Favorite restaurants that are no longer there (Boston, Lowell: home, wedding reception)

[paradiddle]

Lums was known for hot dogs steamed in beer. I think there was one in Billerica where a 99 is now.

My favorite Chinese was called the Royal Hawaiian in Burlington. Outback there now. I ate my first Scheczuahn ( I can't spell ) there. And of course the old Wey-lu's in Saugus before they had the palace on the hill. That also brings up the Lanai Island in Stoneham. My exwife would get so mad that people would mispronounce Lanai and call it Lany... ( she was a U of Hawaii student). Just a drinkin' place with Pu Pu platters.

As a kid we used to go to Carols Diner in Medford Square in the early 70's for a late night Steak and Eggs.

I did the Steak & Brew.....can't remember much about the steak.
How about Vallee's Steak House?

My family used to go to a place in Billerica called the Everglades. Its a Chinese place now.

I always complain down here in Fla. that they don;t know what a good Chinese place is. They think it should be take out or buffet. I try to tell them about The Kowloon.....

[goyguy]

"After shopping, won't you try a great big Bailey's sundae?" Now those were ice cream parlors! And Bailey's poor relation, Brigham's, used to be great for a quick cone or sandwich but has also vanished.

No one else remembers Aku-Aku in Kenmore Square and by Alewife? C'mon, admit it!

And how about Joyce Chen's: the "small eating place" near MIT, the not much larger eating place on Rindge Ave, then the spectacular restaurant downtown in the transportation building with the huge dragon on the wall and the indoor stream complete with arched footbridge? Opening that grandiose place is what drove the business into bankruptcy as Joyce herself lay dying from Alzheimer's. A crying shame.

People keep asking online whether there's still a Valle's Steak House in existence. It's like believing the ivory-billed woodpecker really isn't extinct: somebody knows somebody who swears they saw a Valle's near a highway in Connecticut but they can't remember where. Deal with it. They're gone.

Tandoor House used to be the best Indian restaurant in Central Square (Cambridge.) But I guess that wasn't enough - or maybe it was, and the owners retired rich.

Anybody else recall Bel Canto? They made the best calzones ever, baked from whole wheat dough and overstuffed with fresh meats and/or cheeses and/or veggies. From a hole-in-the-wall storefront between Harvard and Central Squares, they expanded into the former Acropolis restaurant next door and eventually opened in at least two other locations - then were bought out by the Pizzeria Regina folks and shut down not long thereafter.

The Genji and Roka Japanese restaurants, there before sushi was cool...

Bob the Chef's, closed last year after an attempt to yuppify it as a "Southern bistro" was less than successful...ditto (in food category) for Dixie Kitchen by Berklee...

Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips! Chain restaurant, but so good.

The Bay Tower Room downtown for "occasion" dinners...

Ruggles Pizza - those cheddar-topped pies were scrumptious, all right!

Montilio's bakeries...

Division Sixteen, next to the Back Bay firehouse on Boylston St, served the BEST omelettes and could mix a mean drink too.

The Fishery in Central Square (1993-2000, RIP)...

How about places that are still around but have seen better days? Green St Grill loses something every time it moves farther towards upscale from its origins as a funky dive with a jukebox and unbelievable Caribbean cuisine. None of my friends nor I have been in since John Clifford sold the place. "Grill" has been dropped from the name, and the appeal of dishes like $18 mac-n-cheese escapes me. Legal Seafoods is in no way as good as it was back in the days before they could be found in every mall in eastern Mass. and all the way down the East Coast to Florida. No one argues that the Hilltop Steak House hasn't gone downhill. No Name is completely unworthy of a visit since they moved out of the warehouse and quit serving Coke in the old-fashioned curved green glass bottles...And so on and on and on...

In happier news: After being raised from the dead in January of '07, Verna's in North Cambridge keeps turning out their incomparable honey-dipped donuts and thumbing their nose at Dunkin Donuts store #3825 a mere two blocks up Mass. Ave. Go Verna's!!!

[brightdoglover]

I remember the Aku-Aku in Kenmore Square. When I worked a 2p-midnight shift, I knew every place that played jazz or served food after midnight, and Aku-Aku served until 4a. (I didn't drink alcohol, and co-workers wanted to get a drink- I wanted food).

I remember Roka and Genji. What was the Japanese place in a house on Concord Ave, near the rotary before the Alfewife rotary to Belmont?

Bob the Chef's was marvelous. A heart attack meal with a smile.

Green Street Grill used to be great, when you had to step over drunks to get to the restaurant part, past the pinball machines. No food like it before or since.

Does anyone remember the Cao Palace on Brighton Avenue, an early-on Vietnamese restaurant with a few tables by the fish market cases? I always wondered if they knew what a great pun it was or not.

I agree that funky places get successful, yup it up, and become dull. One exception might be the S&S Deli in Inman Square.

[mawipafl]

Two great pizza parlors in Beverly - Capri (best Sicilian) and Carmello (best pizza ever IMHO).

Waikiki in Salem -- not so great on food, but the price was right, and was always the place to go after barhopping.

[paradiddle]

Now you got the "Phantom Gourmet" so everything has got to be over the top to get noticed.

I did the Aku in Cambridge not so long ago....

How about Kemps Hamburgers? They were 15 cents before the McD's came into Burlington.

I always "wanted" to go to Bob The Chef's for that soul food.

Is the "No-Name" restaurant still around down on the fishing pier? Down by Jimmy's (that's gone too?) and Anthony's.

[goyguy]

Yes, No Name is still in business and in the same vicinity. But it was relocated into a dull brick building. There's a view of the harbor from large windows now, BIG deal. Haven't been in ages - one visit after the relo was enough. Jimbo's Fish Shack is long gone. Jimmy's Harborside? Couldn't say. Pier 4 is still there; is Mr Athanas 100 yet? For seafood on the waterfront, my destination now is the Barking Crab.

BDL: Thanks for jogging my memory. "Little Osaka" was the name of that cozy lil' Japanese restaurant on Concord Ave. Should've remembered that, 'cause I had some nice meals and times there. Around the corner, the Tokyo Restaurant (could be wrong on the name) has sat vacant for five years or so. Never tried it.

I remember Cao Palace - hasn't been so long since it disappeared. That tends to be the fate of many an eating place in Allston. Another example of this is the Six Burner restaurant, now a Korean eatery.

Cambridge's Aku-Aku became the first Summer Shack. Its tiki statue near the front door was given a makeover and turned into a fisherman wearing a rain slicker and hat and smoking a pipe - funny! There are now Summer Shacks in the Kings entertainment complex (former Cheri theater) and at one of the Connecticut casinos too. Beats me how a restaurant that puts the "over" in "overrated" can enjoy that much success!

S & S = blecchhh. I call myself "goyguy" because, although I'm not Jewish culturally or religiously, the area in which I grew up housed a large Jewish population. So I learned a lot of Yiddish and Hebrew vocabulary, expressions such as "What am I, chopped liver" or "Next year in Israel," and such. My mom kvetches and kvells over me and my siblings and wryly calls herself our Jewish mother. The point is that I know good deli, and S & S falls way short. Overall, they serve skimpy portions of mediocre victuals and even the beer seems to taste weak there. Their secret to continued prosperity has to be that they've simply been around so long that "everybody" knows the place. Each time I go there with people, we ask each other why we're headed to a restaurant no one's especially fond of. In a nutshell, it's close by and has an extensive menu. When your tummy's growling and just plain needs to be filled, it'll do.

[october2007]

There was a Bailey's in Harvard Square and Coolidge Corner too.

[crazyworld]

Originally Posted by goyguy

"After shopping, won't you try a great big Bailey's sundae?" Now those were ice cream parlors! And Bailey's poor relation, Brigham's, used to be great for a quick cone or sandwich but has also vanished.

No one else remembers Aku-Aku in Kenmore Square and by Alewife? C'mon, admit it!

And how about Joyce Chen's: the "small eating place" near MIT, the not much larger eating place on Rindge Ave, then the spectacular restaurant downtown in the transportation building with the huge dragon on the wall and the indoor stream complete with arched footbridge? Opening that grandiose place is what drove the business into bankruptcy as Joyce herself lay dying from Alzheimer's. A crying shame.

People keep asking online whether there's still a Valle's Steak House in existence. It's like believing the ivory-billed woodpecker really isn't extinct: somebody knows somebody who swears they saw a Valle's near a highway in Connecticut but they can't remember where. Deal with it. They're gone.

Tandoor House used to be the best Indian restaurant in Central Square (Cambridge.) But I guess that wasn't enough - or maybe it was, and the owners retired rich.

Anybody else recall Bel Canto? They made the best calzones ever, baked from whole wheat dough and overstuffed with fresh meats and/or cheeses and/or veggies. From a hole-in-the-wall storefront between Harvard and Central Squares, they expanded into the former Acropolis restaurant next door and eventually opened in at least two other locations - then were bought out by the Pizzeria Regina folks and shut down not long thereafter.

The Genji and Roka Japanese restaurants, there before sushi was cool...

Bob the Chef's, closed last year after an attempt to yuppify it as a "Southern bistro" was less than successful...ditto (in food category) for Dixie Kitchen by Berklee...

Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips! Chain restaurant, but so good.

The Bay Tower Room downtown for "occasion" dinners...

Ruggles Pizza - those cheddar-topped pies were scrumptious, all right!

Montilio's bakeries...

Division Sixteen, next to the Back Bay firehouse on Boylston St, served the BEST omelettes and could mix a mean drink too.

The Fishery in Central Square (1993-2000, RIP)...

How about places that are still around but have seen better days? Green St Grill loses something every time it moves farther towards upscale from its origins as a funky dive with a jukebox and unbelievable Caribbean cuisine. None of my friends nor I have been in since John Clifford sold the place. "Grill" has been dropped from the name, and the appeal of dishes like $18 mac-n-cheese escapes me. Legal Seafoods is in no way as good as it was back in the days before they could be found in every mall in eastern Mass. and all the way down the East Coast to Florida. No one argues that the Hilltop Steak House hasn't gone downhill. No Name is completely unworthy of a visit since they moved out of the warehouse and quit serving Coke in the old-fashioned curved green glass bottles...And so on and on and on...

In happier news: After being raised from the dead in January of '07, Verna's in North Cambridge keeps turning out their incomparable honey-dipped donuts and thumbing their nose at Dunkin Donuts store #3825 a mere two blocks up Mass. Ave. Go Verna's!!!

I remeber Steak and Brew.
Vallee's has been a few things, lastly a Hilltop...horrible horrible.they just sold out to a car dealership.
Legal is way overpriced.
Montilio's, just around the corner from me.so good (rum cake) but it is so expensive to just go there and pick up pastry for different occasions. Costs a whole paycheck almost.
If anyone is familiar with Quincy...anyone remember Eddie's Diner. Now that was the place to go in the middle of the night. The food was bad but the sights were great! It is now a bank.

[goyguy]

Valle's and Hilltop were in competition - one never succeeded the other. The Valle's in Saugus was within sight of the Hilltop there! They were cheek-by-jowl in Braintree, which now has neither, too.

The association with the South Shore reminds me of the short-lived Hamburger Construction Co in Weymouth. It was an ancestor of Fuddrucker's, both chronologically and in style. When a McDonald's went in, closer to Route 3, it spelled "curtains" for them.

Anybody recall when fast-food burgers were tasty and could've easily weighed what the menu says they do? Junk foodies wore black for a year when the last Burger King in Boston that used an open-flame grill for cooking, on Cummins Hwy, turned off the gas jets and installed microwaves. By the same token, my love for Verna's is even stronger because of how Dunkies got away from making everything on the premises and now trucks it all in from a commissary.

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by Valerie C

McIntyre's in Rowley/Ipswich had the very best fried clams. The Clam Box down the street is OK but still not like McIntyre's

I remember McIntyre's! Every summer when we'd come up to visit family, we'd drive out of our way to stop by McIntyre's. Then one year, it was gone. I've been to the Clam Box a few times and I think it's good... but I grew up in Georgia and never had seafood! There's also Brown's in Seabrook with a view of the nuclear plant (which my dad always told us was why the scallops were so big!) but that has gone downhill as well.

The Roma in Haverhill is gone, right? At least, that's what I last heard. That was part of the trifecta of grandparent dining along with the Haverhill Country Club and really bad Chinese at the Hawaiian Isle.