utterly inedible I feel faint just thinking of it. I had it once and it had a gooey, gloopy consistency similar to Elmer's glue with a few chunks in it. Tasted as bad as it looked. They are across the street from where I work so I usually get there every now and again to get a couple of slices which I find to be pretty decent. Their seafood platter is very decent and worth the money minus the gross coleslaw.

[Luther]

Onion rings are the very skinny kind and I don't like them much. The pizza is rather good, much better than you'd likely assume. It is NY-slice-style but a little on the puffy side.

[Science Chick]

If I was in that neighborhood, I'd probably be more likely to hit Stella's for pizza.

[StriperGuy]

Yes!

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

I saw a couple cheese slices go out and they looked serviceable enough. They do have onion rings -- thin-cut and hand-breaded, it looked like. I think I'd try those next myself.

I too hear good things about the clams.

[trizydlux]

I went to Celebrity this evening for the very first time, and can report on the onion rings. They are indeed thin cut and hand-breaded - crisp and reasonably tasty, though ours came without a trace of salt! This was easily remedied at the table and there was just a TON of "rings" (more like strings actually) in a large order. I had the fish sandwich and was pleasantly surprised by the quality and quantity of the fish for the price. The sandwich was no-frills with just fish and tartar sauce on an untoasted standard hamburger bun, but it was very much good enough to have again (and soon!). I might ask for a little slaw on it or maybe some lettuce next time. DBF got the whole clam plate, and he said they compared favorably to those we get at the Clam Box or Woodman's. I didn't get to taste even one measly clam, so I can't personally confirm or deny this. :( They looked good at least! :D

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

We went back there for lunch last week and had the rings. I wonder if you asked nicely if they would salt them straight out of the fryer so it would adhere properly. Aside from that, they were excellent rings, some of the best I'd had in a while. I continue to be most impressed by this place.

[gourmaniac]

I've been a couple of times and enjoyed it but it wasn't the transcendent experience that you describe. I'll have to try the burger now. They are very friendly there. If it isn't too busy, I'm sure they will toast the bun. I've had the hot dog there with bun properly toasted (can;t remember if i had to ask).

[EmmaFrances]

The chocolate is also very good - cocoa-y, not too sweet. I used to stop there on the way home from work in the summer and have an ice cream dinner (twist cone).

[Luther]

I like to ask for cocktail sauce to put on the burger. That's probably extra-sacrilicious.

[itaunas]

When I think of a good flat burger, the places in the area that I think of are Celebrity and Mangia Mangia (who will toast the bun). As much for the location as anything, but Sully's on Castle Island doesn't do a bad job either and toasts both burger and dog buns. Also given your location, if you want something totally different, try the X-Tudo at Padaria Brasil Bakery on Harvard -- you might consider it sacreligious as the burger is usually somewhat secondary to the toppings themselves, but its something that in my opinion doesn't work with a thicker burger.