This is an Indian foodie’s experience of American food in Boston vs. similar food in India.

In a nutshell:

A 180+ year old Restaurant that has stood the test of time & in some ways is still stuck in a time freeze – Loved the whole experience with a special thumbs up to food.

Address & other details: Union Oyster House

Meal for 2: US$ 80 onwards

Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

The story of this place:

I am not sure that this is the best ever restaurant serving famous Boston seafood today. However, opened in 1826*, this is the oldest surviving Restaurant in America & that itself speaks a lot – today it is a National Historic Landmark. The Building is also one of the oldest surviving buildings in Boston – constructed between 1716 & 1717 (Aurangazeb ruled India till 1707 – for time reference).

* For reference – Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor ascended the throne in 1837

 In late 1800s, Toothpick was introduced in this restaurant for the first time ever. Charles Forster , the inventor of toothpicks got the idea from South America where he saw people cleaning their teeth with small slivers of wood. He came up with a machine that produced toothpicks from birchwood grown on Boston’s nearby city Maine. When he tried selling this to restaurants, he found no takers. Legend has it that he stuck a deal with a bunch of Harvard students – They went to dine at Union Oyster House & created a ruckus after the meal when their request for a tooth cleaning instrument was refused. In a few days Charles pitched the toothpicks to this restaurant & it was introduced, soon to be introduced to other restaurants. Needless to say that he had to pay for the bill of the students.

Lobsters in early 1800s was known as poverty food in America!!!! It was a cheap source of protein fed to indentured servants & laborers. In fact, in Massachussets a group of servants rebelled & had it written in their contracts that they cud not b fed lobsters more than 3 times a week……………………………………… 

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

The whole look & feel as we went inside was that of a very old bar cum eatery – the kind that we have seen in movies. Small cubicles to sit & eat, no big hallways, wooden partitions for cubicles & so on. Loads of pictures, coins of yesteryears & menu cards of earlier days remain displayed in the wall. At the entrance was a huge aquarium with live lobsters of different sizes. It seemed unlikely though that this aquarium was there in its present form since the beginning of the restaurant. Opposite to the lobster area was a small & very old fashioned bar. People were sitting across the bar enjoying the drinks. The drinks made at the bar for guests upstairs were being sent on a manual lift operated using a pulley.

A guy standing at one of the counter near the entrance said ‘Pls go & ask for a table with the Hostess’. As I reached the ‘hostess’, we came across an elderly lady sitting on a high stool across a high desk resembling a ‘speech podium’. She also appeared to be out of movies of fifties & sixties. She wrote our names on a paper with pencil & said ‘1 hour waiting for the Grand Dining Room upstairs’ or ‘u may sit in the ground floor small seating area’. We chose the second option.

We loved our food & were very much at ease coz seafood is something that u have to eat with hands – everyone else was also eating with hands & I guess that made a lot of difference to our experience.

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:

Continue reading “Ye Olde Union Oyster House (41 Union Street Boston Massachusetts, USA)”