Things to do, see, places to eat: Waltham area? (Cambridge: for sale, hotels)

[MisterStereoman]

Will be spending a couple of days centered in the
Waltham area...can anyone recommend things to do, etc. or restaurants (not fancy, not fast food) in the area? Gropius House and Decordova Sculpture Garden are on the menu. Was wondering what else is recommended. TIA!

[MikePRU]

There are plenty of good restaurants in Waltham. Check out Solea. It's a tapas restaurant that I really enjoy. Also, people speak highly of Strip T's. I've never been there personally though.

[goyguy]

Strip T's (overrated IMO) is in Watertown. And there are no poles on spotlit stages there either. LOL

Downtown Waltham's Moody St is the perfect place to be when you can't agree on what sounds good for a meal. There's everything from a restaurant specializing in BBQ and bison (yes) meat, to a Central American cuisine dive, to upscale Thai. Despite its also incongruous name, In a Pickle draws mobs for breakfast - particularly on weekends - with its inventive and filling specialties like Snickers Bar Pancakes. A personal favorite is Wilson's Diner on Main St headed toward Bentley University from downtown. The place is frozen in time, with the exact same people behind the counter as were there when I first started breakfasting there in 1995. It's even been featured in "Zippy the Pinhead." A filling breakfast with coffee AND TIP should still bring change for a ten-spot! (Or a 20 if two of you go.)
If you like places "for the atmosphere" more than the food - nuff said - there's the historic Wayside Inn on Route 20 in Sudbury near the Marlborough line.

No mention was made of how soon this trip is going to be. We're still all too much in the grip of winter, but history shows there's a "seasonal tussle" between winter and spring in the near future. Before April sets in we're bound to have some balmy beautiful days with temps in the 60's. If this is the case I can't recommend Garden in the Woods in Framingham enough. When on a very rare visit to the area "Mrs Goyguy Sr" insisted upon being taken there not once but twice I figured there could be no higher praise. Two biologist/botanists - probably a gay couple given that they were making property purchases together and sharing a cabin, but who cares - started acquiring parcels of land in what was then still mostly a wooded and rural area during the 1940's. Eventually their holdings grew to about 60 acres, the majority of which have been turned into an outdoor exhibit of native wildflowers. You just park, go in from whatever direction you like, and meander down the paths at your leisure. Most of the land has reverted to its "original state," making for a shady canopy over the walkways. The plants and flowers are well labeled (you can also pick up maps and interpretive booklets at the visitors' center.) All in all it makes for a serene and slow-paced break from modern life. Retired friends routinely make the 15-mile drive just to bask in its surroundings during warmer weather. Framingham has long since mushroomed into a typical bedroom suburb choked with subdivisions and shopping centers, so it's all the more wonderful that "two gentlemen" foresaw that seven decades ago and gave us this Garden.

Drumlin Farm, a Massachusetts Audubon "property" in Lincoln not far from the DeCordova Museum, is another pleasant spot for outdoor wanderings - weather permitting.
AND...if you time things right the hardly-ever-open Charles River Museum of Science & Industry might be accepting visitors. (I've not yet hit it at the right time - hahaha.) It's bound to be an interesting walk-through, seeing as how Waltham was once a manufacturing hotbed and was even renowned for...watches!
Revolutionary War buffs already know about Concord, of course, but even if you're not (or if there's an Alcott fan on the trip) it's worth a look-see. You can even take the commuter rail - during the week - from Waltham Center or Brandeis to get there.
Lastly, Gore Place on the Waltham/Watertown line is a preserved working farm from the early 1800's whose centerpiece is the brick mansion built for the early governor for whom the spot is named. There are still some flowers and vegetables grown for sale, as well as a small amount of livestock (sheep, goats, & chickens.) But mostly the land is left alone. I've seen swallows darting around catching a snack or meal over an open meadow, with a hawk way overhead keeping its eyes peeled for a rodent darting through the grass. Just a very laid-back environment even if the traffic noise from surrounding streets is always present. The "house" is open for tours in the evening and there are "themed" events going on throughout the year. As is the case with Garden in the Woods, foresight and good fortune are all that kept Gore Place from having long since been engulfed by the suburbs that have sprung up around it.
Enjoy!

[MisterStereoman]

Thanks guys. Will be going in a couple of weeks, goyguy, so the outdoorsy things will have to wait for another time. Garden in the Woods does sound like a must, but for a future visit. Roadfood.com mentions Blue Ribbon BBQ in W. Newton as the best in New England. Anyone second that, or disagree?
Another is a place called Naked Fish - is that a decent place for seafood?

When I look at Google maps, it looks like Waltham (north part of town) is a ghetto of upscale chain hotels. Well that's where we'll be. Might end up just walking to a hotel restaurant, just so I can imbibe without worrying about driving. One that seems to have decent reviews is Cooper House Tavern, in the Best Western. (Though something makes me think the locals probably avoid the hotel crowd).
And Naked Fish is close by.

Any other suggestions would indeed be appreciated!

[goyguy]

By a couple of weeks from now we could well be catching some tantalizing hints of spring. No way of telling until the actual days roll around.
Blue Ribbon is hit or miss, though their cheesy grits are at least always a sure thing. New England natives flock there, but I was raised by Southerners so take a more dim view than the many who can't stop raving. Think about it. Finding good BBQ in Massachusetts is like locating the best seafood in Kansas City. Why do you want to? (LOL)

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by goyguy

Strip T's (overrated IMO) is in Watertown. And there are no poles on spotlit stages there either. LOL

Sorry about that! For some reason I thought it was in Waltham. Regardless, as you point out there are tons of good spots to eat in Waltham.

One other spot in Waltham is Demo's. It's a inexpensive little Greek restaurant. I know people that love it there. IMO, it's OK but nothing great. If you want to pick up some fresh produce to have on hand for snacks head over to Russo's.

[goyguy]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

Sorry about that! For some reason I thought it was in Waltham.

No problem what-so-evah! It's "one of those places between Cambridge & 128 that starts with 'w.'" And we're going over what's in the Waltham area. But people who do such things unheard of 20 years ago as "Googling," or "Yelping" - and not like a dog, sometimes need goyguy's accuracy obsession.

Sentiment re Demo's is echoed. They also have a location in - wait for it - Watertown, but what the hype is all about I couldn't say. If the OP gotta have moussaka while in town my go-to is Greek Corner in North Cambridge.

Let's face it, though. All along Main St - from KFC in the east to Joseph's in the west - and on "that stretch" of Moody St between the common and the middle school, with Biagio at one end and Erawan of Siam at the other, a whole array of dining options awaits. No need to settle for overpriced lousy hotel/motel food or the local Applebee's on Lexington St.

Now that "Lexington" has been broached - don't go there hungry if you're into the whole Revolutionary War site visit thing. Nothing in its limited selection of places to eat rises above "meh."

[miu]

Little India on Moody Street for the lunch buffet is awesome. And there's a great antique group shop on Felton Street. It's open six days a week, closed on Tuesdays.

[495neighbor]

Taqueria Mexico, a little hole in the wall place off Moody, is a great little cheap-eat for good Mexican food and Sangria.

[goyguy]

Originally Posted by miu

Little India on Moody Street for the lunch buffet is awesome.

Lord have mercy. I average five helpings of the mushroom/yogurt curry there at lunch.
We should also bring out the fact that Moody St is a Mecca for "thrifters." It holds more than its share of chintzy dollar stores (sometimes clearly geared toward a Hispanic or Asian Indian clientele.) There's also the two-storefronts-wide Global Thrift, grimy and only casually organized the way such places should be. Once to my wondering eyes there appeared a sweatshirt "repping" my dad's stepmother's native town in North Carolina - a place with maybe 14,000 residents - there. MINE! For two lousy bucks. Go wearing old clothes and prepared to shower off the dust afterwards.