Sunday, September 27, 2009

Restaurant Review: Picco

My weekend has been seriously uneventful due to the fact that I have been fighting one of the 1 million colds the kiddos bring in my classroom, and Eric has been (of course) at football :) I have worked out but I haven't done much else so I thought I'd do a restaurant review I forgot to do last week.

I love to go into Boston for dinner so I was excited to try out Picco in the South End of Boston. It seemed like a reasonably priced restaurant, which can be difficult to find in the South End. We took Eric's mom and headed into Boston. There was a parking garage behind the restaurant that cost about $12 (something to take into consideration when planning to dine downtown).

First, the atmosphere: Picco has the feel of an upscale pizza place with a lot of brick, and open kitchen and a pretty large bar area (considering it's a small restaurant). They also have a beautiful outdoor patio, but it was too cold for us to sit out there. They do take reservations and I would consider making them because we ended up with one of the last tables available even though we were fairly early in the night. It definitely seemed like a kid-friendly place and there were many children around when we arrived. At the same time, it also had the downtown, hip feel.

Eric ordered the pumpkin curried soup for an appetizer. I am not a fan of curry, so I did not particularly enjoy it, but Eric thought it was delicious and was already pleased with the restaurant before he had received his meal.


For meals, Eric and his mom went with pizza and I went for the homemade pasta with tomato sauce. They had some more creative options, but we are pretty simple eaters. I think it says a lot about a restaurant when they can do simple things well, as well as the signature meals. Eric ordered the Alsatian pizza with garlic, shallots, cheese, onions and bacon.


They cook the pizza "well done" so Eric asked for his lightly toasted. Eric's mom ordered the Margherita pizza.


The reports on the pizza were good and I have to say my pasta was soooo good. It was definitely North End style (Italian section of Boston) and it tasted very authentic Italy. There is something special about homemade pasta that just cannot be replicated with the store bought brands.


But...it does not end here. I have to admit that the real reason I got Eric to come all the way into Boston with me even after football practice was with the Adult Ice Cream Soda. There was no question we were going to order dessert with this on the menu. It was made with Belgium Lambic (a raspberry flavored beer) and vanilla ice cream.


That is Eric's look of "do I really have to wait for you to take a picture to dive into this amazing treat?" Obviously, I tried it too so I can vouch for how amazing it was. Plus, it's fun to have a beer float!


I also ordered my own dessert- Toasted Gingerbread with Vanilla Ice Cream. Delish.



Overall I think everyone who lives in, or is visiting Boston should visit this place for the Adult Ice Cream Soda alone. However, you might as well eat your meal there because the food was delicious and very reasonable. It came to about $60 for the 3 of us, and we all ordered a meal and dessert, plus Eric's soup. Not too bad for the South End neighborhood.


13 comments:

  1. Hi Kelly! I think i'm really going to enjoy reading your blog! I can relate to a lot of it! Anyways, just wanted to say thanks for the comment..i'll be reading!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Kelly! Saw this post...this is my favorite restaurant in Boston!!! I would highly suggest the brownies and the ice cream - PB fudge is especially yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are making me hungry! There is something for you at my blog!

    Katie

    ReplyDelete
  4. I now have an uncontrollable craving for pizza and ice cream.. none of which I have, le sigh.

    sounds like a great night out :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a fancy dessert!! That would be dangerous for me because I'd slurp it down in two seconds. Actually that kind of dessert usually gives me a stomach ache, obviously that's not the case with you!
    The pumpkin soup sounds delicious, I am going to try to make my own here as soon as I find more pumpkin! Actually, there is apparently a pumpkin shortage because the growing season this year wasn't so good (bad weather I guess!) So good luck finding more, and cherish what you have!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Aww I hope you feel better soon! That pizza looks incredible, and so do the ice cream sodas. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  7. OMG, it all looks so good! I wish I had known about this restaurant when I visited Boston! I guess it will be for the next time :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yum. That looks super good. I also have been fighting for a week now, one of the crude bugs from the kids. However, my voice is almost 80 percent back now but my nose is still all stuffed. Boo.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love that restaurant! I've been there a few times and always had pizza. I'll definitely branch out and try the pasta next time. It's been said that the South End is beginning to surpass the North End in quality Italian food. I'm starting to agree. There's quite a bit of crap Italian food in the North End that just uses the fact that they're in the North End to say they have good food.

    Have a great night!

    ReplyDelete
  10. We just started going to the schools for our nutrition program and I know what you mean, they are germ factories!! Hope you are feeling better.
    Wow, that meal looks delicious, those pizzas are so fluffy. Beer floats are sooo good, I've only tried them with a rich, chocolate stout, yum!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That food looks amazing! When I was in Boston a few weeks ago we were running around trying to do lots of stuff in a short amount of time and we didn't get to sit down and eat but it sounds like there are some really delicious places!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love restaurant reviews (can ya tell!) I never even heard of this place but wow that Adult Ice Cream Soda looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete