L’Aroma Café The
beautiful people take their espresso at L’Aroma, where the Italian
style of the coffees, sandwiches, luncheon salads, and pastries are more
evocative of Milan than Rome. As a bonus, tea-lovers can order from a
choice of 20 loose-leaf varieties . Caffè Vittoria The
jukebox at the largest of North End’s Italian cafés has nearly every
song ever recorded by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Al Martino. The
menu is long on short coffees and short drinks, including at least seven
varieties of grappa, as well as a fair selection of Italian ices. Diesel Café Diesel
is the quintessential Davis Square gathering spot where the tragically
hip rub shoulders with lesbian couples and scruffy Tufts students. The
spacious café has old-fashioned booths, couches, and a pair of pool
tables out back. The coffee menu includes a powerful double-caffeine
“High Octane” brew plus teas and tisanes. Trident Booksellers & Café Bibliophiles
make pilgrimages to this fine bookstore. The in-store café and bar
serves light and casual meals ranging from breakfast eggs to lunch wraps
as well as excellent dinner dishes like lasagna.
Trident Booksellers & Café
Sonsie Although
continental breakfast is served, the scene doesn’t really kick into
bustling life until lunch time. By dusk, Sonsie is full of folks who
just stopped in for a post-work drink and ended up making an evening of
it. The food – pizza, pasta and fusion-tinged entrées – deserves more
attention than most café-goers give it .
Sonsie
Other Side Café Multiple-pierced
and body-art-beautiful Berklee music students and health-obsessive
Boston University waifs hold down the stools and tables of this
coffee-house-cum-smoothie shack on the “wrong” side of Massachusetts
Avenue. Edge without danger is part of the draw, and the expresso sports
a perfect. crema 1369 Coffee House The
1369 Coffee House is as community-based as Starbucks is corporate.
There is a definite neighborly atmosphere about the place. The original
Inman Square branch has a more interesting cross section of ages and
ethnicities but Central Square has sidewalk seating. Both branches serve
mostly caffeine drinks and sweets – with sandwiches at lunch. Garden of Eden Café The
best-dressed, most buff South Enders patronize this gem of a café for
tasty dishes like duck pâté with bits of pistachio and orange or classic
French onion soup. Prepare to wait in line at lunch time for the
sandwiches or stop by mid-afternoon to savor a large molasses cookie
with a cappuccino.
Garden of Eden Café
Dado Tea However
you like your tea – white, black, or green – this shop has a choice of
blends to steep as a spiritually uplifting break in itself or as
accompaniment to light and healthy sandwiches, wraps, and salads.
Coffee-lovers are also accommodated, but tea rules here. Parish Café During
warm weather, the tables outside Parish Café offer a terrific view of
the lower Back Bay street scene. Parish has some of the most creative
and delicious sandwiches in the city – designed by chefs of Boston’s top
restaurants. Comfort food dishes (such as meatloaf with mashed
potatoes, fishcakes with Pommery mustard) are also excellent.
Top 10 Spots to Break your Diet
Finale Try the molten chocolate gateau or rich crème brûlée. L. A. Burdick Chocolatiers Sinful bonbons and Boston’s best hot chocolate. Dairy Fresh An old-fashioned shop jammed with candy, nuts and treats. ChocoLee Chocolates Pastry whiz Lee Napoli dips her own truffles and bon-bons. Flour Bakery & Café Delectable cakes, cookies, and perfect cups of coffee. Sugar Haven “Penny candy” by the pound brings back childhood memories. Eldo Cake House Western-style iced cakes and downhome Chinese treats. Herrell’s Chopped candy bars and sundae toppings folded into super-rich ice cream. Langham Boston Chocolate Dessert Buffet A showcase of French chocolate pastry and confectionery. 250 Franklin St Open Sep–Jun: Sat
Christina’s Homemade Ice Cream Exotic spices and flavors add punch.
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