Boston's food reflects its history as a port on the cold North Atlantic and as a city of immigrants: fishermen's chowders, shellfish from the bays of Massachusetts and Maine, Italian bakeries in the North End and some of the best Asian food in the country in Chinatown. Here are the dishes to try and the places to look for them.

New England clam chowder

Boston's chowder is thick and creamy, made with clams, potatoes, onions, milk or cream and often salt pork or bacon, and served with oyster crackers. It is different from the tomato-based Manhattan style, which many New Englanders regard with scorn. Almost every seafood restaurant serves it, and waterfront stands sell it in cups to warm your hands on a windy day.

The lobster roll

Lobster meat in a toasted, buttered hot-dog bun. There are two main styles: cold, dressed lightly with mayonnaise, sometimes with celery; or warm, tossed in melted butter, often called Connecticut style. Both are delicious. Lobster rolls are expensive because lobster is, and prices change with the season; look for generous portions of claw and tail meat rather than filler.

Oysters and other seafood

Massachusetts oysters from Cape Cod, Duxbury and Wellfleet are famous: briny, crisp and best eaten raw on the half shell with a squeeze of lemon. Raw bars around the city offer tastings of several varieties. Other local favorites include fried clams with their bellies, steamers dipped in broth and butter, scallops from New Bedford, and broiled scrod, a white fish dish of old Boston.

Sweets

  • Boston cream pie: really a cake, with two layers of sponge, pastry cream in the middle and chocolate glaze on top, created at the Parker House hotel in the nineteenth century. It is the official state dessert.
  • Cannoli: crisp pastry tubes filled with sweet ricotta, the North End's famous treat.
  • Parker House rolls: soft, folded dinner rolls from the same hotel as the cream pie.
  • Indian pudding: an old colonial dessert of cornmeal, molasses and spices, served warm with ice cream in a few traditional restaurants.

Baked beans

Boston's old nickname, Beantown, comes from beans baked slowly with molasses and salt pork, a dish tied to the city's role in the molasses and rum trade of the colonial era. Today they are more of a historical curiosity than a daily dish, but a few traditional restaurants still serve them.

Where to eat

  • The North End for Italian food, pizza and pastries.
  • Quincy Market at Faneuil Hall, a historic market hall turned food court, for quick chowder and lobster rolls.
  • The waterfront and the Seaport for raw bars and seafood restaurants with views.
  • Chinatown near the Theater District for dim sum, noodles and late meals.
  • The South End and Cambridge for creative modern restaurants.

Tips

  • Many popular restaurants take reservations weeks ahead for weekend dinners.
  • Seafood prices change with the market; ask before ordering a dish priced at "market price".
  • Tipping is expected at sit-down restaurants; see tipping in the US.

Frequently asked questions

What is the one dish to try in Boston?

A bowl of clam chowder, followed by a lobster roll if your budget allows.

Where can I find cheap eats?

Chinatown, the food stalls of Quincy Market, pizza in the North End and food trucks in season.

When is lobster season?

Lobster is available year round, but it is often best and most plentiful in summer and early fall.