Greasy Spoons Around Boston

Quote from Aesop "A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."

Tim Horton's, Dunkin' Donuts or D'Angelos, Subway, Quizno's I am not sure of this 100% yet... IHOP International House of Pancakes, has no local flavor. Google Phone gave out addresses of drill bit grinders shops around Shrewsbury and Worcester, which I found to be hilarious at 4 am, when I searched for grinders. By the way, grinders are a kind of a sandwich, similar to a hero. That should sum up the local chain stores, except for the big chowder bowl all-nite chain, what's its name neon Boston diner. Don't worry, the places are safe to eat at, even if the windows are a little bit wet with grease. (Aaackkk - what is the name of that restaurant, I always seem to end up there at this not-job with the Insane Clown Posse), it looks like a cross between The Kettle and Denny's masterminded in Braintree.

Late-nite hangouts, places to go when you need to get a little bit more loud than usual, sure - places like The Chowder Bowl, Cafe 297 corporate cafe in Chelmsford, Mike's City Diner, D. S. Omelette, Omelette Parties, Omelette HQ, Omelette Factory, The New England Soup Factory, Project Soup, The Long Island Shelter Kitchen, Big H Deli, Grandma's Chicken Soup, New York Soup Factory, All-Star Sandwich Shop, Charlie's Sandwich, CoSi, Massachusetts College of Art cafeteria, Union Chowder House in South Weymouth, etc...

Greasy spoons for poltergeists and their families around Boston (just checking to see if anyone is reading this) - actually, a few of these are to be found about 20 miles north of Boston in a town called Salem, Massachusetts.

If you like grilled food with a little bit of cigarette ash possibly in your meal, these might be the places for you... I figured that one out, already. Let's not even go into what else might happen to your food, you, hopefully, are not there for quality food, we hope. The product ingredients are full of refined sugar, bleached flour, and lots and lots of oils. Tons of carbohydrates and fats for you as a consumer - just the place to go if you are looking to gain weight, I guess, as long as the staff does not go out of their way to increase your adrenaline level, which the staff of the greasy spoon usually will do to anyone at their place, just to help everyone stay awake.

I seem to have become a regular offender at places like Bay State Chowder on 109 Main Street in North Andover, MA; which is really a nice pub, it is an excellent eatery. The staff is friendly, and will laugh at almost anything and everything, a little bit more than politely, and the crowd is a little bit noisier than that of your average Boston white-collar joint. Bay State Chowder packs a crowd, and the chatter in this restaurant is both less than and more than private. Forget keeping to yourself here, this is a place to socialize with people. The food is good, and the service is good, and the regulars are good - the jokes are bad, though.

Lunch Box Diner on 906 Eastern Avenue in Malden, MA offers coffee and eggs in a circa 1932 dining car - the place is a historical landmark, and the smoke is the best. Sometimes nicknamed "the red barn" or "original red barn", Lunch Box exists as a place to be chummy, while enjoying being around others.

Lester's Roadhouse BBQ on 376 Cambridge Street in Burlington, MA is a homestyle-cooking place, with little formality and lots of friendly, just the place to release your meat cravings, or to take your favorite carnivore.

We're not talking about stuff similar to going to visit Stop and Shop supermarket and buying your Hot Pockets, Miguel's Burrito or Tina's Burrito or White Castle sandwich from the frozen foods section, getting your Green Mountain coffee or liter of cold beverage, and sneaking into the employee's lounge and using their microwave here.

Nor are we talking about buying a George Foreman sandwich grill, a liter bottle of olive oil, a few loaves of bread, some sandwich fixings and sauces, and hitting the park restroom trail, in search of the nearest electrical outlet to do extended camping while schmauzing with Boston Earthworks volunteers here.

We are talking about hanging out with ordinary people, janitors, factory workers, cab drivers, while having a meal; and either listening to the continuous ramblings of the nearby tables, or telling jokes at a volume that will cause guffaws around the room once in a while as they are re-told to others.

There's Friendly's, a regional chain based in Wilbraham, MA, with several locations around Boston, including one in Cambridge.