My dad is originally from Massachusetts. In our immediate family, my dad was pretty much the only one to leave and I’m the only Californian in our family. I attended Boston University for my college years and even though I was too poor in college to really enjoy the fruitful Bostonian restaurant scene, I did later develop a love for Boston related foods, such as clam chowda, fried whole belly clams and lobster rolls. Bite of Boston helps to relive a little bit of my days in Boston without the long flight and I’m happy to have discovered them!
My co-workers and I visited for lunch one Friday when I told them in no uncertain terms that this was where we were going. It was not a democracy in lunch choices that day, but luckily no one seemed to mind.
[clam chowder – 8oz – $3.95]
I had my eye on two things in particular for lunch that day. I needed a bowl of clam chowder in my belly, stat!
The crappy thing about photos of soup is that well.. the photos are just so uninspiring. “It’s a bowl of white stuff,” you’re probably thinking. All of the good stuff is floating around in there, waiting to be discovered. The photo doesn’t tell you about all of the potato chunks, the massive amount of clams, and the rich, creamy broth that is waiting for you RIGHT THIS MINUTE. It’s delicious and insanely good – and oh so filling. Soups are usually not filling, but this clam chowder is quite thick and hearty.
[lobster roll – 6 in. – $10.99]
Luckily I opted to get the smaller lobster roll (there’s also an 8 in. for $13.75) because I was STUFFED after having these two items for lunch.
I didn’t eat a lot of lobster rolls in college, poor student and all. But even then, I didn’t really develop a taste for lobster until I was older. There’s a great, great divide between *good* lobster and *meh* lobster. Good lobster makes you crave more since it’s subtly sweet whereas Meh lobster makes you wonder why you wasted the money.
This lobster roll is filled with the good, sweet lobster and it’s very lightly dressed. There’s like a sniffle of mayo and other ingredients on here, nothing to truly get in your way. The lobster is succulent, fresh, and sweet – very good.
My favorite part is that it’s served on a traditional New England roll with the sides of the bun grilled. These kinds of buns are almost non-existent on this side of the country. But you can now buy King’s Hawaiian hot dog buns that have the sides like these so you can grill them and make fancy hot dogs or lobster rolls at home. YES. Grilled buns are very, very, very important.
Here’s a peek at the inside of Bite of Boston. This is towards the end of our lunch so it doesn’t look very crowded but this places was jumping before! Most of the sandwiches are named after something Boston related, such as the Big Dig (turkey, havarti cheese, sliced onions, and raspberry chipotle dressing) and the Northender (proscuitto, sopressato salami, capicola, tomatoes, provolone cheese, roasted peppers, oil and seasoning).
You can bet that I’ll be revisiting Bite of Boston, especially since they serve fried whole belly clams (my favorite – I have yet to try them here!) and they just started doing steamer clams.
If you visit on Mondays, you can get the larger lobster roll at a discounted price. Tuesdays also get you a deal on the fried clams that I’m hankering to try.
It’s a delicious spot for lunch and with three locations in San Diego, it’s a little bit easier to get your fix for East Coast specialties right in our own backyard.
Bite of Boston
(multiple locations)
3202 Governor Drive
San Diego, CA 92122
858-453-4000
I love lobster rolls but I’ve had my share of bad ones here in San Diego where they stuff it full of other stuff besides lobster and at a premium price. But theirs looks good with very little interference and an good looking bun.
I’ve had some bad lobster here, too. This one was great though – the kind of sandwich you want to have again and again! I still need to go try the whole belly clams, those are my true weakness.
fried whole belly clams!!!! what!!! I thought the only place that offered that was Studio Diner ? I want to say that I’ve heard of Bite of Boston – but not sure – I know i’ve never been so I’ll have to check out now. I’m a huge lover of clams so I’m hoping BOB does it right here (not that I know exactly what ‘doing right’ means when it comes to frying clams…)
Do you think they use fresh lobster for their rolls? Or more the pre packaged lobster? And yes – the King’s Hawaiian hot dog buns look crazy good – i’ve seen them in the markets!!
There used to be another place that did the whole bellies, but the restaurant has changed names so I don’t think they do anymore. The ones at Studio Diner are so pricey, it’s hard to justify getting them! I’m pretty sure the lobster at BOB is fresh. It tastes pretty darn fresh. They also fly in their clams twice a week! Mmmmm. 🙂
I haven’t had an authentic Boston style lobster roll yet…so now I’m looking forward to trying this place out. When you wrote, fried clams, I got excited too. Want those as well!
Woo, hope you check this place out! I hope to try the clams soon, too. I love clams – and I don’t mean those lame places that use clam strips and try to pass them off as clams!
Yeah, I was disappointed with the fried clams at the SD Fair – they turned out to be strips and small ones at that. Whole clams, now that’s another story. I love your posts. You have such a variety – cheap places to high end, and everything in between.
Thanks, CC. I try to keep in interesting 😀